Silver Spring Networks

History

Silver Spring Networks was founded in July 2002 as Real Time Techomm in Butler, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. Original founders included Eric Dresselhuys who had worked on related technology since 1995, and Keith Burge. In 2002, funding came from Denver angel investor Jack Thompson. The company adopted the name of the street in Milwaukee of its original office and was relocated to Redwood City, California in 2003 with an $8 million investment from Foundation Capital. Ray Bell became interim CEO and chief technology officer, but left to found Grid Net in 2005. Other investors included Northgate Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Google. The company moved its headquarters to San Jose in 2016.

The first large pilot deployment was started in 2007 with Florida Power & Light (FPL) in southern Florida. In 2008, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) signed an agreement to provide the company's smart meters, and remained the largest customer for at least several years. In early 2011, some speculated that Cisco Systems might buy the company. However, Cisco had already invested in rival Grid Net in 2010. On July 7, 2011, Silver Spring Networks filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise up to $150 million in an initial public offering. Silver Spring Networks went public under the listing symbol SSNI on the New York Stock Exchange on March 13, 2013, raising about $81 million.

Technology

Silver Spring Networks develops equipment that creates wireless mesh networks and transmits energy consumption data between meters, consumers and utilities in real time. The software indicates how much money is spent on electricity and indicates how much can be saved if one switches to energy-efficient models. The meters in the PG&E deployment include two radios: one in the unlicensed ISM band of 902 to 928 MHz for communication back to the utility provider, and another intended for future communication to a home network. The technology has low bit rate requirements, but also needs to be very low cost.

Silver Spring is a partner with more than 40 companies and provides additional applications to utilities and customers on the Smart Energy Platform like smart thermostats, in-home displays, and electric vehicle (EV) charging technology.

Silver Spring began its technology offering with a smart grid network based on Internet Protocol (IP) technology, which was advocated for the smart grid by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other smart grid experts. Silver Spring expanded on the network to smart grid application software that includes demand response (DR), demand management and other services for utilities and their customers.

In October 2009 Silver Spring acquired Greenbox Technology, and developed its web-based software into a product called CustomerIQ. In an Oklahoma Gas & Electric pilot program involving 2,500 homes in the summer of 2010 on Silver Spring’s Smart Energy Platform, participants saw an average energy use drop of up to 33 percent during the highest price periods. The pilot consisted of several groups using Silver Spring’s web-based energy management solution as well as smart thermostats and in-home energy displays on various dynamic pricing schemes.