Networking giant Cisco has announced the launch of a new program to measure and reduce energy usage of computers, printers, and building systems such as heating and air conditioning in commercial offices.

The San Jose, California, company hopes its Cisco EnergyWise system will place information technology—and its own networking data switches—at the center of how companies reduce energy consumption.

“By having the network as the common platform that integrates with building controllers, you can collect power information and push down power policies to devices,” said William Choe, director of the Cisco business unit that created EnergyWise.

The system will allow buildings to automatically recognize when employees arrive, turn on lights and wireless access points in select areas, and control heating or air conditioning. One commercial real estate group working with Cisco estimates the system could save it as much as 20 percent on its energy bill. EnergyWise will use Internet Protocol, the standard used for sending data between computers on the Internet.

The announcement marks the first move by Cisco into the emerging industry focused on reducing energy usage in commercial buildings. The company will provide the network infrastructure for the computers and building systems to talk with each other and be remotely managed. Partners will develop software to go on top of that network to monitor and control the devices and building systems.

Cisco said it is working with Schneider Electric for building utility management, SolarWinds for network monitoring, and Verdiem for monitoring PC power. The networking giant acquired Santa Barbara, California-based Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, whose software enables existing building systems to communicate over IP networks.

“We’ve been waiting for a large IT-related company to take a bigger role in this space,” Canaccord Adams analyst John Quealy said. “From a hardware perspective, this is the biggest announcement we’ve seen.”

Other tech giants, like Oracle, IBM, and Google, have been rolling out initiatives focused on energy conservation. But Mr. Quealy said this is the biggest announcement yet from a hardware company, and it underscores the confluence between technology and energy efficiency.

Cisco’s move puts pressure on established players in the building automation industry, like Morris Township, New Jersey’s Honeywell and Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Johnson Controls, who offer products and services for controlling building systems and equipment. Still, EnergyWise will help bring attention to building energy management and overall that should be good for the industry, Mr. Quealy said.

Cisco’s announcement also has implications for startups in the smart-grid space—a broad term that includes smart utility meters and the technology that helps them communicate with the utilities distributing the power, water, or gas.

While Cisco is initially focused on developing network infrastructure to manage energy inside buildings, Cisco’s Mr. Choe said the long-term vision is to integrate these networks into the electric grid.

“There is an opportunity to get the smart grid to migrate to IP and an opportunity for EnergyWise to become the framework to integrate the smart meters and smart grid out to the public utilities,” Mr. Choe said.

That means those smart-grid startups, like Redwood City, California-based Silver Spring Networks, that have adopted IP will have a powerful ally in their corner as the industry jostles to establish protocols and other standards, said Jacob Grose, analyst with Lux Research.

“If utilities increasingly look to Internet-based solutions, there could be a snowball effect as each wants to bet on the winning technology,” Mr. Grose said.

The downside: Many of these smart-grid startups—IP based or not—might find themselves competing against Cisco, one of Silicon Valley’s most successful and influential companies.

EnergyWise will launch in three phases. The first, to begin this February, will bring energy management to IP-based devices such as phones and wireless access points. The next two phases will launch by early 2010 and bring building systems, computers, and printers under the energy management system.