Automatically reducing a speed of a link to save power

A first network device, comprising:

• one or more memories;
• and
• one or more processors to:
• determine a reduced speed for a link and a time period for setting the reduced speed;
• provide, to a second network device, a speed change request identifying the reduced speed and the time period;
• receive an acknowledgement approving the speed change request from the second network device;
• start the time period based on receiving the acknowledgement;
• set the link from an original speed to the reduced speed;
• store data identifying the link, the time period, and the reduced speed in a persistent data structure;
• check for a rollback condition until the time period expires;
• and
• reset the link to the original speed based on expiration of the time period or occurrence of the rollback condition.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions, the set of instructions comprising:

• one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a first network device, cause the first network device to:
• determine a reduced speed for a link and a time period for setting the reduced speed;
• provide, to a second network device, a speed change request identifying the reduced speed and the time period;
• receive, from the second network device, an acknowledgement approving the speed change request,
• wherein each of the speed change request and the acknowledgement is based on a reserved time-length-value (TLV) or an organization-specific TLV subtype;
• start the time period based on receiving the acknowledgement;
• set the link from an original speed to the reduced speed;
• check for a rollback condition until the time period expires;
• and
• reset the link to the original speed based on expiration of the time period or occurrence of the rollback condition.