We will have smart cities before we have smart homes, that is the view of AT&T as they launched their Smart Cities Framework alongside international technology show CES in Las Vegas earlier this month. The telecom giant announced that it is partnering with a who’s who of Big Data (Cisco, Deloitte, Ericsson, GE, IBM, Intel, Qualcomm) to create a “smart cities framework”. With its partners, AT&T is aiming to be a one-stop shop for municipalities, states, and the federal agencies looking to service citizens more effectively. The initiative will use the Internet of Things to improve citizen engagement, infrastructure, public safety and transportation. It will, for example, introduce remote monitoring of essential infrastructure such as roads and bridges, digital signs showing commuters in real-time when the next train or bus will arrive, and mobile apps providing citizens real-time information about broken traffic lights or the ability to reserve parking spaces. AT&T is even developing what […]