Powering Innovative Solutions Through Engineering Alliances

The numbers tell a stark story. By 2026, data centers and Artificial Intelligence (AI) computing could more than double today’s electricity consumption – reaching a staggering 1,000+ TWh according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). That’s roughly equivalent to the entire electricity consumption of Japan. It’s not just data centers – a staggering 37% of global GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions are generated by buildings and the construction sector.

That’s why power and cooling are surging to the top of every organization’s challenges – but making them a priority requires a plan and solution. For Cisco’s customers and partners, this brings both technical and business challenges as they face unprecedented demands of managing and optimizing energy consumption.

At Cisco Live EMEA next week, you’ll see a first wave of new solutions designed with ecosystem partners that provide powerful capabilities, such as liquid cooling for data centers and a touch-safe DC (direct current) microgrid for smart buildings.

This is just the beginning – we’re accelerating the development of our technology ecosystem to deliver outcomes for AI Ready Data Centers, Future-Proofed Workplaces, and Digital Resilience. To do so, we have developed a new Engineering Alliances framework that scales our ability to engineer and validate new solutions, clearly documenting use cases, technology blueprints, and testing results.

“The technology challenges ahead of us demand a fundamental shift in how we integrate our products with a broader ecosystem,” noted Denise Lee, Vice President of Cisco’s Engineering Sustainability Office. “Through our Engineering Alliances program, we’re not just developing solutions – we’re building an ecosystem that can scale to meet the unprecedented demands of AI Ready Data Centers, Future-Proofed Workplaces, and Digital Resilience. This will allow us to accelerate priorities like energy networking, where hardware, software, and services need to quickly come together to create validated solutions our customers can immediately trust.”

For our customers and partners, this means faster access to innovation through solutions that work seamlessly across their infrastructure, backed by the confidence of Cisco engineering validation.

I invite you to join us on this journey of transformation. Whether you’re a current partner looking to expand your opportunities, a prospective partner with innovative solutions, or a customer seeking to accelerate your technology initiatives, there’s never been a more exciting time to innovate with Cisco.

Visit us at Cisco Live EMEA to learn more about Engineering Alliances and see firsthand how we’re transforming the future of technology innovation together.