Cisco recently wrapped up a two-day CIO Summit where the buzzword was green - green computing to be precise. And CIOs have a significant role to play in helping companies conserve energy and reduce a company's environmental footprint.

Reporting from the conference, Joel Makower, executive editor of Green World Media, writes that there are a number of ways CIOs can help green up their companies, including monitoring real-time energy use and reducing travel needs.

Happily, Cisco was able to show off its solution to the travel problem: its $300,000 TelePresence system. 

Makower wrote:

Teleconferencing won't replace all meetings, but if improved technologies like TelePresence can eliminate employee travel by just ten percent, that could provide a meaningful reduction in some companies' footprint. (As an aside, one CIO told me that his company's sales team's performance rose when they started utilizing videoconferencing, thus reducing travel. It turns out that salespeople are happier when they get to stay at home with their families, and happier salespeople tend to be more productive.)

Even if your company isn't able to spend $300,000 on Cisco TelePresence, what other ways are you greening your computing environment?

More green discussions at the Green Your Network blog

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