The leading Korean IT services firm LG CNS is in talks with networking giant Cisco to collaborate on their Internet of Things businesses.

“We met executives from LG CNS to discuss collaboration for IoT businesses around two weeks ago,” said an official from Cisco, indicating that the two companies plan to work together on building smart infrastructure in a South Korean city.

The official did not specify the exact location but said the project could be aimed at transforming a city into a smart city.

Some industry officials speculated that Kim Dae-hoon, the chief executive of LG CNS, met Cisco chairman John Chambers in the U.S. during his recent visit.

However, LG CNS denied the reports, saying that it has not yet started such talks.

An official from the Korean IT solutions provider did admit, however, that Kim had conducted meetings with Cisco officials in the first half of this year to fine-tune the details of their deal for cloud services, announced in August.

Chambers said at Cisco’s annual IoT World Forum held in Chicago last week that the U.S. networking giant would maintain solid business relationships with Korean partners such as LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics.

The California-based company has long been working with Korean companies and municipal governments here in developing smart cities.

Partnering with POSCO E&C, a South Korean construction firm, and LG CNS, Cisco in 2011 pledged to invest up to $47 million to establish networks in skyscrapers in the Songdo International Business District.

Cisco’s global R&D center, called the Global Center of Excellence, is housed in the headquarters of POSCO E&C in Songdo.

Cisco is also working with Incheon Metropolitan City to deploy high-speed network technology and to support sustainable economic development in the Incheon Free Economic Zone.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)