Case Study: Cisco achieves at least $9M in annual energy savings with Raritan smart PDUs

Cisco's Global Lab Energy Management Program

Cisco Systems faced a major energy challenge in its global test and development labs: although the labs occupy only about 10% of Cisco’s real estate, they consume roughly 60% of the company’s power (>900 MWh) and generate more than $80M in annual electricity costs, making them Cisco’s largest source of operational GHG emissions. The company needed a low‑cost, high‑ROI program to cut power and cooling demand across 1,600+ labs while engaging ~40,000 lab employees.

Cisco implemented a three‑part program—technology, infrastructure and people—centered on deploying ~11,000 smart PDUs (integrated with Cisco EnergyWise) for remote shutdowns, automated shutdown scripts, airflow and cooling optimizations, and employee engagement/energy‑champion initiatives. The measures are projected to save at least $9M annually (about $8.6M from PDUs), meet the targeted ROI, reduce emissions, and provide a repeatable blueprint for lab energy management.

Cisco