AT&T Government Solutions won a contract to enable U.S. census takers to use mobile applications to capture and deliver sensitive survey data on-the-go in near real-time.
Under a 5-year agreement, the Census Bureau will use AT&T’s 4G LTE network and Internet of Things (IoT) services to support critical survey work performed nationwide by up to 20,000 census takers.
“We’re excited to provide advanced mobility and IoT services to the Census Bureau to help it transform and improve its data collection programs,” said Mike Leff, vice president-Civilian, AT&T Government Solutions.
- In June 2009, Harris Corporation, the system integrator for the 2010 U.S. census, selected Sprint as the exclusive wireless data provider to help automate the process and to provide wireline and wireless data support to collect the information in real-time. Beginning in April 2009, approximately 140,000 field workers carried the Harris custom-built devices operating on the Sprint network, with the ability to transmit collected data back to the Census Bureau in near real-time. In addition to their unique data collection capabilities, all hand held devices were equipped with GPS capabilities (allowing workers to verify addresses remotely without relying on printed maps) and fingerprint ID scanning for added security. The program also covered use of 500 Sprint Global MPLS sites across United States, roughly 1,500 managed devices including routers, switches, firewalls and Intrusion Detection Service (IDS) for additional security, more than 150,000 active telemetry wireless devices that will allow workers to collect data remotely, resulting in more accurate reporting and substantially less use of paper, and about 1,500 mobile broadband connection cards.
