Business & Tech

Car Internet Connectivity Moving Ahead With Bridgewater Company

AT&T to use Synchronoss' software to link across devices—including cars and trucks.

If you're saving money this week thanks to a timed thermostat, imagine being able to tweak the settings even better by having your home thermostat only raise the temperature in your home when you're a few blocks away.

To make that function happen automatically, the thermostat would need to be connected to the Internet, as would (ideally) your car—technology that Bridgewater-based Synchronoss Technologies is helping AT&T bring to vehicles.

Synchronoss announced the agreement with AT&T, which will use the company’s new Integrated Life platform, this week. AT&T said Integrated Life will be used in its connected car center, the AT&T Drive Studio and AT&T Drive, a modular, global automotive platform. AT&T has created the AT&T Drive Studio located near its Atlanta Foundry Innovation Center to showcase and demonstrate the future of these connected automobiles.

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“This is going to be a watershed year for the connected car and embedded connections will allow consumers to access their connected lives regardless of the vehicle they drive,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, Emerging Devices, AT&T Mobility. “We have relied on Synchronoss’ activation software for more than ten years and know they can deliver the kind of innovation and solutions we need in the AT&T Drive Studio for our automotive partners.”

In vehicles, the Integrated Life platform can help maintain Internet access to all online content, such as auto diagnostics, apps, e-mails, videos, texts, documents, music and settings; and enables devices to talk to each other wirelessly allowing users to control homes lights, thermostat and other systems with their smartphones or vehicles remotely.

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With the platform, drivers could use their vehicles as a mobile hot spot on the AT&T network, the companies said.

The announcement marks another significant milestone for the 14-year-old company headquartered on Crossing Boulevard. The company announced signing its 10 millionth customer for cloud services during the summer, which has helped push its NASDAQ-listed stock to new heights, according to Forbes Magazine. The company's Integrated Life platform is expected to help it continue to grow as more devices come onto the market requiring Internet connectivity—CEO Stephen Waldis told Wired magazine the number of devices requiring Internet connections is expected to more than triple to about 30 billion in the next six years, making such platforms crucial.


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