Cisco loses smart grid chief

SAN FRANCISCO (Origin: PennEnergy) (Feb. 14, 2012) — Cisco, one of the growing competitors in the smart grid field, has suffered a major loss at the top of its chain of command.

Network World reports that Cisco has lost Laura Ipsen, its vice president and general manager of Connected Energy, which is responsible for developing the company’s smart grid technology.

Previously serving as the head of the company’s Global Policy and Government Affairs division, Ipsen will be moving to Microsoft to serve as the company’s vice president of its Worldwide Public Sector business.

Ipsen oversaw the development of the recently announced GridBlocks Architecture.

AOL Energy reports that Cisco developed GridBlocks in the hopes of creating a single, unified platform for the collection and distribution of all the information used by a smart grid. In particular, this system was designed to be able to integrate information from older sources in addition to new smart meters.

The loss of Ipsen comes as a harsh blow after the company saw several top executives leave in the wake of a consolidation of its efforts into fewer directions.