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Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) wants to tap into the growing interest in upgrading the energy infrastructure using its networking gear.

The networking titan, which has aggressively sought new avenues of growth as its core router and switching business slows, laid out on Monday the details of its smart-grid strategy. It plans to use its gear to help with the automation of power distribution, provide energy management products for the home and businesses, and upgrade utilities companies' data centers.

The hot topic of smart-grid investment has attracted a number of different players, including the wireless carriers, which plan to hook up utility meters with a cellular connection. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), meanwhile, is financing energy projects, while the U.S. government has promised $4 billion under the stimulus plan for smart-grid deployment.

Cisco believes the smart-grid infrastructure market size could be worth more than $20 billion a year for the next five years, although some have called the projection overly optimistic.

"The opportunity is real," said Judy Lin, the general manager of Cisco's ethernet switching technology group. "Smart-grid is one of the top priorities and key market adjacencies for Cisco."

Chairman and Chief Executive John Chambers will talk about Cisco's push into the smart-grid field during a speech at a JPMorgan conference later Monday. He referenced the opportunity during the company's quarterly conference call earlier this month.

The smart-grid market is still in its infancy, so it's still unclear how quickly Cisco will be able to see revenue from the business.

"The environment is really going to play a part in how quickly this becomes a big market opportunity everyone thinks it will be," said Jason Marcheck, an analyst at Current Analysis. "Cisco has a comprehensive vision on how they want to approach it, so that bodes well."

True to its core business, Cisco plans to use its networking expertise as a platform for energy management.

For utility companies, that means proposals to build a large Internet-based communications network on top of the power grid. The facilities would house virtual data centers the company has begun pitching. The company hopes its technology will help it manage the flow of power more efficiently.

"The biggest challenge with energy management today is matching supply with demand," Lin said, noting that demand has outpaced transmission growth by 25% a year.

Cisco plans to sell energy-management tools, which would look something like its Linksys routers, to consumers and small businesses to help them keep track of their power consumption and possibly cut down on energy bills.

"We see it as another way to gain more mindshare in the consumer marketplace," Lin said.

But Marcheck noted that it's still unclear whether consumers would want those tools in their home, particularly if they view them as intrusive.

Cisco also faces a lot of competition. The stimulus money has drawn a lot of companies eager to tap into this potential market.

"It's going to be a free-for-all," Marcheck said. "Everyone is putting their vision out there."

Lin said that product announcements would come in the next 12 to 24 months. Cisco already locked up a $220 million deal with General Electric Co. (GE), FPL Group's (FPL) Florida Power & Light Co. utility unit, and privately held smart grid technology provider Silver Spring Networks to upgrade the power grid in Miami.

-By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2020; roger.cheng@dowjones.com