AT&T Foundry Innovation Center Opens in Midtown Atlanta

(The following is a press release from the City of Atlanta intended for Atlanta residents)

City of Atlanta officials welcomed the opening of the new AT&T Foundry innovation center today in Midtown Atlanta. The AT&T Foundry will speed up the company’s development of the latest technologies, applications and platforms. The opening marks Atlanta as one of only four global locations chosen for an AT&T Foundry.

"Combining great ideas, business know-how and state-of-the-art infrastructure is a key part of our formula for growing the tech community in Atlanta and is at the heart of what the AT&T Foundry does," said Mayor Kasim Reed. "We're delighted to have an even larger AT&T presence in the city and know that this investment in Atlanta will attract additional investment and jobs."

The Atlanta Foundry is the result of a partnership including AT&T, Cisco, Georgia Tech, the City of Atlanta, and state and local business leadership. The innovative ideas that come out of the Atlanta Foundry will help improve the lives of people in the city and around the country, AT&T said.

"At the AT&T Foundry, we move quickly, so we need to be located in cities and regions with deep technical expertise and a strong entrepreneurial spirit," said John Donovan, Senior Executive Vice President of AT&T Technology and Network Operations, AT&T Inc. "Atlanta fits that description perfectly, and we can't wait to see the groundbreaking infrastructure that will come out of this facility."

"Atlanta is the hometown of AT&T Mobility and we're thrilled to launch the newest AT&T Foundry here," said Ralph de la Vega, president & CEO, AT&T Mobility. "With its great mix of Fortune 500 companies, world-class research institutions, and a strong workforce, Atlanta can truly become one of the world's premier locations for tech innovation."

In a statement, AT&T said the team at Atlanta Foundry will test and develop products involving AT&T’s recently-launched home security and automation service Digital Life. It will also create new apps and services related to the “connected car,” mobility, emerging devices and AT&T U-verse. Host sponsor Cisco will collaborate with AT&T on projects and help identify key third-party developers, startups, investors, inventors and other entrepreneurs to bring into the facility.

The AT&T Foundry in Atlanta is adjacent to Georgia Tech, and AT&T will tap into the research, expertise and entrepreneurial creativity at the university to help accelerate certain projects. In addition, AT&T anticipates attracting local students to the AT&T Foundry on a regular basis for hackathons, workshops and other events that will help the students hone their technical and business skills.

"Georgia Tech and AT&T share a common focus on innovation and are already collaborating in a number of areas," said Georgia Tech President G. P. "Bud" Peterson. "Having an AT&T Foundry innovation center in Tech Square will create even greater opportunities for our students and faculty, while allowing AT&T to take full advantage of the talent and intellectual resources at Tech, as they participate in the exciting growth of Midtown as an innovation district."

AT&T chose Atlanta for its thriving community of small and large tech firms. Roughly 80,000 Atlantans work in information technology-related jobs, with software development and engineering among the city's strengths.

In Georgia, the app economy has an annual impact of $1.06 billion, according to a study from CTIA -- The Wireless Association and the Application Developers Alliance.

The AT&T Foundry program was launched in 2010 to identify solutions both inside and outside of AT&T to some of the most pressing needs facing the company and the industry.