Cisco extends energy management reach

Cisco aims to give consumers and businesses greater contol over their energy use

Cisco today used its Cisco Live event in Las Vegas to announce a range of energy management technologies and initiatives aimed at consumers, businesses and utilities.

The announcement covered a new home energy device, a US utility smart-grid trial, and new additions to its Smart Connected Buildings portfolio of business energy management products for monitoring energy consumption and systems downtime in buildings over an internet protocol (IP) network.

Among the firm's new Smart Connected Buildings offerings is the Cisco Network Building Mediator Manager 6300, which enables centralised management of Smart Connected Buildings across global enterprise operations.

Also included is the new Cisco Network Building Mediator 3.1, which provides the platform for linking multiple disparate building automation systems and protocols over Internet Protocol and for allowing greater integration and visibility of energy flows across real estate and information technology.

By allowing organisations to centrally manage geographically dispersed buildings over an IP network, the Cisco Network Building Mediator Manager increases operational efficiencies in distributed facility management, the company said. This provides practical tools to reduce overall energy consumption and system downtime, and offers proactive system alerts for preventive maintenance of critical equipment.

Sandeep Vij, Cisco Converged Building Systems Business Unit vice president and general manager, said: "By enabling multiple, disparate building automation systems and protocols to be effectively monitored and managed over IP, Cisco is delivering on the network as the platform for sustainable management of real estate and IT."

For the consumer, the new Cisco Home Energy Management Solution extends the firm’s Connected Grid portfolio.

Made up of a new Home Energy Controller (HEC) device, along with Cisco Energy Management Services provided by utilities to their customers, the solution is designed to give consumers an insight into, and easier control over, energy use.

The controller’s LCD touchscreen and wireless capabilities provide control over peripheral devices in the home that communicate with the HEC, such as thermostats, intelligent sockets and, potentially, smart appliances like refrigerators and water heaters.

Utilities, like early US smart-grid adopter Duke Energy, can use the new Energy Management Services to extend the benefits of smart meter deployments to homeowners by giving them more detailed energy control, down to appliance level.

Finally, Cisco introduced a hosted offering for utility firms to manage their customers’ energy data while integrating with their back-end applications.

Cisco’s energy push is well timed, as a new report by US analyst firm Pike Research has predicted a “gold rush” in the commercial energy management systems market, making it worth more than $6bn (£4bn) by 2014.