The Innovation Studio

IoT - Smart Cities

What solutions can improve key areas of urban infrastructure through the use of advanced digital technologies?

Cities need to dramatically improve the efficiency with which they operate and use their resources. Major efficiency improvements can be achieved by horizontally interconnecting individual systems such as electricity, water, sanitation and waste management, transportation, security, environmental monitoring, and weather intelligence.

Our vision uses increased information sharing, analysis and coordination to help manage incidents in one part of a city that impacts others. It should also offer opportunities to reduce cost and create new value-added services. Smart cities are no longer the wave of the future. They're needed today—to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs.

With the advancements in computers, sensors, and networking technology over the past few years, these technologies are providing a new lease on life for cities' aging physical infrastructures. Using new and disruptive technologies, we can do more. By incorporating Smart energy, Smart transportation, Smart data, Smart infrastructure, Smart mobility, and Smart IoT devices, we can make the city of the future today. Join us in this journey.

Augmented / Virtual Reality

Augmented / Virtual Reality is the future of creative content. How can we change user experiences and immerse people in a disruptive vision that complements their lifestyles and goals?

Many of us remember main frame computers, punch cards, and MS-DOS, but today VR has moved from the realm of science fiction to the reality of our everyday lives. Oculus and Hollolens entered the market in 2016, followed by myriad other virtual reality headsets and content offerings from global giants such as Sony, Samsung, and Microsoft. While gaming and entertainment are the primary focus, VR has unbounded potential to change many other aspects of our lives, from education and health to engineering and retail.

To address the promise of this digital transformation tool, we're launching an Innovation Need for startups, educators, students, or anyone inspired by the latest developments in VR/AR. Our needs are focused on encouraging commercial, creative and technical innovation for sporting event enhancements, industrial controls, smart construction, immersive retail, enhanced medical training and care, next-gen vocational education, tactile experiences and amplified music experiences.

Managed Security Services

It's a scary digital world out there with countless threats trying to interrupt our lives. What can we do to effectively address today's cyber threats and stay ahead of what's just around the corner?

It's a scary digital world out there with countless threats trying to interrupt our lives. Cyber dependencies are rapidly evolving, and with this evolution comes a real and dynamic set of cyber challenges and threats. As an industry leader in managed security services and cyber security, CenturyLink is constantly looking for partners to discover new and effective approaches to cyber security to address today's threats and stay ahead of tomorrow's threats.

New generations of distributed ultra-large-scale systems such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud-based global enterprise networks are the networks of tomorrow. As we build these software defined networks (SDN) combined with the network function virtualizations (NFV), simply refreshing the network is no longer sufficient. We need to focus on network transformation and innovation to think differently about network architecture and how we protect these complex systems.

At CenturyLink, our cyber security solutions are constantly evolving as systems and networks become more hybrid in nature. Adding to this, systems are often built from rapidly evolving open-source, Internet-based services and have complex configuration options. Along with active cyber threats, these systems often contain unknown software vulnerabilities that must also be addressed.

Big Data and Analytics

Today businesses can use big data analytics to identify insights for immediate decisions. We're constantly developing ways for organizations to work faster and stay agile, and to give them a competitive edge they didn't have before.

The concept of big data has been around for years; most organizations now understand the significant value they gain by capturing and analyzing all the data that streams throughout their businesses. The true value is using this knowledge for timely, fact-based decisions that lead to real customer value. This, in turn, leads to smarter business moves, more efficient operations, higher profits and happier customers. We are currently focused on three basic functional needs:

Cost reduction: Leverage big data technologies such as CenturyLink cloud-based analytics to provide significant cost advantages for organizations by identifying more efficient ways of doing business.

Fast/better decision making: Define solutions to improve the speed of CenturyLink analytics, combined with the ability to analyze new sources of data, and immediately analyze data to make customer-focused decisions based on what they've learned.

Develop new products and services: With the ability to gauge customer needs and satisfaction through analytics comes the power to give customers what they want. We are looking for solutions that leverage big data analytics to create new products to meet customers' needs.