Cisco flicks switch on smart grid strategy

Cisco yesterday became the latest in a line of global IT giants to officially unveil a new smart grid strategy designed to beef up the networking company's presence in a market that it estimates will be worth $20bn (£13bn) by 2015.

The company said that it planned to establish a "complete communications fabric" based on the internet protocol standards it already supports through its networking equipment and designed to link electricity generators and business and domestic energy users.

John Chambers, chairman and chief executive at Cisco, said the company was " uniquely positioned" to address the fast-expanding smart grid market, arguing that much of the technology required to support smart grids will build on the systems the company already provides.

The firm offered few specific details about its smart grid product plans, but promised to deliver a wide portfolio of new systems, including IP-based communication technologies for linking smart grids and energy suppliers, data collection and analysis systems for assessing energy use, and energy transmission and distribution automation devices designed to help optimise the grid and limit the risk of power blackouts.

The company said it was also looking to partner with energy companies as they attempt to undertake smart grid rollouts.

The new strategy, which already has more than 100 Cisco staff working on it and is expected to expand rapidly, will come as little surprise and follows a number of exploratory moves from the company.

Earlier this year, Cisco launched a new EnergyWise portfolio of products designed to provide businesses with real-time data on their facilities' energy use, while only last month it announced it was teaming up with General Electric and utility Florida Power & Light on a major wireless smart meter rollout in Miami.

In related news, business software giant Oracle today announced the launch of a new smart grid family of applications designed to collect and analyse energy use data, and use it to optimise grid performance and maintenance, as well as automate customer support and billing services.

Cisco and Oracle join an increasingly crowded market that has seen many high-profile technology companies, including IBM, GE, Google and Intel, announce smart grid plans as they all seek to address the opportunity presented by ambitious government-backed initiatives on both sides of the Atlantic.

Competitive lines are yet to be drawn, with most of the companies involved insisting that smart grid technologies will have to be based on shared standards and their systems will complement each other rather than compete directly.

But with each of the companies developing products based on the transmission or analysis of energy use data, it remains to be seen how long the current détente will last.