Heard Around Town: Cisco Expands Its Green Buying Team

Cisco Systems, the router and networking king, has been significantly expanding its team charged with buying greentech companies, according to sources.

We've been waiting for Cisco to start opening the wallet any day now. Back in the '90s, the company treated the telecommunications industry like its own private version of the Home Shopping Network, snapping up companies like vegetable choppers and massage tables. Some startup CEOs even admitted they designed their company strictly to get bought by Cisco. Even more remarkable, Cisco was actually pretty good at integrating new technologies and employees into the corporate fold, particularly compared to companies like Intel.

Cisco began to actively pursue the green market in 2007 with a set of rousing speeches from CEO John "Are You Ready?" Chambers. The full strategy got fleshed out this January with the release of EnergyWise, a software layer designed to curb power consumption in PCs, networking equipment, phones and eventually buildings. After that, the compulsive shopping spree became only a matter of time. Cisco has already bought one outfit in building energy management.

Verdiem, which manages power in PCs and phones, could be one of the first buys. Verdiem is one of Cisco's partners in EnergyWise. Other potential targets include Hara, Adura Technologies, and anyone with the words "smart" or "grid" in their business plans. Silver Spring Networks, however, may not be in the hunt. The two see each other as rivals, some have said. Silver Spring has also scalped Judy Lin, one of Cisco's key employees.