Cisco has set up an Internet of Things innovation centre in Berlin, as well as signing a deal to take over cloud operator Metacloud.
The centre is scheduled to open in 2015, with Cisco pledging a spend of almost $30 million (€23.2 million) on it in the coming years. It will be based in Schöneberg district and will be one of six global innovation centres.
Michael Ganser, Senior Vice-President Central Europe at Cisco, said: “We consider Germany as an innovation stronghold, especially when it comes to manufacturing and logistics, as reflected also in the Industry 4.0 strategy of the federal government. Therefore, we decided to bring our global Internet of Everything Innovation Centre for manufacturing, transportation and logistics to Berlin, taking advantage of the strengths and future potential of Germany.
“With openBerlin and its ecosystem of partners, our aim is to accelerate innovation and the adoption of the Internet of Everything in Germany.”
Meanwhile, Cisco said its acquisition of Metacloud, a privately held business in California, would speed up its plans to build an “Intercloud”, or network of clouds. It said the deal would aid it in building a global, secure cloud platform that could be used for the Internet of Things.
Hilton Romanski, SVP of Cisco Corporate Development, said: “Cloud computing has dramatically changed the IT landscape. To enable greater business agility and lower costs, organisations are shifting from an on-premise IT structure to hybrid IT – a mix of private cloud, public cloud, and on-premise applications.
“The resulting silos present a challenge to IT administrators, as choice, visibility, data sovereignty and protection in this world of many clouds requires an open platform. We believe Metacloud’s technology will play a critical role in enabling our customers to experience a seamless journey to a new world of many clouds, providing choice, flexibility, and data governance.”
The deal is expected to be completed during the first quarter of next year.
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