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Orrick Advises Cisco on Smart Home Joint Venture with ABB and Bosch


December.02.2014

ABB, Bosch and Cisco plan to establish an international joint venture that will develop and operate an open software platform for smart home devices and applications that will enable the simple exchange of data between different manufacturers' devices.
 
The new platform will make it possible to provide a range of services related to household devices, in areas such as energy management, security technology and entertainment. In addition to developing and operating a software platform, the companies intend to invite appliance electronics manufacturers, home automation vendors and service providers to join a business ecosystem. The business ecosystem will aim to facilitate collaboration and incorporate a wide range of user requirements when developing the software platform.
 
A shareholder agreement to this effect was signed on November 27, 2014. The joint venture, to be domiciled in Germany​​, is subject to approval by antitrust authorities. The companies involved expect the joint venture to commence operations at the beginning of 2015. 
 
The Orrick corporate team advising Cisco was led by partner Oliver Duys and included senior associate Nikita Tkatchenko and counsel Sven Greulich.