AT&T (NYSE: T) is opening a Foundry in Atlanta – but it’s not a steel mill.

The communications giant is launching two additional centers for research and development, including a site near Georgia Tech in Atlanta. They are part of the firm’s Foundry Innovation program and will up the number of centers to five. The other new site is in Plano, Texas.

At each, the aim is to develop new products, new ideas, new services.

“Again, the goal is to identify groundbreaking ideas, whether inside or outside AT&T, and turn them into products and services as quickly as possible,” wrote John Donovan, senior vice president for AT&T technology and network operations, in a blog.

AT&T is working with Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) as part of the Foundry program.

In Atlanta, researchers will focus on Internet-connected vehicle technology and Digital Life home products. In Plano, the focus is on machine-to-machine technology as part of the “Internet of things,” as Cisco Chairman and CEO john Chambers describes the evolving net.

“Atlanta will focus on technologies around our new home automation and security product Digital Life, all things wireless, the “connected car” and other consumer platforms,” Donovan wrote. “Imagine a world where your car accesses your work schedule in the cloud, suggests alternate driving routes to get you to your meetings on time, and lets your house know when you’re on your way home so it can crank up the air conditioning.”

Donovan noted the center’s location isn’t an accident – it’s located near Georgia Tech,

“Having such strong collaborators will help us push even harder to create cool new products to enhance and simplify your life,” he said.

The machine-to-machine center will be located in the same building as another AT&T Foundry.

“That proximity will enable the M2M/CD team to rapidly prototype hardware projects around the so-called ‘Internet of things’ and then collaborate, when needed, with their counterparts downstairs to develop the software for these prototypes,” Donovan explained. “This is the world of ‘smart’ devices, from cars that can park themselves in crowded parking garages, to clothing with embedded sensors that let you track your heart rate and other medical info.”

AT&T and its technology partners, including Cisco Systems Inc., have spent about $100 million trying to jump-start the development of new products, said Abhi Ingle, the Dallas-based company’s vice president of innovation.

“We are speeding up ideas from research to development by harnessing some innovation from outside,” Ingle said.

AT&T, the largest U.S. telephone company, is counting on new markets to help stimulate sales and offset its 11 percent decline in landline subscribers last year. It’s also confronting slowing wireless customer growth, which had served as the company’s growth engine in recent years. Verizon Wireless ranks first in that market.

The research centers are designed to put the final touches on product ideas developed through a companywide crowdsourcing process, Ingle said. That means AT&T is counting on all its employees to help cultivate ideas, rather than using conventional research-and-development labs.

Other centers are located in Israel and Palo Alto, California. There are 71 employees working at the foundries now, and AT&T expects that total to reach 92 by year-end.

(Bloomberg news contributed to this report.)