I picked up a press release on the wire that caught my attention. A network equipment manufacturer that claims to offer the highest energy efficiency core router on the market. Claims based on a new standards body they set up themselves…..

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR), announced that its T1600 core router has successfully completed testing using the methodology of the new Energy Consumption Rating (ECR) Initiative, a framework for measuring the energy efficiency of network and telecom devices launched today by Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA) and Juniper Networks. After undergoing the comprehensive ECR testing, the T1600 has been verified as the industry’s most energy-efficient core router, with a performance-per-energy unit rating of 9.1 watts per Gpbs. The tests were performed at Ixia’s iSimCity in Santa Clara, California using its IxGreen energy measurement solution.

This reminds me of junior school football (real football – Soccer) that was played every waking hour by every boy in every playground in my home country Scotland – whoever brought the ball set the rules, and if they started to loose, they took the ball home. There are many existing equipment energy standards and lots of industry bodies already in existence that could manage the standards.

Why another initiative? Maybe because if you own the ball, you can always win?