Cisco announced remote management solutions at Cisco Live June 29, 2010. This brings a whole new range of devices that would attach as endpoints to IP networks.
Cisco's announcement builds upon
its recently announced Connected Grid portfolio and help[s] consumers and businesses better monitor and manage their energy consumption for cost and carbon savings, including an easy-to-use interface for the home environment.
Cisco also announced
updates to its Smart Connected Buildings portfolio, including the new Cisco Network Building Mediator Manager 6300, which enables centralized management of Smart Connected Buildings across global enterprise operations, and the new Cisco Network Building Mediator 3.1, which provides the platform for linking multiple disparate building automation systems and protocols over Internet Protocol and for allowing greater integration and visibility of energy flows across real estate and information technology.
Think about energy management. Nearly everyone who wants to control energy usage does it locally and not in real time. Most energy saving designs are installed strategically and usually operate with infrequent measurement of the actual usage. This is done offline.
The Cisco products centrally manage geographically distributed facilities over the IP network. This can increase operational efficiencies with distributed facility management. It provides tools that can be used to reduce the overall energy consumption and system downtime. The products offer proactive system alerts for preventive maintenance of critical equipment--for example, when a device draws more power than normal or there is no power drain at all meaning a device has failed.
The first consideration for the enterprise is the financial argument that needs to be made to justify the energy measuring endpoints and management systems. The savings must be more than the cost to procure and operate the energy endpoints.
The facilities staff members at the enterprise are the ones most interested in reducing energy consumption. They, however, are not commonly familiar with IP networks and their operation. When the enterprise embarks on remote energy management, the facilities staff needs some education in how IP networks and endpoint devices are supported so that the facilities staff does not have expectations that cannot be realized. The facilities staff is probably the group who can best justify the expenditure for the energy managing endpoints. The facilities staff should be part of the team that produces the financial justification.
A second consideration is that the energy data and control information will traverse the IP network. The network staff will see the endpoints as another user. The network management system may have to be updated to encompass the energy endpoints. The traffic implications will probably be minor and not require expanded bandwidth.
A major point is the reliability of the network. When network components fail, then the energy management will not work. The cost of endpoint connection loss needs to be determined. There may or may not be a requirement to improve the network reliability.
A third point is who will operate and maintain the energy endpoints. This is not like adding an IP phone or wireless access point. The facilities staff, if they are in charge of the endpoints, will need some education about the enterprise’s IP network. The facilities staff will need to learn what to do with the energy data and how to create energy control policies that can be promulgated across the enterprise. There needs to close coordination between the facilities staff and the people responsible for the network components and endpoints monitored by these new Cisco energy monitoring products.
This is not the end of the devices that will be connected to the IP network. IT organizations will have support an ever widening range of endpoints. There will be more interaction required between IT and other enterprise business functions as new devices are added to the IP network.
