After its push into smart grids, Cisco Systems has identified another major segment where its technology can play a role in the fight against climate change – buildings.

The company announced (officially – since it has already done a lot of work in the area) Smart Connected Buildings as its latest emerging technology, which is now pegged as a key component in delivering on its vision for Smart+Connected Communities, which in turn is one of 30 key markets adjacencies the company has identified.

According to Cisco, Smart+Connected Communities addresses the growing need for sustainable energy to meet the demand of increasingly urbanized populations by providing a network-enabled blueprint for successful smart cities of the future that run on networked information.

“Today’s announcement of Smart Connected Buildings as Cisco’s latest Emerging Technology highlights the strength of our internal innovation engine for identifying and developing solutions in key market adjacencies. Our aim is to create a new set of systems and solutions that take the network and extend the power of the platform to deliver sustainable energy management from information technology and commercial buildings all the way through to smart grid and the home,” said Marthin De Beer, Cisco senior vice president, Emerging Technologies Group.

Wim Elfrink, Cisco Services’ chief globalisation officer and EVP added: “Over the next three to five years, as more people around the world migrate to urban centres, 3 billion individuals around the world will connect to the Internet. Cisco envisages a future where successful communities and cities will run on networked information, and where information technology will help the world better manage its energy and environmental challenges. Cities of the future, and many innovative cities now, are addressing the issues and opportunities of this new world by thinking about the network as the platform for economic development, better city management and an improved quality of life for citizens. Everything connected to the network in these smart+connected communities can be greener.”

One of the key initiatives of the announcement this week is the Cisco Network Building Mediator, a solution that provides the intelligence to interconnect and enable building systems such as heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC), lighting, electrical, security, and renewables over the IP network to build smart and energy efficiency buildings.

The Cisco Network Building Mediator communicates “southbound” with building systems using a variety of industry open-system protocols. It then converts the data to open XML/SOAP Services which connect “northbound” to applications, utilities, enterprise management systems and cloud services.

According to one user, David Shroyer, controls engineer at NetApp, the Cisco Network Building Mediator was able adjust the energy consumption of the company’s facilities to match utility capacity, reducing lighting by 50% and raising the temperature set point by 4 degrees, shedding 1.1 megawatts of demand.

“In conjunction with other systems, the Cisco solution has helped us reduce energy consumption in our Sunnyvale location by 18 million kilowatt hours in 18 months. We have reduced our carbon footprint and have saved an estimated $2 million in energy costs,” Shroyer said.

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As part of the announcement, Cisco says more than 20 technology partners have signed up for the Cisco Development Technology Program for the Mediator. The company intends to introduce an Authorized Technology Provider Program for channel partners and system integrators to support the initiative.

The Cisco Network Building Mediator is orderable now and is available in two configurations; the Cisco Network Building Mediator 2400 and the Cisco Network Building Mediator 4800. Pricing starts at USD $4995.