Cisco, a global technology company, and Gridspertise have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop and deploy new solutions for the digital innovation in electricity grids. The companies announced the deal on Jan. 28. The MoU is a collaborative framework that leverages both Cisco and Gridspertise’s technological and business expertise.
The companies on Tuesday said a key component of this partnership is the creation of a joint Center of Competence, which will focus on integrating existing solutions and developing new ones to address current and future challenges in the electricity market.
This partnership reaffirms Gridspertise’s strategic approach to expanding its product and service offerings and extending its global reach through collaborations with top-tier technology partners. Gridspertise Group offers grid intelligent devices, end-to-end cloud-edge platform solutions and services to accelerate the digital transformation of electricity distribution grids.
The venture also enhances Cisco’s strategy for the utility sector, which emphasizes innovation and ecosystem collaboration. The new Center of Competence will play a pivotal role in serving the global utility market, fostering an environment of continuous innovation and collaboration.
“Utilities worldwide are on the path to an energy and sustainable transition and our role is to support them by helping the ecosystem grow and developing digital technologies that enable electrification, new models of energy production and consumption, and the increasing use of renewable sources,” said Gianmatteo Manghi, CEO of Cisco Italy. “The agreement with Gridspertise and the creation of the joint Center of Competence represent important opportunities to accelerate on this global transition.”
“We are enthusiastic to partner with Cisco to create a smarter, more sustainable energy future. This agreement is an important step in advancing the digitalization of the energy system,” said Robert Denda, CEO of Gridspertise. “With cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things playing increasingly vital roles, our combined digital solutions will help utilities worldwide improve the resiliency, efficiency, and flexibility of their power grids, enabling them to more easily integrate renewable energy and meet evolving customer needs.”
Cisco and Gridspertise are collaborating to develop innovative solutions that incorporate Cisco products and technologies into Gridspertise’s offerings. This includes a study of possible integrations between some of the current products of the two companies, such as a version of Gridspertise’s Quantum Edge device with an integrated Cisco Router, allowing customers to continue using Cisco telecommunications solutions in Smart Grid environments. Additional areas of development include digitization technologies tailored to electricity distribution networks and the creation of solutions for virtualizing secondary substations within the distribution network.
Under the agreement, Cisco and Gridspertise will study joint go-to-market actions targeting the global utility market. By combining Cisco’s extensive footprint with Gridspertise’s expertise in developing solutions for the digital and sustainable energy transition, the joint Center of Competence will leverage their respective strengths and resources to maximize impact.
—POWER edited this content, which was contributed by Gridspertise’s media relations team.
