Cisco EnergyWise: Power Management Without Borders

White Paper
Cisco EnergyWise: Power Management Without Borders
Introduction In response to energy costs, environmental concerns, and government directives, there is an increased need for sustainable and "green" business IT operations. Methods to measure power consumption and control energy output are now the focus of businesses worldwide, with all customers looking for consolidated energy management across different device and communications media. ®Cisco EnergyWise is a new energy management architecture that will allow IT operations and facilities to measure and fine-tune power usage to realize significant cost savings. Cisco EnergyWise focuses on reducing power utilization on all devices connected to a Cisco network ranging from Power over Ethernet (PoE) devices such as IP phones and wireless access points to IP-enabled building and lighting controllers. It uses an intelligent network-based approach, allowing IT and building facilities operations to understand, optimize, and control power across an entire corporate infrastructure, potentially affecting any powered device.
This white paper illustrates how businesses can utilize Cisco EnergyWise with a network enabled by Cisco to better understand the power footprint of their organization and optimize to reduce energy costs (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Cisco EnergyWise Optimize and Cost Saving

Traditional IT Power Management Today many customers are focused on reducing costs related to the power consumed by IT devices in the enterprise. Normally this involves the comparison of device efficiency, power consumption, and the total number of devices needed but no other metrics. However, enterprise professionals lack a holistic means to measure the day-to-day power consumed by all network-attached devices. This problem is compounded because responsibility for building systems is provided by the traditional facilities team, which manages heating, cooling, and lighting resources. Many customers realize the cost of maintaining separate networks for the control of heating, cooling, and © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 1 of 11 White Paper
lighting is expensive, and because of this building control devices are converging to IP and utilizing the Cisco network. The interaction between the two teams typically happens when sizing the network wiring closets or when redundant power systems are implemented. Many times, wiring closets' electrical infrastructure is oversized because real power utilization of the equipment under real operating conditions is not understood. This often leads to installation of oversized uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) and excessive cooling. This inaccurate engineering of the wiring closet increases initial deployment costs and leads to long-term inefficient operation of systems. Most customers would benefit from realistic information about the amount of power consumed by IT-related devices, including switches, routers, IP phones, PCs, surveillance cameras, and wireless access points. Cisco EnergyWise provides the IT professional a new method to understand power usage and justify energy costs.
Cisco EnergyWise Power Management Cisco EnergyWise is an energy management architecture designed to measure power consumption and optimize power usage, resulting in effective delivery of power across the enterprise. IT professionals can quickly optimize the power consumed in a building, and the result is immediate cost saving with a clear return on investment.
Cisco EnergyWise measures current power consumption, can automate and take actions to optimize power levels, and can advise how much power is being consumed to demonstrate cost saving. After power consumption is understood, regulation using Cisco EnergyWise network protocols provides command and control of power usage. Energy consumed per location can easily be found with a realistic view of power consumed per wiring closet, building floor, or campus building (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Cisco EnergyWise Optimized Power Delivery and Verification

End-to-End Cisco EnergyWise Intelligence The Cisco EnergyWise network is used to intelligently and proactively manage power consumption and consistently enforce policies to provide lower energy consumption. Cisco EnergyWise has the ability to monitor, manage, and reduce energy use by creating visibil... [download for more]