AT&T Inc. is continuing its new focus on vertical markets by announcing three new advanced mobility services for both traditional and emerging devices, and several customer implementations.

First up, it has announced a smart grid agreement with Petra Solar: a clean tech pioneer that combines solar generation and smart grid technology in a single system. AT&T will offer Petra Solars innovative technology, which allows utility companies to simultaneously address Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements and invest in a smart grid technology. In addition, AT&T recently achieved a significant milestone for the smart grid industry, announcing that it is enabling two-way communication with more than 7.5 million electric meters over AT&Ts wireless network. 

AT&T also launched the Global Smart Messaging Suite to deliver a best-in-breed messaging application to companies and government organizations that want to use SMS technology to more efficiently communicate globally with mobile subscribers, be they employees, partners or customers. 

It also launched the AT&T Encrypted Mobile Voice, a mobile-to-mobile voice encryption solution using two-factor authentication. The new service will provide high-level security for calls on the AT&T wireless network and is expected to be available later this quarter. It is targeted at government agencies, law enforcement organizations financial services institutions and international businesses.

AT&T noted several customer implementations as well. For example, the University of South Florida is working with Pyxis Mobile and AT&T to provide a mobile enterprise applications platform on which the school can develop and launch mobile applications specific to the many colleges, departments and research programs. An example of such a mobile application is UpperClass from AT&T, which delivers student, faculty and staff information to various smartphones.

Another customer example is Interstate Batteries, the number one replacement brand battery in North America.  Our long-term alliance with AT&T has prepared us for the highly anticipated rollout of the ED-18 Early Detection Battery & Electrical System Analyzer version 3, said Interstate Batteries CIO Merv Tarde. This has been a strategic process, and thanks to AT&Ts networking capabilities, data will now be transmitted from coast-to-coast through their custom APN Network to our centralized database.

AT&T is also working with Hy-Vee, an employee-owned corporation operating 230 retail stores in eight Midwestern states. Hy-Vee has the ability to tell customers about hot deals and promotions by sending messages directly to their wireless phones, said Heather Mitchell, Hy-Vee Marketing Specialist. Working with AT&T in the mobile marketing space, Hy-Vee is becoming a grocery leader in mobile-marketing communication tools, which gives us an opportunity to better serve our customers.

In May, the carrier established the Advanced Enterprise Mobility Solutions group within its Business Solutions unit, which works across 14 industries to help enable business model transformation through mobile applications, machine-to-machine solutions and mobile services. The group is collaborating with AT&Ts product teams across hosting, application management and unified communications to help mobilize applications for business customers, developers and independent software providers. The group complements AT&Ts Emerging Devices Organization which focuses on wirelessly enabling devices for consumers.