When Cisco announces new gear, the networking universe grinds to a stop for a moment to listen.

And so it was with this week's Aggregation Services Router reveal. Devised as a way to layer services onto an edge router, the rack mount units are meant to replace a plethora of appliances that provide security and WAN and app acceleration. Hence, the name.

According to a study by Synergy Research Group (likely sponsored by Cisco), the cut in operating expenses and power are significant.

The new Cisco solution, which ranges from 2-6RUs, occupies from 4-18 fewer rack unit space than the competitors’ comparison; and has front to back cooling, which results in more efficient rack space utilization and fewer data center space costs. Annual maintenance and power savings extend between $16.9K and $97.7K, making the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router much more energy and environmentally efficient (comparatively).

Of course, there's usually a reason why IT shops pick and choose their appliances, so they must really like or need what Cisco's offering to get them to switch. Even so, it's nice so see networking infrastructures get into the act.

More capabilities with less hardware is one of the hallmarks of a green data center, after all.