Cisco goes all out to win the Smart Grid Market through Alliance with No.1 Smart Meter Maker Itron and Alta Rock Acquisition

Cisco has been never shy of its Smart Grid ambitions, forecasting the Smart Grid to be a huge market in the coming years with a potential opportunity of $100 Billion over the next 5 years.Cisco has said that the Smart Grid Opportunity will be 100-1000 times bigger than the Internet as the Electricity Infrastructure of the world is modernized.Pike Research estimates expenditure on Smart Grid to become $200 Billion by 2015 from $20 Billion at Present.Already large sums of money from the ARRA Stimulus are going to be spend by US Utilities on Smart Grid Projects.There are a host of Software and Hardware Companies in the Race for the Smart Grid Pie.IBM,Google,Microsoft,Honeywell,GE,SAP,Oracle every big company wants a piece of this Multi Billion Dollar Pie.However Cisco is the one putting serious money and effort into its Smart Grid Initiative.

The company has already rolled out a Switch and Router for Utilities to communicate data about energy usage.It has acquired stakes in startups like GridNet ( which is using WiMax protocol for Smart Grid Devices) and Altarock.The partnership with the No.1 Smart Meter market Itron will give it a further boost in this market.Its a  win win relationship between 2 industry leaders with Itron stock price ratcheting up 9% on the news.Smart Grid has been a slower cousin to faster Green Sectors like Solar and Wind Energy.This is due to the fact that Smart Grid customers are Utilities which are heavily regulated and slow moving.These companies tend to move in a snail like manner and don’t have the incentive to move faster.However Energy Efficiency and Smart Grid are as inevitable as Global Warming and Peak Oil.

Cisco to buy wireless smart grid firm – Reuters

Network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc said on Thursday it was buying start-up Arch Rock for an undisclosed sum as it aggressively moves to expand in the growing smart grid market.The news of the acquisition comes a day after the networking giant said it was teaming up with smart meter maker Itron Inc to develop a communication platform for smart grids.

Cisco, which is working with a number of utilities including Duke Energy Corp and NextEra Energy Inc, has identified $20 billion in opportunities in the next five years.Arch Rock specializes in wireless sensor technology for smart grid systems, or utilities systems with meters connected to the Internet, allowing companies to better monitor and control energy use.

Cisco’s Smart Grid Effort Leads to New Switch, Router- DataCentreJournal

Seeking to ride the wave of excitement (and to cash in on some of the profits) of the smart grid, Cisco Systems recently announced its CGR 2010 and CGS 2520 router and switch products designed to aid utility companies in delivering power to homes and businesses.

Enter Cisco Systems, which announced on May 25 its Connected Grid Router (CGR) 2010 and Connected Grid Switch (CGS) 2520 products. The CGR 2010 (which is slated for release in July) and CGS 2520 (August) are designed to implement the kind of IP-based infrastructure needed to allow the smart grid to monitor and govern the flow of energy. The new products follow the pattern of existing Cisco devices, but they add support for standards and protocols associated with power utilities, according to Computer World (Cisco unveils new router and switch for smart grids). In addition to supporting software standards, the devices are also designed to hold their own in the kinds of conditions associated with exposure to the elements and to the electromagnetic emissions of power substations. Computer World describes Cisco’s Connected Grid products as supporting “standards for utility substation environments, including the ability to withstand a broad range of temperatures.”