Cisco, Itron Team for Smart Grid

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash., and SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) and Cisco announced today a strategic alliance that will advance the transformation of the world’s energy infrastructure. Together, the two will deliver a definitive 21st century Internet Protocol (IP)-based communications platform to the smart grid market and help advance more consistent and reliable delivery of energy across the electric distribution system and into homes and businesses.

Itron and Cisco -- world leaders in smart metering and networking communications, respectively -- will collaborate on solutions that will transition smart metering technology into an open and interoperable, enterprise-class network for utilities. Specifically, the two companies will develop a standards-based, highly secure technology for full IPv6 implementation of field area communications to support smart metering, intelligent distribution automation and interfaces to the customer premise. Such an approach will help ensure consistent and interoperable wired and wireless communications among the various components of the smart grid, enabling utilities to scale to meet the demands of increasingly empowered customers and highly distributed generation portfolios.

“The alliance between Cisco and Itron represents a major step forward in the realization of a modern, more intelligent energy infrastructure. Together, we aim to enable standardization of the smart-grid architecture and help create an end-to-end communications platform. As a result, utilities will benefit from an energy grid that is more secure, scalable and reliable, as well as solutions that are easier to maintain and able to support future needs,” said Laura Ipsen, Cisco senior vice president and general manager for the Smart Grid business unit.

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)