Our World in 2018

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
The Internet of Things
– Delivering a Connected World
By Karim Lesina
Consumers today expect to be
connected from nearly anywhere, to
just about anything. We’re moving
to a world that will require instantaneous
and ubiquitous connectivity. For AT&T,
that means investing to be the premier
integrated communications company in the
world. Around the globe, we’re making cars,
homes, machines, shipping containers, and
more, smarter.
Our industry has experienced a dramatic
shift over the past 10 years. The pace of
change and innovation has been incredible.
And the pace of new players entering the
market has been just as staggering. AT&T
is not only no longer defined as a voice
T
an edge provider, or an equipment maker;
but as an integrated communications
provider, we’re all of these and more.
The new reality is this: We are all in the
communications business. Now, legacy
voice companies provide video; legacy video
companies provide voice; and companies
that didn’t exist a few short years ago
provide both, and more. Innovation and
competition is all around us. And that’s great
for consumers, and great for the industry.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of
these key innovative and hyper-competitive
frontiers. IoT is transforming how we live,
and it’s enabling new businesses ventures
and new methods of service delivery—
driving innovation in established industries
such as automotive and package delivery.
With data derived from devices, the
IoT is helping enable better allocation
of resources, improved awareness, and
enhanced services including:
• asset tracking for businesses;
• environmental and livestock monitoring
Karim
Lesina
Karim Lesina is
Vice President of
AT&T, covering
International
EA
the European Union,
Caribbean, Central
and Latin America
Regions and in
charge of Trans-
Atlantic Relations.
for farming operations;
• smarter cities and communities
with monitoring of public infrastructure
resources – roads & transit, parking, utilities;
• healthcare monitoring and service
delivery;
• wearables, activity monitors for
individuals; and
• improved safety and convenience of
connected cars.
Rapid change brings challenges
as well as benefits
Policy challenges. The issues engendered
by the IoT are as diverse and complex
as the ecosystem itself, presenting both
challenges unique to a particular industry
(e.g., automotive safety), and challenges
that apply across the board. Adapting policy
frameworks to the cross-jurisdictional and
cross-sectoral nature of IoT technologies
and solutions can have positive effects,
including:
• Ensuring a coherent approach to the
IoT across various government agencies
.
• Ensuring a consistent and open
approach across countries to enable
global IoT solutions. First, with numbering
.A
support continued permanent machine-tomachine
(M2M) roaming, without mandated
because International permanent roaming is
particularly suited to the global deployment
of M2M or Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.
This approach is also critical to areas such
as regulatory approaches and data privacy
requirements. Privacy and security span
all sectors. We all have a shared interest in
promoting consumer trust in IoT.
74 2018 | OUR WORLD