Thursday, 02 July 2009 02:34

Cisco is targeting large corporate facilities with its new Building Mediator.  Much has been said about smart meters installed in residents’ homes while the largest energy consumers have rarely been mentioned.  Cisco announced the new product, which works with the company’s networking hardware to monitor and regulate energy consumption, on July 1.

Corporate users make up a larger share of the market than residential consumers.  Targeting this lucrative segment could give Cisco a head start in the race to become the dominant developer of networked smart grid infrastructure.

With prices beginning at $5,000, the Building Mediator builds upon Cisco’s “Energy Wise” strategy that was announced earlier in 2009.  At the time Energy Wise was announced, Cisco offered free upgrades to its Catalyst hardware devices.  The upgrade allows building managers to monitor and control the energy consumption of IP-addressable office devices.

Cisco developed the Building Mediator in collaboration with Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric, and Verdiem – all companies that specialise in automation development.  The system works to connect a building’s power supply, including heating, ventilation, lighting, and IT systems, with the company’s network.  Network administrators can then set up rules for the entire building that determine how energy is used throughout.

A swipe of a security badge identifies an individual within the system.  Personal office lights could then be switched on, for example, along with the computer and air conditioning.  When the employee leaves for the day, all of these items would be automatically switched off.

Marthin DeBeer, vice president of emerging technologies at Cisco, spoke at the company’s Cisco Live event on July 1.  DeBeer believes that energy management in large buildings could have a bigger effect on the smart grid than smart meters installed in homes.  Corporate facilities account for 43% of the energy consumed in the United States, compared to about 33% that is used in homes.  “Commercial buildings are both a bigger problem and an easier problem to solve,” said DeBeer.

Cisco’s Smart Energy strategy makes the networking a major competitor within the developing smart energy sector.  The smart grid that is gradually taking place will eventually level the demand for energy with the available supply and will integrate intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar power.  Close management of energy usage in large buildings will allow for easy integration into the smart grid.  “By installing this system, we’re making a smart and connected building, ready to be connected to smart grids of the future,” said DeBeers.

DeBeers went on to describe how the smart grid will become just a piece of the future “Internet of things” where physical infrastructure is digitally connected.  DeBeers believes the market for “smart, connected buildings” may be worth $1 billion and that the “Internet of things” could top $20 billion by 2015.  This new “Internet” would be an IP network many times larger than the current Internet and would connect buildings, devices and numerous other objects.

Until then, Yankee Group analyst Zeus Kerravala believes that smart energy management could give Cisco a tighter lock on its core networking hardware business.  “This is something that really requires a large market share and a technology portfolio that’s much bigger than just network gear,” he said.

Customers that purchase the Building Mediator from Cisco may find themselves locked in with the company for the long term.  “This is designed in part to keep customer churn down,” said Kerravala.  “Once a customer goes down this road, it would be pretty difficult to move away from Cisco.”

Cisco Systems, Inc.
170 West Tasman Dr.
San Jose, CA 95134
http://www.cisco.com

Johnson Controls
5757 N. Green Bay Avenue
P.O. Box 591
Milwaukee, WI 53201
http://www.johnsoncontrols.com

Schneider Electric SA
35 rue Joseph Monier
92500 Rueil Malmaison - France
http://www.schneider-electric.com

Verdiem Corporation
1601 2nd Avenue, Suite 701
Seattle, WA 98101
http://www.verdiem.com

Yankee Group
One Liberty Square
7th Floor
Boston, MA 02109–4868
http://www.yankeegroup.com
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