Silver Spring Buys Greenbox in Latest Smart Grid Collaboration

Smart Grid networking company Silver Spring Networks has announced the acquisition of Greenbox Technology, a startup known for its home energy management software. Like most home energy management tools, the Greenbox interactive energy management Web portal lets users track and manage their energy consumption.  Silver Spring, which makes wireless meters and IP-based networking products for utilities, can benefit by adding a friendly interface to the customer side of the equation.

Quick Take:  It almost seems like alliance frenzy in the Smart Grid world.  At this week’s GridWeek conference in Washington, D.C., Trilliant, Tropos, and others are announcing interoperability partnerships.   In June, GridPoint announced it had acquired Canadian company Lixar SRS.  Most recently, meter maker Elster announced an alliance with Blue Line Innovations to add an in-home display to its offering.

As Earth2Tech’s Katie Fehrenbacher points out, it makes sense for smaller companies to want to appear bigger as giants like Cisco, IBM, and Siemens begin extending their influence in the Smart Grid marketplace. The startups need to form alliances to increase the services they offer and remain attractive to utilities. Acquiring a friendly home energy management interface is a relatively inexpensive way to do that while creating a more visible branding presence to consumers.  Full disclosure:  Silver Spring Network is a sponsor of Smart Grid News.

More information: According to a story in Venture Beat, Silver Spring already has partnerships with a number of utilities, including Pepco, Pacific Gas & Electric, Florida Power & Light, Commonwealth Edison and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.  But it’s not clear whether Silver Spring’s existing utility partners will want to adopt the Greenbox product.  Silver Spring is currently producing approximately 50,000 smart metering devices a week.

"Greenbox Technology has been a part of the Silver Spring Technology Alliance Partnership Program, and our companies have successfully worked together to deliver on the promise of an intelligent, networked electric grid," said Jonathan Gay, Founder and CTO, Greenbox Technology in a press release. "By joining Silver Spring Networks, we can deploy our home energy-management solution much faster and more broadly than we could alone. It's a winning combination for utilities and consumers."

   Jesse Berst report from GridWeek

   Earth2Tech story

   Venture Beat story

   Silver Spring press release

   SGN review of Greenbox software