5 4 FirstNet, built with AT&T, is a nationwide platform that provides interoperable communications for the public safety community, enabling information sharing across disciplines and jurisdictions, and improved situational awareness. This past March, AT&T deployed the evolved packet core (EPC) for FirstNet subscribers. The EPC gives local authorities granular control via an online command portal, providing the ability to assign different priority levels to different sets of users. The EPC core network also provides first-of-its-kind security via end- to-end encryption in the core network of all communications and a 24/7, 365-day network operations center. AT&T is providing a path for procurement to DoD customers for FirstNet via the GSA Schedule 70 and the NETCOM Army AF blanket purchase agreement. Work to add FirstNet to the FLC SD Spiral 3 contract is also in progress. Transformative missions like these are powered by AT&T’s concerted process of fostering innovation. Reardon explained that broadly speaking, it is a four-pillar process inside AT&T. One pillar is laboratory research, where the heritage of the legendary AT&T (formerly Bell) Labs continues to this day. Inventions central to today’s IT landscape came from AT&T Labs, such as the transistor and the UNIX computer-operating system. But research has changed greatly in recent years, and laboratory research alone is not sufficient to stay ahead of the market. It’s important to move quickly, produce many prototypes and in the industry expression “fail fast,” learning more each time from the process. This methodology is followed in the second pillar, the AT&T Foundry “Where Ideas are Made.” The AT&T Foundry innovation centers are in six cities around the world, and since its inception has started more than 500 projects and deployed dozens of new products and services. The AT&T Foundry brings the expertise of AT&T innovators into a collaborative environment with LEADING THE FUTURE industry technology providers, developers and startups to move ideas to market faster. Reardon is also one of the executives actively involved in outreach, which is the third pillar of the AT&T focus on innovation. She described constant contact with a globally diverse set of startups and the investment community, looking for companies working on the same networking challenges. Sometimes AT&T invests seed money in the most promising research. The final pillar is the expertise that resides in the AT&T workforce, more than 250,000 strong. Any AT&T employee can provide a suggestion for a new process, product or service through The Innovation Pipeline (TIP) program. TIP is a dynamic online crowd- sourcing platform that brings together the creative talent of AT&T employees to drive innovation.