(Updated) Energy consumption is one of the main costs in telecommunications networks and the various manufacturers have been presenting initiatives that aim to reduce the use of energy. In this sense, Bell Labs, from Alcatel-Lucent, has just announced the creation of a consortium for the development of more efficient technologies.
Green Touch has 15 members, among which is Portugal Telecom and the Fundação das Comunicações Móvel (responsible for the e-school and e-school program), and the goal is to make communications networks 1000 times more energy efficient than at present, with the presentation of a reference network architecture within 5 years.
The reduction that the consortium proposes to achieve is «roughly equivalent to the ability to supply energy to global communications networks, including the Internet, for three years, using the same amount of energy that is needed to make them work today, for a single day «, states the consortium presentation document.
Green Touch members include industry leaders, academics and government laboratories, who will work together to achieve new approaches to energy efficiency, which are considered a key factor for the sustainability of networks in the future.
Research from Alcatel-Lucent’s research and development laboratory concluded that today’s networks can be 10,000 times more efficient than they are today.
According to Bell Labs, this conclusion was drawn from Bell Labs’ fundamental analysis of the underlying components of ICT networks and technologies (which include the optical, wireless, electronics, processing, routing and architecture components) and the study of their physical limits, by applying established formulas such as Shannon’s Law.
Editor’s Note: The news was updated with reference to the Mobile Communications Foundation, which is also part of the consortium.
