Environment

Cisco has outlined five key strategies through which IT can significantly contribute to sustainability and environmental protection within organizations. Marking World Environment Day, the company emphasized that supporting sustainability targets may be IT’s most crucial mission yet.

Cisco’s own sustainability goals are among the highest in the industry. However, the company’s greatest impact lies in assisting other organizations in achieving their sustainability objectives by equipping their IT departments with technologies that are more efficient, observable, circular, and smarter, thanks to AI.

Here are the five ways IT teams can enable organizations in the region to become more sustainable:

1. Smarten Your Buildings Building operations account for 26 percent of energy-related emissions globally. Reducing this demand is essential, and IT can play a major role through solutions like Power Over Ethernet (PoE). By consolidating electric power and data networks, PoE prevents energy loss from converting DC-powered devices to AC power. Cisco transforms the network into an IoT super sensor that constantly monitors and optimizes energy usage, temperature, lighting, air quality, and other factors, allowing IT to turn older buildings into efficient spaces for both workers and the planet.

2. Modernize Your Data Center Data centers are power-hungry, often using 10 to 50 times more energy per floor space than a typical office building. Modernizing data centers can significantly support sustainability goals. For example, Cisco’s UCS-X Series is 54 percent more energy-efficient than previous generations.

3. Observe Your Impact Organizations need real-time observability of their functions to optimize their assets. A Cisco network upgrade includes solutions like Nexus Dashboard, Cisco Intersight, and Cisco’s Control Hub, which provide acute visibility into energy consumption across networks and devices. AI enhances these features, making them more intuitive, predictive, and automated.

4. Get Circular The volume of e-waste in landfills is rising five times faster than documented e-waste recycling. IT leaders must embrace circular economy principles. Cisco facilitates returns for end-of-use products at no cost, reusing or recycling more than 99 percent of them.

5. Stimulate Your Goals Sustainable practices are increasingly recognized as smart business strategies. However, an IDC study found that while 63 percent of companies view sustainability as a business priority, only 37 percent have clear targets and goals. The Cisco CX Sustainability Priority Assessment Service sets tailored goals for each organization, along with concrete strategies to achieve them.

Mohannad Abuissa, Head of Engineering at Cisco Middle East & Africa, commented: “IT has significantly supported growth, innovation, and employee satisfaction. With Cisco’s help, it can also support a more sustainable future. The stakes are high, and we all need to work together to preserve a healthy planet for future generations.” He added, “Cisco leverages its sustainability solutions and its power of scale to minimize the environmental impacts of its customers, suppliers, and partners, empowering them to play an active role in the global journey to net zero."

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