14 DAY TRIAL // Cisco, the networking giant, plans to introduce a new technology that would allow server and storage vendors collect critical data about equipments and send it to Cisco via the manufacturer's networking devices.
Cisco will use open standards in order to collect essential data, such as power consumption, operating temperature and so on, as this information has a great impact over the business. The network is the artery that links all the IT resources in a business, so it is suppose to fit best for data collecting.
Paul Marcoux is Cisco's vice president of green engineering department and joined the company from American Power Conversion. Since then, he took care of looking over energy issues that occurred across all parts of the company.
Although networking gear features much lower power consumption than server and storage infrastructures, Cisco hopes to optimize its own products and make them more energy-aware.
The electricity bill is the main problem inside the datacenter. High power consumption not only affects the company's budget, but also rises questions regarding global climate changes that occur during the excessive accumulation of carbon dioxide radiated by power plants.
Such information Cisco is willing to collect and analyze would have a tremendous impact in reducing power costs. According to Marcoux, "Distributing storage and processing cycles without regard for power issues is not just inefficient, it's dangerous".
The software built inside routers or switches will take care of collecting the information regarding power consumption. The data will be forwarded to the energy management department or virtualization control systems. Cisco estimates that the technology will be ready for mass-implementation within three years' time. "We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, we're just trying now to utilize the wheel," Marcoux said about the energy management systems.