Late last month, Cisco Systems Inc. announced the first hardware deliverables in its still-maturing Connected Grid effort.

To recap: Cisco last month unveiled its 2010 Connected Grid Router (CGR 2010) and Cisco 2520 Connected Grid Switch (CGS 2520). It bills these devices as the first hardware entries in an evolving Connected Grid portfolio that helps support secure IP-based connectivity for utility smart grids.

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Both the CGR 2010 and the CGS 2520 were a long time coming.

Cisco first announced Connected Grid last May, trumpeting its vision of a secure, IP-based network that connects utility companies and their customers.

Once fleshed out, Cisco promised, Connected Grid would support a number of smart grid-like capabilities for utilities, delivering secure communications between operations centers, power substations and -- of course -- customers.

From the outset, however, Cisco lacked skin in the game -- in the form, at least, of Connected Grid-ready hardware offerings.

Not that Cisco was pushing a paper or vapor vision. Since first announcing Connected Grid last May, it launched its EnergyWise facility monitoring service (based on technology it acquired from the former Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence Inc.) and introduced a new Network Building Mediator.

Shortly thereafter, Cisco announced a new 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.

The new CGR 2010 and CGS 2520 give Cisco some hardware skin in the Connected Grid game. The CGR 2010, for example, supports a number of industry-specific  standards (including IEC-61850, which governs communications networks and systems in utility substations) and boasts advanced quality of service (QoS) capabilities, including support for the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) standards used in industrial control systems. They also leverage the automation and intelligence features Cisco says it's building in to its Connected Grid software and services offerings. "Our Connected Grid portfolio represents the foundation of this innovative energy platform that will improve the electrical grid's efficiency and create exciting opportunities for utilities as well as new consumer energy services," said Laura Ipsen, senior manager and general manager for Cisco Smart Grid, in a statement. "With our substation automation solutions at the core, we look forward to helping utilities achieve their business and operational goals."
--By Stephen Swoyer