According to Cisco CEO John Chambers, EnergyWise is aimed at helping individuals, companies and even entire countries to become more energy efficient. "It's about how to be responsible and use the resources we have on this planet in a way that allows us to achieve both our business goals and our society goals," Chambers said.

The Power of Numbers

EnergyWise employs a unique domain-naming system to measure and summarize information about all the devices attached to a network -- including device type, physical location, and power consumption, said Senior Software Development Manager Mala Devlin. Once armed with "a deep and meaningful view of device power consumption and behavior," the network can reduce the power consumption of individual devices by "applying static or dynamic business policies, making network management less complicated and more scalable," Devlin said.

For example, a management station can ask the EnergyWise network to summarize the power of desktop IP phones within a single building, Devlin said. "EnergyWise understands which devices are IP phones, where they reside at, and which ones are designated with the desktop label," she said.

Enabled networks will be able to command high-priority end points to maintain their full capability. Moreover, lower-priority end points can be programmed for a reduction in power -- or even a temporary shutdown -- during off hours, Devlin said.

The establishment of specific power-consumption policies based on clearly quantified goals -- together with the network's ability to recommend changes -- will help companies fulfill their cost-saving strategies, Chambers said. "It's amazing that when you put numerical goals in place and you move to them, how often you can achieve them," Chambers added.

Three Distinct Phases

Cisco intends to introduce its pioneering technology in three distinct phases, starting with next month's rollout of support for the company's Catalyst switches and the management of IP devices such as phones, video surveillance cameras, and wireless access points. Moreover, expanded industry support for EnergyWise is slated to arrive this summer on devices such as desktop PCs, laptops and printers, the company said.

By early 2010, Cisco aims to manage power consumption for an entire range of building components -- such as lights, elevators and air-conditioning and heating -- with an assist from its recent acquisition of intelligent middleware provider Richards-Zeta. Cisco will also draw on the utility management, network-monitoring, and PC-monitoring capabilities of partners Schneider Electric, SolarWinds and Verdiem.

Cisco's ultimate goal is to give chief information officers better visibility into energy savings across an entire organization as well as specific locations. "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 Senior Vice President Judy Lin.