Cisco Partners On Green Grid Efforts

Cisco Systems is teaming up with Landis+Gyr, a Switzerland-based maker of energy metering technology, to develop solutions for smart grid environments.

The partnership, announced 31 July, will incorporate Cisco’s expertise in networking and security and Landis+Gyr’s metering infrastructure and applications.

The goal is to create a smart grid communications infrastructure that will result in both energy companies and their customers finding ways to more efficiently and cost-effectively manage power.

The solutions will enable the energy companies integrate existing capabilities with new—and renewable—power sources. They will be standards-based and will create an environment where multiple smart grid efforts can be brought together and optimised, according to officials.

“Together, we can help utilities drive new service models and develop additional revenue streams, such as energy-related services for home and building energy management, while achieving energy efficiency and cost savings for consumers,” Marthin de Beer, senior vice president of Cisco’s Emerging Technologies Group, said in a statement.

Cisco in May turned its attention to smart grid efforts, which are aimed at not only helping power companies find ways to more efficiently manage and distribute energy, but also for consumers to find better ways of using it.

Power distribution is one of 30 “market adjacencies” CEO John Chambers said during a keynote speech at the Cisco Live 2009 event in June that his company would pursue. Cisco, like other vendors, is looking to move away from simply offering products and toward offering solutions through its own offerings as well as partnerships, such as the one with Landis+Gyr.

The collaboration between the two companies, which will take advantage of such open standards as IP, also will focus on such areas as utility data centres, smart metering, and wireless and fixed communications to ensure interoperability across the smart grid solutions they’ve created.