Enterprises constantly evaluate their organizations to optimize costs.  For IT managers, an economic squeeze means doing more with less as spending freezes can threaten energy efficiency goals.

However, careful planning and network design choices offer some of the smartest ways yet to maximize energy efficiency while controlling costs. 

Today, enterprises seek the most energy efficient, high performance networking products for their IT infrastructure that do not compromise on the critical features required to support convergence-voice, video and data. 

Beyond the first step of selecting energy efficient networking equipment, the following tips offer simple ways that networks can be utilized to conserve energy while providing a resilient foundation that keeps a business thriving.

Energy efficiency starts with the network design.  During this process, Local Area Networks (LANs) can be configured to use less power.  By collapsing the tiers of the network, this greatly reduces the number of switches required to serve the enterprise.  With the introduction of more powerful Ethernet switches for the network edge, including 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks and system resiliency, network designers now have the ability to collapse the traditional three tier network into just two tiers - the edge and core network - removing the aggregation layer and its associated energy consumption.

The capital savings associated with the upfront purchase followed by the on-going savings from reduced energy consumption of using a smaller number of Ethernet switches in a Two Tier network design brings tangible benefits for both IT managers, who have to manage and operate fewer devices, and the environment where less power is needed overall to run the network.

Another energy efficient method is to utilize native software intelligence to optimize electricity delivered to powered devices connected at the network’s edge.  Managing edge devices and network ports is similar to the way a maintenance and operations team for a facility turns out lights and other appliances in a large building when not occupied.  Today’s Ethernet switches support 802.11af standards-based Power over Ethernet (PoE) to enable transmissions to devices connected at the network edge.  Devices such as IP phones, cameras and Wireless LAN (802.11) Access Points (APs) can be powered by the network while also receiving data bandwidth through the same connection.  This saves network and facilities staff the cost and the complexity of separately wiring a building for both the LAN and power needs at every network node.

Finally, with the use of emerging automation tools to configure, operate and manage connected devices, enterprises can reduce the costs and electricity usage associated with running the network edge by between 50 and 75 percent, a significant amount that reduces a business’s carbon footprint and allows them to more intelligently and proactively manage and operate their LAN infrastructure.

For more information about Extreme Networks, visit their website www.extremenetworks.com.

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