The Cisco EnergyWise solution, which we wrote about earlier when it was unveiled at CiscoLive! in Barcelona, is starting to gather some attention.  For example, the Forrester Infrastructure Blog recently wrote about how EnergyWise can change basic assumptions within the ruling theory of IT.  (And yes, I wrote that all out so that I wouldn’t have to write a phrase as clichéd as “paradigm shift.”)

Still, when the shoe fits – the idea of “Green IT” has always been about reducing the amount of power consumption of IT itself; lowering utility costs.  Using IT to reduce the amount of power consumption for the company as a whole is an abrupt step change, advancing and augmenting the capabilities and responsibilities of IT in a revolutionary manner.  (Or… I guess you could call it a “quantum leap” if you had to…)

(Darn.  I’ve been working in this industry long enough that I’m beginning to think in buzzwords.  But I digress.)

Point is that we too often have been thinking of energy efficiency and network performance as – if not inversely proportional, than at least two goals that can interfere with each other – in that sometimes companies may choose to sacrifice one of them in order to improve the other, though most of the time, it’s mostly about finding a happy middle ground. 

But what’s happening with Cisco EnergyWise is that energy efficiency is now being shifted from a concern to a networked application.  The network can become the core of energy efficiency, rather than just a cause of energy consumption. 

This places IT teams in the precarious position of being responsible not just for the computers but for the facilities – heating, cooling, and lighting.  In other words, IT teams have just been given a hell of a lot of – and forgive the bad pun – power. 

Bad pun, yes, but resistance to IT taking over responsibilities for facilities will likely be strong because in an organization responsibility often is power.   When bad times come, and layoffs with them, companies will be more hesitant if someone is the only person in the company, “who knows how to turn on the darn lights…”

In an unrelated note, Network Instruments just released a new filter for use with GigaStor and Observer devices specifically designed to track the Conficker/Downadup worm.  More information on GigaStor can be found here.