Cisco To Invest In Smart Grid

From Venture Beat Cisco Ventures In Smart Grid Space

Cisco made the announcement of a fledgling venture in the smart grid space.

The winning idea that Cisco selected for their business plan called iPrize was the smart grid, the general name given to companies that try to add intelligence to the electricity networks spread between utilities and users.

Guido Jouret, Cisco’s chief technology officer at the Emerging Tech Group, argued that Cisco is actually better-positioned than a startup to explode in the smart grid, since it’s sizable enough to approach the entire market, rather than just catering to customers or utilities.

“It’s a lot like VoIP,” he told me. “If you look at who’s cleaning up now, it’s not the startups, it’s more the traditional telcos.”