Oracle Communications’ is infusing AT&T IoT connectivity into its Enterprise Communications Platform (ECP) in a move to allow Oracle cloud application customers to connect and manage their IoT devices and edge application management on the AT&T network. This will also include support from public-safety focused FirstNet service that runs on AT&T.

Andrew de la Torre, group VP of technology at Oracle, explained to SDxCentral in an interview that the deal is a consumption model where Oracle is buying access to AT&T’s network. This involves Oracle being plugged into AT&T’s Cisco-powered IoT Control Center platform, which the carrier itself tapped into in 2020.

This connection will power new Oracle services running through the vendor’s ECP that it launched earlier this year. Those services will be available across Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) regions in the United States.

De la Torre explained that ECP has been something Oracle has “really been working on strategically for a few years now.” This was based on taking advantage of Oracle’s already established work in developing OT services for enterprise customers and its embedded communication and cloud infrastructure.

“We set about building the Enterprise Communications Platform as a horizontal mechanism for all those different parts of Oracle to consume communications. Effectively, it’s kind of an IoT platform,” de la Torre said. “What we wanted to do was have one common fabric whereby in the southbound direction we actually integrate into all the carrier networks, and we do that just once. And in the northbound direction we present a whole host of published APIs inside of the business that expose business friendly [communication] and IoT capabilities.”

De la Torre added that ECP is not a product that Oracle sells externally or plans to sell externally.

“When you're trying to get into the IoT platform business, it was something that we built specifically to accelerate and catalyze this next generation of industrial applications,” de la Torre said.

Public safety first The first AT&T-powered ECP service will be Oracle’s Public Safety platform, which will actually run on the FirstNet network. De la Torre explained that Oracle has separate contracts with both AT&T and FirstNet, with the FirstNet deal providing more dynamic options.

Oracle’s Public Safety platform can support services like dispatch command centers and near real-time camera feeds, which de la Torre explained was key to the deal and is why a public safety feature is the first component coming out of the deal.

“We've had conversations with many different carriers … it's not just AT&T we've been talking with, and the response we got from some of them was that they didn't feel as though they were confident enough to be the partner and AT&T, they were absolutely all in,” de la Torre explained.

De la Torre added that future services could tap deeper into AT&T’s network resources using network APIs.

“We've actually done a roadmap alignment with AT&T, so they have made a kind of commitment to develop those API capabilities in Control Center so that when we then need to consume them in ECP, that they're read,” de la Torre said.

That consumption could provide a new revenue stream for carriers that is different from the legacy and commoditized model of just basic connectivity.

“They desperately need something that moves away from that because it gives you a fresh starting point for how you can price it, how you can scale it, what you can do with it,” de la Torre said of the API opportunity.

Sarita Rao, SVP for AT&T’s Partner Solutions business, explained in a statement that the deal allows the carrier to provide enterprises with “a tighter level of integration between the network and application, driving performance and reliability gains while also eliminating integration requirements and separate contracting events.”

AT&T’s expanded edge and IoT ambitions The Oracle deal also furthers AT&T’s IoT and edge efforts.

The carrier last month commercialized access on parts of its network to the 5G reduced capacity (RedCap) technology that is set to power future-looking IoT use cases and is expected to drive growth of the IoT market.

The RedCap specification was released as part of the 5G specification, which means it’s interoperable with 5G networks. It was basically designed as the 5G version of the narrowband-IoT (Narrowband Internet Of Things (NB-IOT)) or LTE-M specifications used in 4G LTE.

Rob Holden, AT&T RedCap technology lead, said the RedCap service will complement the carrier’s already established LTE-M network, running as a higher-performing edge option for customers. It also provides a longer-term roadmap for specific IoT and edge verticals.

“Things like alarm panels or security POS type solutions, kind of low bandwidth requirements, industrial routers, all those sorts of areas I think are prime examples for where you could see RedCap used,” Holden said, adding there could also be use cases for body cameras and “a number of new solutions in the IT space.”

Research firms have been increasingly beating the RedCap drum, noting the technology is a bright spot in the dimming IoT space. ABI Research, for instance, recently noted that IoT module growth was down 5% in 2023 compared to the previous year.

“5G RedCap is creating an opening to drive 5G device volumes in the IoT domain,” Dan Shey, VP of enabling platforms at ABI Research, noted in the report. “The calculus by the 5G supplier community is 5G capabilities — low latency, location granularity and future-proofing against LTE sunsets will convince more customers to invest in these higher revenue products.”

Dave Bolan, research director at Dell’Oro Group, earlier this year noted that the growth in RedCap adoption will also lead to greater uptake of multi-access edge compute (MEC) platforms and services.

“The market anticipates that the growth of the MEC market will be energized by the introduction of RedCap NR (reduced capability new radio) equipped IoT devices, bringing more 5G IoT devices to the market at lower price points,” Bolan wrote.

Future Oracle operator opportunities Oracle does have other carrier opportunities in the fire, with de la Torre stating that “we’ve actually already done others, we just haven’t spoken about them.”

“This is definitely the flagship relationship at the moment because it's our home territory, it's powering our very first solution, and is well suited to it,” de la Torre said.