Cisco, Itron Alliance Offers Plenty of Buzzwords

Itron and Cisco plan to develop network software but details have been limited to buzzwords.

By Enterprise Networking Planet Staff | Sep 3, 2010
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Cisco and Itron recently announced a strategic alliance to "advance the transformation of the world's energy infrastructure". This Reuters story refers to the company's press release regarding the new networking alliance as a bit of Buzzword Bingo.

"It sounds pretty big, yes? The press release would be a good source for smart grid "buzzword bingo", with the announcement of a joint collaboration on a standards-based, open, highly secure, interoperable, scalable, reliable, enterprise-class, IP-based, end-to-end, reference-design platform. The hour-long press/analyst call didn't seem to clear up the confusion, judging from the number of calls I fielded from various folks just afterwards.

"So just what did Cisco and Itron announce? It seems Itron and Cisco will develop network software, initially instantiated within Itron's OpenWay smart meter hardware, leveraging IPv6 and other 'Cisco IP' goodies, for a highly secure, open, and interoperable RF mesh field area network. Itron will embed and license 'Cisco IP technology' within OpenWay as well as distribute Cisco networking equipment and hardware."

Read the Full Story at Reuters

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