Tellabs Blog

Making networks more green is a goal everyone in the telecom industry shares. The opportunity is so extensive it can be difficult for service providers to decide where to begin.

The good news is going green isn't a straight line with a distinct beginning and end. Rather it's a circle where any action you take starts a chain reaction. Over time that chain reaction generates increasingly positive results; we can call this the Virtuous Telecom Cycle.

The business case for deploying Ethernet and fiber is based on the business value of offering new, more competitive services. But, it also goes hand-in-hand with green initiatives.

Let's say a service provider sees huge demand from customers for hosted services and deploys a Carrier Ethernet-based solution to generate and manage the surge in needed bandwidth. The business case justifies the investment.

Moore's Law tells us that in addition to faster speeds and feeds, new telecom equipment should require less power to run. This is where the Virtuous Telecom Cycle kicks in.

Because new network elements require less power, they produce less heat. Less heat lowers the need for cooling. In turn, you reduce the power needed to run bulk and distributed air conditioning systems. Less initial power has a multiplying effect on overall power requirements and long-term operating expenses for utilities. So, what's good for the environment is also good for business. Because of this interrelationship there's dual incentive to promote such initiatives.

That's just the beginning. As technology matures, a metric we continue to emphasize is the rapidly declining relative cost of processing power. That means networks can become more distributed with better intelligence and caching of content closer the end users, so they work more efficiently. Over time-- coupled with smarter devices--networks will learn traffic patterns and make decisions about traffic routing, ultimately leading to less power use.

The virtuous telecom cycle in action
The beauty of the Virtuous Telecom Cycle is many times its benefits are in addition to the outcomes spelled out in a business case.

For example, one of our customers recently released some data about the lowered cost of network construction for a dynamic optical transport solution incorporating the Tellabs® 7100 Optical Transport System (OTS) with ROADM (reconfigurable optical/drop multiplexer). The service provider significantly reduced capital expenses and the number of needed network elements by 65% and lowered installation costs by 75%.

By using ROADM technology to manage most traffic at the optical layer, minimizing the number of optical/electrical/optical conversions, the network is much more reliable. And as an added benefit it requires less power. Combined with other dynamic optical transport benefits, the service provider reported a 65% drop in power consumption and an 85% reduction in operational expenses.

A second example is in the fiber access area. The Tellabs® 1150 Multiservice Access Platform enables operators to bring fiber to the premise for consumers and businesses very cost-effectively. Furthermore, its fiber-to-the-desktop capabilities mean that the fiber reach doesn't stop there. The Virtuous Telecom Cycle can be extended to benefit in-building wiring and replace cost intensive, power hungry copper with fiber. Again this pays tremendous dividends with respect to electricity usage, space requirements, and network security. Plus, it makes the building a more environmentally friendly place.

An eco-system of benefits
The Virtuous Telecom Cycle is an eco-system of interconnected pieces that produce value for the end-user, the service provider and the environment. It's the direct effect of technology advancements driving more efficient networks that enable advanced services for users.

Ultimately, we all win with telecom solutions that are better for the environment.