Microsemi, a manufacturer of semiconductors and integrated circuits, announced last week a new standard for energy efficiency in Power over Ethernet (PoE) devices that it hopes will earn wide acceptance in the industry.

The company's Green PoE certification program is designed to mimic the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star certification, recognizing the products in PoE switches and other equipment that are at or above the 75th percentile for energy efficiency on the market.

Microsemi said it also intends to propose its certification program to electric utilities as a potential rebate program for companies that purchase these energy-efficient devices.

"Pacific Gas and Electric Company is following the development of IT industry energy efficiency standards, such as Microsemi's work on PoE devices, as the basis for expanding the reach of our portfolio of programs and services for data centers," said Mark Bramfitt, a principla program manager for customer energy efficiency at California utility PG&E.

As a leading company in the development of PoE devices, Microsemi clearly has a significant stake in hoping the Green PoE certification takes off, but data center managers around the world would also benefit from the creation of an Energy Star-like race to the top for energy efficient data center gear of all types.

More details about the specification is online at microsemi.com.