AT&T Opens Collaboration Center in Palo Alto

AT&T has opened its newest "Foundry" innovation centers in Palo Alto, California.


The Palo Alto center, sponsored by Ericsson, is the third permanent AT&T Foundry facility to open worldwide, adding to a global network that includes facilities sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent and Amdocs in Plano, Texas, and Ra'anana, Israel, respectively. The new location will join two temporary facilities in the Bay Area where collaborative projects are already underway, many on display during today's opening day festivities.


"AT&T and Ericsson are working to transform the way telecommunications companies develop concepts that will form tomorrow's networked society,�? said Håkan Eriksson, Ericsson Group Chief Technology Officer and President of Ericsson Silicon Valley. “AT&T is actively engaged with us to combine local insights with global ecosystems to help entrepreneurs bring innovative ideas to market as quickly as possible."


AT&T said projects are funneled to the Foundry in several ways:


Fast Pitch, or "speed date" reviews, where companies or developers meet with key AT&T decision makers to evaluate projects or technologies. AT&T is on track to hold 400 of the fast-pitch sessions in locations across the globe this year.


The Innovation Pipeline (TIP), AT&T's crowd-sourcing idea-generating platform, where more than 100,000 employees gather to share ideas and collaborate on bringing new products and services to market.


AT&T Labs provides the starting point for many AT&T Foundry projects. Many of the organization's 1,200 researchers also provide expertise to projects currently underway.
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