2/10/2009 -- Late last month, Cisco Systems Inc. unveiled EnergyWise, its most ambitious stab yet at eco-friendly IT.

There's a lot to like in EnergyWise, industry watchers say, although there's also a lot to be said for using common sense when it comes to eco-friendly IT and, more specifically, to reducing energy consumption.

EnergyWise, for the record, concerns both Cisco's networking gear and the physical plant. To that end, Cisco last month acquired Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, a firm that specializes in software to link automated control systems -- such as lighting infrastructure, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), locks, and other electronic resources -- with IP networks.

EnergyWise is slated to unfold in three phases, the first of which involves planned software upgrades to Cisco's gear that deliver policy-based management and enable Cisco devices to collect power consumption data. This phase largely focuses on power-over-Ethernet gear -- e.g., IP phones and wireless access points (WAP) -- according to market watcher Gartner Inc.

In the second phase, Cisco will partner with Verdiem Corp., a specialist in PC power management. This is a relatively new area for Cisco, Gartner noted.

The third and final phase directly concerns Cisco's Richards-Zeta assets: It involves power management for a company's HVAC and lighting infrastructure.

Gartner analysts Simon Mingay and Neil Rickard applaud Cisco's EnergyWise initiative, which they say "will produce useful monitoring data and power savings." Nevertheless, the duo added, there are risks. "Some of EnergyWise's capabilities, such as shutting down certain phones at certain times of the day, will result in an administrative burden for network administrators and additional efforts to communicate policies to users," they wrote, adding that "unifying network and building infrastructure systems can create vulnerabilities, especially in health care and public safety environments, unless appropriate mitigating action is taken."

There's a can't-see-the-forest-for-the-trees danger at work here, too, according to Mingay and Rickard. Focusing on the complexities of EnergyWise could distract organizations from more common-sense strategies to reduce energy costs. "Implementing automated power management can distract enterprises from more fundamental energy-saving techniques, such as making shrewd investments in energy-efficient network elements and consolidating infrastructure," they conclude. --Stephen Swoyer