Intertek joins AT&T IoT Accelerator Program

Intertek has been named a preferred testing and certification laboratory for the AT&T IoT Accelerator Program. It is the first U.S. lab approved as part of this program, which offers AT&T network certification testing to vendors who want to launch IoT devices on the AT&T network.

The program offers low-cost LTE modules certified for the AT&T network.

Intertek was named as an approved laboratory because of its experience with connected products and ability to guide device makers through the process. Intertek will also conduct pre-testing and testing activities, fulfill research and development requests, complete documentation needs and navigate the submission and approval process.

Other approved labs include 7 Layers, Cetecom, CTTL/ATMCL, Dekra, PCTest, SGS SA, Sporton International and UL LLC.

The IoT market is ever-growing, with Grand View Research predicting that the IoT global market will reach $949.42 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 29.4% during that time period. It attributes that growth to the rising demand for machine-to-machine technology systems, desire for predictive maintenance and people's need to contextualize the operation technology data.

In August, Microsoft reported that IoT adoption has grown significantly, particularly in commercial, enterprise-grade organizations. In its report, Microsoft claimed enterprise IoT adoption makes economic success certain, and that businesses can expect a 30% ROI within three years of IoT implementation.

Due to the seemingly lucrative and popular IoT trend, AT&T is not the only organization with an IoT accelerator program. Soracom also offers one, as does Plug and Play, among many others.

Soracom's program also aims to help developers get products built and into production quickly and economically. It works with partners such as Carbon Five, Breadware, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, PubNub, Seeed and the Igor Institute.

Plug and Play brands itself as an innovation platform, aiming to bring together IoT startups and large corporations. It hosts accelerator programs over 50 times a year, with each lasting for 12 weeks. It gives startups the chance to build corporate clients and meet mentors and investors. Plug and Play's IoT corporate partners include Panasonic, ADT, Fujitsu, Nintendo, Maxell and more.