AT&T Wireless 2011 Annual Report Download - page 20

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18 AT&T Inc.
bring to these relationships. Less than a year
after opening our first AT&T Foundry location,
more than 100 active projects were under way.
And we’ve already gone to market with ideas
developed out of AT&T Foundry — one, a business
customer platform that enables smartphone users
to set up separate profiles for personal or work
use, was introduced in 2011 as AT&T Toggle™.
FAST PITCH: BUILDING AN INNOVATION
ECOSYSTEM With support from venture capital
firms, we’re engaging even more developers
and startups via “fast pitch” sessions. Think of it
as speed dating for entrepreneurs who want to
collaborate with AT&T. From California to India, we
held more than 500 of these sessions last year,
helping us quickly determine which applications
and infrastructure innovations are the best fit for
our network. And more pitches are set for 2012.
Startups whose ideas are selected gain access
to AT&T resources to help them quickly turn their
ideas into real-world products. Take Ringbow
Ltd., an Israeli startup that is working with AT&T
to create a wearable ring that lets the user
interact in a new way with various touch- and
gesture-sensitive devices, controlling everything
from games to business apps to presentations.
Ringbow co-founder and CEO, Efrat Barit, credits
AT&T with helping her company get to market
quickly. “Support from AT&T allowed us to shorten
the time it takes to move from prototype to
product development and a launch plan.”
THE INNOVATION PIPELINE: FOSTERING
A CULTURE OF INNOVATION AT&T is
innovating from within, as well, with
The Innovation Pipeline (TIP), which we
believe is the world’s largest idea sourcing
site for employees.
TIP is an internal website that harnesses the
power of the individual. Any AT&T employee
can submit an idea or vote for others’
ideas. More than 120,000 employees have
collectively generated and enhanced more
than 14,000 ideas. Only the best concepts
advance — and they’re often from the front
lines of our company.
And many of the ideas generated have shown
that our people share a passion for using
technology to benefit society. For example,
Shavonne Jones’ nephew Marquis was
researching the dangers of texting and driving
for a school paper. Determined to do something
to help keep Marquis and others safe from
distracted drivers, Shavonne submitted a
solution to help stop texting and driving.
AT&T DriveMode began as a TIP idea and was
launched in 2011. It’s a smartphone app that
reduces the temptation to text and drive by
allowing customers to suspend functions like text
messages and email while they’re on the road.
“I’m grateful to AT&T for giving me the tools
to turn an idea into an app that can help
avoid a senseless tragedy,” says Shavonne.
“AT&T Labs is delivering new
capabilities that help businesses
operate smarter and people live
better lives.” – Krish Prabhu, Chief Technology Officer, AT&T