NetClarity is making the pitch that it is the greenest of the NAC vendors, and maybe it is. It has three points to this claim: the tiny version of its NAC appliance, EasyNAC Micro doesn't use as much electricity as most other NAC boxes; the company buys energy credits with renewable energy groups to offset the power the devices use; and the company’s Endpoint Defender NAC agent includes a tool that enables shutting down unnecessary and power-consuming desktop functions.

The company estimates that EasyNAC Micro uses 250K Watt-hours to 300K Watt-hours per year, and the green deal that it offers is buying energy credits for that amount of power from a wind-farm consortium, says Gary Miliefsky, president and founder of the company. That costs $7 to $10 per unit per year, and the company has agreed to pay that for all of its inventory, he says.

The initiative doesn’t save customers any money, but it can make them feel like their purchase is somehow contributing to environmental protection, he says.

While NetClarity promotes that its NAC requires no software agents on endpoints, it actually does have an agent. It’s not necessary to performing NAC, but it is available free for customers that want to use it.

A new feature of the agent is the ability to shut off power-consuming devices such as USB ports, infrared devices and Bluetooth. It can also shut down monitors and put PCs into hibernation after-hours when users forget to shut down their machines.

None of this makes NetClarity’s NAC work any better, but it may matter to customers concerned about being eco-friendly. “We want to be the Ben & Jerry’s of NAC,” Miliefskky says.

Tim Greene is senior editor at Network World.