AT&T's (NYSE: T) Foundries--the carrier's innovation centers--have been set up in key locations across the globe in order to help the carrier more effectively innovate and compete. And according to Mark Nagel, executive director of marketing for AT&T Foundry, the carrier has used its Foundries specifically to prototype cloud infrastructure technologies.
"For example, part of the work we've done here focused on our open stack sponsorship and developing some of the first internal cloud prototypes built on open stack," Nagel said. "Right now we're looking at suppliers and I don't think we've announced any, so I can't give you any names. But we're looking at suppliers for that next-gen architecture."
AT&T's first Foundry opened in Plano, Texas, in March 2011, followed by one in Ra'anana, Israel, in June 2011 and another in Palo Alto, Calif., in September 2011. Last August, AT&T opened its fourth facility in Atlanta focused on the connected car and home. Shortly after that, AT&T added M2M capabilities to the facility in Plano. All of the foundries serve as test-beds for new technologies and give AT&T an opportunity to work with startups.
For more on AT&T's Foundries and its efforts in SDN, NFV and cloud architecture, check out this FierceWireless Hot Seat.