Cisco is to open what it calls an IoE innovation centre in Barcelona, targeting smart cities as the networking giant looks to increase its footprint in the Internet of Things (IoT) market.
IoE (Internet of Everything) is Cisco’s term for appliances enabled with sensors and assigned their own IP address that connect to the Internet, allowing devices and machines to communicate with each other, interpret information and make intelligent decisions in real-time.
Up to $30m will be invested in the campus from 2015 to 2020, which will be spent on restoring the facilities, and research and tech development for smart cities.
Anil Menon, Cisco’s deputy chief globalisation officer, said the centre will support customers, partners, startups, governments and research organisations.
"These centres represent powerful hubs capable of galvanizing innovative thinking into influential new strategies for defining and building the next iteration of our cities and of our world," he explained.
"For instance, as urban services become connected within cities, unprecedented economic opportunities will follow -leading to a new globalided urban services industry."
The 1,720m2 centre, which will open in summer 2016 in collaboration with Barcelona City Council, will compliment five of Cisco’s other centres focused on the IoT.
The other centres are in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Songdo, South Korea, as well as two undergoing development in Germany and Canada.
The announcement comes a week after the networking firm revealed that number its wireless gateway products are vulnerable to being controlled by hackers.
