9/7/2010 -- Cisco Systems Inc. last week snagged Arch Rock Corp., a privately held developer of IP-based solutions for smart grid applications. Cisco snapped up Arch Rock less than a week after notching a strategic partnership with Itron, a prominent manufacturer of metering technologies for utility companies.

Both moves should add muscle to its evolving "Smart Grid" vision.

Cisco unveiled Smart Grid -- its ambitious secure network infrastructure strategy -- only months after announcing its even more ambitious Unified Computing System (UCS). Cisco said it would develop a range of Smart Grid products, designed to run the gamut from power generation (in the back end) to power management and consumption in both the enterprise and the digital home.

Officials say Cisco will use Arch Rock's "wireless mesh" technology to develop an IP- and standards-based secure metering infrastructure offering.

"Arch Rock's wireless mesh technology enhances Cisco's IP-based, end-to-end smart-grid offerings," said Laura Ipsen, senior vice president of Cisco's Smart Grid business unit, in a statement. 

18 months ago, Smart Grid had the look of a still-gestating technology vision. Since its announcement, however, Cisco has worked to connect its Smart Grid dots. Last year, for example, Cisco launched Smart Grid Ecosystem -- which it positions as an effort to encourage the adoption of IP-based communications standards for smart grids -- and partnered with prominent players (such as General Electric) to promote Smart Grid services.

More recently, Cisco announced a new line of "Connected Grid" appliances (http://tcpmag.com/news/article.asp?editorialsid=1530), and -- just last week -- notched a strategic alliance with meter manufacturer Itron to develop smart-metering technologies. Ipsen dubbed the Itron partnership "a major step forward" for Cisco's Smart Grid vision.

"The alliance between Cisco and Itron represents a major step forward in the realization of a modern, more intelligent energy infrastructure," she said, in a prepared release. "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."
-By Stephen Swoyer