In the year 2000, we introduced 7 Watts inline power on our switching platforms. Since then, we have consistently doubled the power per port every 2 – 4 years. And now we are doing it again. Cisco Universal Power Over Ethernet (UPOE) is doubling the power delivered per port to 60 Watts on our modular access switching platform – the Cisco Catalyst 4500E. So what does that mean?

 It means network power resiliency to a wide range of devices and seamless integration with Cisco EnergyWise, to help lower energy bills.

Cisco UPOE opens up a whole new range of devices to network power that was previously not possible with PoE+: virtual desktop monitors, IP Turrets for financial trading, Personal TelePresence systems, compact switches, building management gateway devices, and more. Plus, it lowers capital expenditures by consolidating backup power infrastructure into the wiring closet. And with Cisco UPOE, you can forget the need for wall circuits for end devices that are connected to an access switch. Beyond capital expenditures, Cisco UPOE lowers on-going costs by eliminating battery replacement cycles for devices such as building badge readers.

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Tags: Cisco Catalyst 4500E, Energywise, PoE+, Universal Power Over Ethernet, UPOE

During our recent conversations around the benefits of an Enterprise Next-Generation Network (ENGN), the value of innovations such as Cisco EnergyWise has come up repeatedly.

Numerous global customers have reported back to us on the value of this feature in helping them to monitor, control and report on energy usage for IP-enabled devices.  These customers include Brunel University in the UK.  Thanks to Cisco EnergyWise, Brunel was able to achieve significant cost savings -- all from a feature that is available across Cisco’s Catalyst switches and doesn’t incur any additional expense!

This week, Lenovo became the latest member of the EnergyWise ecosystem – a group of over 80 partners working together with Cisco to allow customers to really maximize the impact of EnergyWise for their organizations.

The collaboration between Cisco and Lenovo will involve EnergyWise being natively supported on Lenovo ThinkPad laptops.  ThinkPad laptops featuring EnergyWise include models of the ThinkPad Edge, L, R, T, X, W and SL Series laptops.

So, what does this actually mean for customers?

Customers with a Cisco network and Lenovo ThinkPad laptops will be able to use the management and monitoring services from Cisco EnergyWise to establish more customizable and accurate energy management policies to help save money during times of peak energy costs, as well as when PCs and other IT equipment are not in use.

According to Jeff Reed, vice president of Cisco’s Unified Access Business Unit, “Lenovo pre-integrating Cisco EnergyWise in their ThinkPad laptops enables our customers to expand the value of their Cisco network without installing any additional software.  Now our Catalyst switching customers have a highly accurate PC energy management solution that delivers impressive energy savings at no extra cost.”

For more information on Cisco EnergyWise, please click here.

For more information on this week’s announcement, please click here to see Lenovo’s official press release.

If you have any comments or queries, please do not hesitate to DM me via Twitter or email me. I look forward to hearing from you!

Tags: Borderless Networks, Brunel University, Energywise, ENGN, innovation, Jeff Reed, Lenovo, ThinkPad

Today, Cisco introduced the Cisco® Catalyst® 3560-C and Catalyst® 2960-C Compact Series (C-Series) switches. With these switches, Cisco continues to deliver on its commitment to innovation in its core technologies.

These C-Series switches are aimed at helping customers deliver network services in locations that pose unique wiring, space or power challenges which would otherwise require disruption of business operations.

Another industry-first: Power over Ethernet (PoE) pass-through technology
With Cisco’s industry-first Power over Ethernet (PoE) pass-through capability, the C-Series Switches eliminate the need for power outlets and dramatically reduce cabling complexities and overall infrastructure requirements.  PoE pass-through technology powers IP devices in locations without access to power outlets.  Cisco C-Series Switches can draw power from an upstream (PoE+/PoE-capable) switch or a router in the wiring closet, to power itself and to drive power downstream to the IP devices connected to it.

Cisco EnergyWise gives the switches the capability to monitor, manage, and reduce energy consumption of the devices connected to the switch.  Devices can be turned off and powered down when they are not needed, allowing businesses to generate additional cost savings.

Other key features of the C-Series Switches include:
- Simple Setup and Unified Network Management > Including Cisco Catalyst Smart Operations for “zero touch” setup and quick troubleshooting and Cisco Auto SmartPorts for automatically configuring the switch based on type of devices that connect to it.
- Unparalleled Security with Cisco Trustsec > For more info on Cisco Trustsec, please click here.
- Dramatically reduced cabling costs and flexible device placement > The C-Series Switches do not require expensive individual cable drops and can be deployed up to 100m away from the wiring closet. The flexible device placement makes them particularly suited to non-traditional networking environments and their sleek, fanless design makes them a good fit for locations including check-out kiosks in retail stores.

For full details on today’s announcement, please click here. For more information on Borderless Networks, please visit the site here.

I welcome your feedback and comments on this announcement.

Tags: Borderless Networks, C-Series, catalyst, Energywise, Flexibility, innovation, management, power management, security, switching, TrustSec

I was fascinated with genetics when I was young, and still to this day, I somewhat regret that I didn’t choose Life Sciences as my major. I was amazed in 2000 to see that a group of scientists under the Human Genome Project has completely sequenced genome -- a full five years before the expected date of completion. This project was considered a mega project because the human genome has billions of base-pairs, and was carried out by geneticists in many countries.

How did they do it? I’d attribute the success to collaborative efforts and the power of AND, or one plus one is greater than two. It may be hard for me to explain the laws of math behind this equation to my second grader, but this is the power that drove the success of the Human Genome Project. Today, I want to share with you another great example of this power in-force: the Cisco EnergyWise Ecosystem Partnership.

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Tags: ecosystem, Energywise, Green

If you attended the Cisco Power of Participation virtual event yesterday, you probably noticed the tremendous amount of announcements around new products, solutions and technologies for both the data center and Cisco Borderless Networks. Now that the dust has settled, I thought it would be a good time to go through some of those announcements, highlight what I think is important, and point you to where you can get more information.

One of the key announcements in the launch was Application Velocity, a new network service for providing application performance, visibility, control and survivability – especially for remote connections to branch offices or cloud-based services. There are a lot of different technologies that fall under that umbrella, but I wanted to highlight three:

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Tags: anyconnect, Borderless Networks, Energywise, routing, security, switching, UCS Express, WAAS Express, wireless