An approach for managing power consumption of network devices includes determining whether one or more state change criteria for a network device are satisfied. Examples of state change criteria include, without limitation, whether the network device needs to be operating in a different operational state to perform a specified function and whether a specified function has been completed. If the one or more state change criteria for the network device are satisfied, then the network device is signaled over a communications network to cause the network device to change operational states. According to one embodiment of the invention, the signaling causes the network device to change from a first operational state to a second operational state where the network device consumes a different amount of power when operating in the second operational state relative to when the network device is operating in the first operational state.