Monday, January 26, 2009

Cisco Debuts EnergyWise for Catalyst Switches

Cisco unveiled its EnergyWise technology for enabling Cisco Catalyst switches to play a key role in measuring, reporting and reducing electricity consumption across an entire organization, including IP-enabled devices such as phones, laptops and access points along with entire building systems such as lights, elevators, and air conditioning and heating.


Cisco EnergyWise will roll out in three phases to improve IT and building system energy utilization:

  • In the first phase (February 2009), Network Control, Cisco EnergyWise will be supported on Catalyst switches and manage the energy consumption of IP devices such as phones, video surveillance cameras and wireless access points. Initially, this includes devices connected by Power-over-Ethernet


  • In the next phase (Summer 2009), IT Control, there will be expanded industry support of EnergyWise on devices such as personal computers (PCs), laptops and printers.


  • In the final phase (Early 2010), Building Control, Cisco EnergyWise will be extended to the management of building system assets such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), elevators, lights, employee badge access systems, fire alarm systems and security systems.


To enable interoperability and integration between building infrastructure, IT applications and Cisco EnergyWise, Cisco has acquired a middleware platform from Richards-Zeta, a privately-held company based in Santa Barbara, California.


Cisco also introduced adaptive power management functionality in the Cisco Wireless Control System to save power by enabling customers to turn off redundant radios during off hours.


Cisco is working with Schneider Electric for building utility management, SolarWinds for network monitoring, and Verdiem for monitoring PC power in order to extend EnergyWise as a platform for power management across IT and the building systems of an organization by early 2010.


"Cisco believes that information technology has the power to transform the way the world manages its environmental and energy challenges. With EnergyWise, Cisco is uniquely positioned to help our customers gain a network wide view of energy consumption that encompasses not only device-level power, but in the future entire network efficiency, building operations and business practices across an entire organization," said Judy Lin, senior vice president of the Ethernet Switching technology group for Cisco.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10195/index.html