Atlanta set to land AT&T innovation center

Atlanta will soon be the new home of an AT&T innovation center that would add dozens of research jobs and power a high-tech incubator designed to generate more startups across the metro area, according to two people with direct knowledge of the deal.

The company has selected the Georgia Tech area as one of four international locations for the Foundry, a hub where engineers and executives dream up new technologies and then quickly bring them to market. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported the deal was in the works in November.

Staffers at the centers work with software developers and engineers from outside firms on new programs, apps and devices. Teams work on new ways to store messages, new programs for smartphones and tablets and even new methods to control games.

An official announcement is expected next week.

AT&T declined to comment when reached Monday. The full-time jobs alone are the high-paying positions that the city seeks to attract. But what has had some Atlanta entrepreneurs buzzing for months is the hub’s potential to spawn new local startups.

The city is home to AT&T Mobility, the telecommunications giant’s largest and fastest-growing division because of the rapid adoption of smartphones, tablets and other wireless devices. AT&T Mobility’s Emerging Devices division started nearly five years ago in Atlanta with the idea of developing and partnering on new wireless devices and applications for everything from medical devices to alerts on your car.

The company’s newly created “Digital Life” unit in Atlanta has products and services to help consumers remotely manage their home security, health care and energy use from far away.

AT&T Mobility also is working with auto manufacturers on new car designs and after-market features for the “connected car,” essentially an extension of your smartphone with apps, sensors and beacons to help you drive more safely.

Besides the prospect of adding hundreds of jobs, analysts have said the Digital Life unit could mean billions of dollars in revenue for AT&T.

Georgia officials have recruited a string of high-tech manufacturing sites, including Baxter International’s $1 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing plant near Covington that would staff about 1,500 jobs. But tech entrepreneurs have long pushed the state to focus more on the smaller research and design labs that cultivate startups.

The research facilities alone can bring a chunk of new jobs even before spawning startups. One example is General Motors, which in December selected a former UPS site in Roswell for a technology development center that could bring as many as 1,000 jobs to the area.

AT&T’s Foundry won’t create too many jobs in one fell swoop. But it could usher in more of these types of sought-after jobs in what executives call a competitive atmosphere where engineers can work to develop ideas with major firms one day and tiny startups the next.