Today's Automation News Headlines from Automation.com

June 9, 2011 - FieldServer Technologies released a Cisco EnergyWise Endpoint driver allowing third party building automation devices to be accessed by the Cisco network service that allows for energy monitoring and management.

EnergyWise is an architecture built into Cisco switches and routers enabling access for monitoring, reporting and reducing energy consumption across an entire corporate or institution infrastructure. Cisco EnergyWise enables the utilization of the network as the platform for energy command and control.

IT networks using Cisco switches and routers are able to discover Cisco EnergyWise manageable devices, enabling energy management systems to monitor their power consumption and take action based on business rules to reduce power consumption while ensuring continued business productivity.  Many devices including IP phones, computers, laptops, VDI terminals and PDU’s have access to the Cisco EnergyWise domain and are part of the network.

However, until now, many legacy building devices and non-Ethernet connected devices have been left out of the domain. This includes a significant number of energy consuming devices such as lighting, HVAC, access control and safety systems. Utilization of a FieldServer gateway with EnergyWise Endpoint protocol enables access of these third-party devices to the Cisco EnergyWise domain. Energy management systems can then provide monitoring and control based on the capabilities of the third party device.

Cisco’s EnergyWise domain, coupled with FieldServer’s gateway to existing building automation devices and networks, enables serious energy management by today’s building owners, managers and integrators.