Three and a half years in the past, once we began designing the Cisco C9350 community sensible swap, sustainability wasn’t an afterthought; it was constructed into our engineering choices from day one. At Cisco, now we have made Round Design Rules basic to how we innovate, and the C9350 is an ideal instance of what’s doable when sustainability and cutting-edge know-how work hand in hand.
5 methods we designed the C9350 for circularity
1. Modular design for reuse and effectivity
Look contained in the C9350 and also you’ll see one thing totally different from our older switches within the Catalyst 9000 household: much more items, all by design. The central processing unit (CPU) sits on a separate card that can be utilized throughout the whole product household and even in future merchandise. We’ve standardized energy provide kind components to share them throughout totally different product traces. This modular strategy means fewer distinctive elements, easier provide chains, and parts that may dwell a number of lives.
We went a step additional, and optimized every module individually, utilizing totally different printed circuit board (PCB) layer counts for every design to scale back materials utilization and price. Because of advances in high-bandwidth cable know-how, we have been capable of do all this with out including expense to the system.
2. Smarter cooling with out plastic waste
Up to now, we used plastic air baffles to steer airflow over sizzling parts. These plastic items made up 60 to 70% of plastic utilization in these switches. Within the C9350, they’re gone. As an alternative, we strategically positioned parts to naturally route air the place it must movement. We additionally labored with suppliers to develop followers which are 23% extra environment friendly, utilizing much less vitality whereas working quieter. Since followers can eat 10 to fifteen% of whole energy throughout regular operation, and as much as 30% at excessive temperatures, this makes an actual distinction. Plus, the handles and gaskets are created from post-consumer recycled plastic.
3. Clever energy administration
The C9350 options three energy provide slots as an alternative of the standard two, and all energy provides are rated not less than 80 Plus Platinum, with Titanium choices obtainable. However {hardware} effectivity is just a part of the story. We developed Cisco Chilly Redundancy, which deliberately drops the voltage on standby energy provides, so energetic ones function of their best 40 to 70% load vary. In stacked configurations, our auto-offline characteristic manages as much as 12 energy provides throughout 4 methods, mechanically taking extras offline whereas conserving them able to spin up immediately if wanted. These software-driven optimizations keep away from losing energy throughout regular operation.
4. Materials discount
Our Catalyst switches used to have a flowery plastic bezel on the entrance for aesthetics. However the C9350 is steel all the way in which to the sting, and I feel it nonetheless appears to be like nice. We eliminated 15 to 19% of the steel weight from the highest cowl, decreasing thickness from 0.9mm to 0.8mm, whereas sustaining the identical structural integrity and passing our rigorous 200g drop shock exams.
5. Packaging reimagined
We eradicated foam from the C9350 packaging. The 48-port 10-Gig mannequin ships with a minimal 80% recycled fiber-based cushion whereas the 1-Gig fashions ship with thermoformed endcaps utilizing recycled plastic resin. This initially price us extra per field, and we ship 1,000,000 models per yr, so it might add up. However being all-in on round design means making investments to drive the whole provider ecosystem ahead. And the excellent news is we’re already seeing prices strategy neutrality because the business scales these options.
The C9350 proves that sustainability and innovation aren’t competing priorities—they’re complementary ones. While you design for circularity from the beginning, you don’t simply construct higher merchandise for the planet. You construct higher merchandise, interval.
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