Security is Top AT&T Worry in Opening Digital Life to New Partners

LAS VEGAS -- AT&T’s Digital Life went to “great lengths” and “great expense” to protect its cloud-based service, Senior Vice President Kevin Petersen said at the Parks Associates Connections conference being held in conjunction with CTIA. Petersen cited an environment rife with hacking scenarios and said when it comes to consumer security, “You can’t have them."

Digital Life won’t “jeopardize the AT&T brand because of a rogue incident,” Petersen said in response to a question about what the company has done to secure the service. He cited a security group within the company that “plays war games on the system” and has been “attacking it for the last year” prior to the launch of Digital Life’s home monitoring and automation system late last month. Digital Life makes adjustments where necessary “but we would not have rolled it [out] if our war games guys wouldn’t have said, ‘You're good to go,'” Petersen said.

AT&T has an “aggressive roadmap” for Digital Life, but it will be careful in how it moves forward to expand the service, Petersen said. The company is using products from partner companies including Honeywell, Jasco and Yale, according to published reports, but a company spokeswoman told us AT&T is not disclosing its partners. Cisco and AT&T announced in March that Cisco was making the Digital Life controller.

Letting devices come in from outside the Digital Life ecosystem jeopardizes the “predictable, reliable, consistent experience” the company is promising, he said. “It’s an open platform; it’s just open on our terms today,” he said. “This isn’t a free-for-all. I take the security aspect of this very seriously,” he said. Once security is ensured, he said, “we can certify and move through devices and solutions very quickly.”

AT&T said Monday it is expanding Digital Life to seven additional markets: Baltimore, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Sacramento and Washington. Beginning Friday, customers in those markets can receive a live demo and buy AT&T Digital Life products and service in company-owned retail stores in those markets, the company said. Digital Life launched in April in 15 markets, with plans calling for a 50-market footprint by year-end.

Petersen said “the majority” of customers thus far have opted for the step-up security and automation package and that most customers who choose automation have taken two packages at the outset. Video, energy and electronic door packages have been the most popular add-ons in the 15 markets where Digital Life has been sold for more than three weeks.

It didn’t take long for AT&T to plan its first cross-promotion for Digital Life, which will be announced Friday, Petersen said. Consumers who sign up for a Digital Life package will get $100 off a smartphone or tablet purchased at an AT&T Wireless store, he said. “That will have a big effect out of the gate” on driving sales for other AT&T business, he said. “It’s step one of integration” across AT&T products, he said.

The biggest challenge to the Digital Life launch so far, Petersen said, is logistics. The company is “bringing a lot of pieces together,” he said, citing the physical aspect of rolling out to new markets.