Tech | May 25, 2009 | 12 comments

Cisco Certifies Smart Grid as the Next Big Thing

source: http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/companies/Cisco_Certifies_Smart_Grid_as_the_Next...

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Mike_Johnston
Today, one of the biggest players in communications, Cisco Systems, has announced an ambitious plan to position itself as the centerpiece of the Smart Grid. The company briefed SGN in advance of its announcement. SGN Founding Editor Jesse Berst analyzes what Cisco is planning and what it means for other players.

Telecom powerhouse Cisco Systems has staked its claim on the Smart Grid, and, trite as it may sound, the world may never be the same. I’ll outline what Cisco is proposing, consider the implications for the electricity industry as a whole, and conclude by identifying who stands to lose from Cisco’s plans.

From Generation to Home and Everything in Between
Cisco Systems, the San Jose-based networking and communications giant, today revealed that it intends to provide “an end-to-end, highly secure network infrastructure solution” for the Smart Grid and everything it touches.

Cisco’s strategy is to ensure that there is one, consistent, IP-based infrastructure for the electric power industry – a standards-based foundation that will ultimately be able to connect any device to any other anywhere at anytime. In other words, an Internet for electricity. Cisco will provide some of the hardware, most of the networking software, and a few of the applications that run on top. It will turn to partners for the rest. Since Cisco intends to build on open standards, both vendors and customers will be free to build their own applications, just as they do today over the Internet.

Go here for the rest of the story: http://bit.ly/FMoGo
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12 comments // Cisco Certifies Smart Grid as the Next Big Thing

  • cybexg
    • 0
      cybexg  

    • You pretty much have to have a smart grid if you are going to utilize intermittent, varying power sources (wind, solar). It's the only way to have an organized, collective response to power changes both by the grid and by the end users (as in appliances automatically switching off/lower power state, etc.).

    • 2 years ago
  • Johnny500
    • 0
      Johnny500  

    • I don't think anything with the word "Smart" in its name will be able to be built in this country without some "Smart" legislators being elected.

      In other words, it'll be a dumb grid by the time the politicians are done divvying up the infrastructure pork.

    • 2 years ago
  • Mike_Johnston
    • 0
      Mike_Johnston  

    • Part of the distributed generation model is that power will be produced in homes and factories and public buildings. The smart grid enables small producers to be part of an integrated whole. the option to go totally off grid certainly exists and always will.

    • 2 years ago
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  

    • Recall the million people without power in the dead of last winter ? Power generation in each home , only way to go . That way nobody freezes to death , like last year . They could just knock on the neighbors' door . Radical independence .

    • 2 years ago
  • RickDemocracy
    • 0
      RickDemocracy  

    • Exactly. Smarter grid still means stupid grid.

      I don't know for the US but in France the cost of transportation of the electricity to your home is 50% of your invoice. And France is roughly 1000 km x 1000 km so i'd imagine in the US that cost is higher (?).

      Electricity needs to be produced locally, end of the story.
      And we know how. Solar is still pretty costly and i think other solutions may be a lot better. An efficient heat pump combined with an efficient electric motor by be better...with that you could drive your heating, water & lighting. Each home should have it's own free energy generators in the basement.

      For those unaware of the already existing inventions, try waking up to an internet search on "video" + these keywords:
      - zero point energy
      - free energy
      - compressed air
      - brown's gas
      - heat pump
      - water engine

    • 2 years ago
  • tommytripper
  • JanforGore
  • Mikeysfake1
  • Mike_Johnston
  • Solarlife
  • Mike_Johnston
    • 0
      Mike_Johnston  

    • The planning for a smart grid to support a Distributed Generation model of electric production and distribution has been on the drawing board for a while now.

      So many things are happening now which are fundamental to the development of a green energy economy that it is almost mind boggling.

    • 2 years ago
  • Solarlife
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