AT&T is making a major push to get its wholesale channel more engaged in Internet of Things services that can be sold to a wide range of businesses. This week, AT&T Partner Exchange announced a set of tools that make it easier for value-added resellers (VARs) and other partners to get into the IoT game with revenue-generating applications.

The tools include a guide to IoT for channel executives, plus a readiness assessment for gauging what is still needed to get a channel prepped for IoT and a starter kit that includes "A Channel Executive's Guide to IoT," an IoT Readiness Assessment and the AT&T IoT Starter Kit which includes specific tools and services that let VARs and other channel members create their own IoT offerings using prototypes and vertical-specific options.

All of this builds on the AT&T Control Center, an IoT platform launched last year. (See AT&T Partner Exchange Adds IoT Platform.)

There is definite interest in the IoT market among channel partners, says Sue Galvanek, the vice president of marketing, pricing and product solutions for AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Partner Exchange, in an interview with Light Reading. But many of these companies, which were traditionally more wireline-focused, may not know how to get started in the sector.

"Understanding where and how to get started is probably their biggest challenge," she comments. "We are giving them some steps they can take without jumping in with both feet."

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The channel executives' guide spells out the basics of IoT and the market opportunities while the starter kit is "an all-in-one package that a solution provider can get access to and purchase, which includes innovative prototyping on different types of IoT solutions that they want to bring to market," Galvanek says.

There are some obvious options: Retailers can use IoT for in-store digital marketing, inventory tracking and more; asset management for equipment and the work force has appeal in construction and other industries; and fleet management and logistics are applications that cut across verticals, she adds.

AT&T's major refresh of its partnering strategy has already included an effort to add wireless services to the mix, and its wireless WAN offering is gaining traction in the wholesale space, Galvanek says, especially as a backup service.

The IoT assets are all available on AT&T's Partner Exchange site here.

— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading

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