Cisco this morning announced its official game plan for the smart grid market, which it believes represents a $20 billion-a-year opportunity as the systems are built out over the next five years. In typical Cisco fashion, the five-point plan hinges on new opportunities for its existing business lines: networking solutions for smart grid communications, security for the smart grid, gear for the coming utility data center buildout, and energy management systems for the home and enterprise.

As utilities become the next big purchasers of networking and data center gear, Cisco smells a ripe opportunity for its Unified Computing System, which it unveiled earlier this year. While Cisco competes for traditional data center customers with numerous competitors that have legacy relationships, to date the utility market is relatively small, and with its expertise in network security, Cisco could have a compelling pitch. But smart grid communications is the area in which Cisco is most likely to shine; the networking giant says it can play a critical role in helping automate how electrons move from supply to demand.

For now, the plan lacks a lot of specific detail, but it nonetheless is an example of how aggressively Cisco is moving into the space — and signals to some startups that there’s a powerful new competitor (or partner) on the scene.

You can get wireless data access just about everywhere these days, from your bathtub to Barcelona’s city streets, so why not in your body?  Well, soon you will — or at least, that’s the vision of a handful of emerging biotech companies. As the Boomer generation ages, companies eyeing the overburdened U.S. medical systems see opportunities to extend the reach of existing medical care, free up health resources for those who need them most, and encourage long-term health and fitness using technology.  Here’s a look at a few of the high-tech devices aiming to revolutionize health care: Continue »

The Obama administration’s $825 billion economic recovery package, nicknamed the “Green New Deal,” is packed with references to doubling renewable energy generation, funding public transportation and energy-efficiency projects, and investing in clean water and environmental restoration. But it’s not just a present for the cleantech crowd — the tech world is getting some goodies, too.

Although the $6 billion broadband allocation seems puny to some, the bill pledges funding for computerizing the health care system, modernizing education delivery (including technology), and, yes, the green-hued “smart grid.” And many of the same items that have the cleantech crowd champing at the bit to see the bill passed offer hidden opportunities for tech firms, too. Today’s environmental innovations, from greener highway design to safer water delivery, depend heavily on data, data and more data, positioning tech firms to seize a substantial piece of one of the hottest markets in town.  Continue »

According to research from Instat, ZigBee may be following in the footsteps of now-ubiquitous Wi-Fi, thanks to the growth of the “smart energy” marketplace. Earth2Tech reports that chips and nodes used to build wireless networks based on the leading standard, 802.15.4, (the one the ZigBee specification is based on) will grow to 292 million in 2012, up from 7 million in 2007 — that’s nearly 4,000 percent growth over a 5-year period.  Instat notes that wireless sensor networks and smart meters, both of which aim to improve building energy efficinecy, will play a critical role in spurring that growth.