Telecom giants support federal bid to study zero-carbon Internet

Ericsson, Nortel Networks and Bell Canada Enterprises are among the companies supporting an industry-led plan to promote development of a carbon-neutral Internet. Led by the Quebec-based organization PROMPT Inc., the "Next Generation Internet to Reduce Global Warming" research project has already lined up $8 million in industry contributions and $6 million from the Quebec government. It is now looking to the federal government for an additional $7.5 million to make the initiative national. PROMPT is one of 36 groups to apply to the new Business-led Networks of Centres of Excellence (B-NCE) program, which is expected to award $46 million over four years for up to five new centres. The short list of applicants will be posted in April, with final winners to be announced in early 2009. "This will be a $15 million program to start ... with long-term plans to grow to $50 million," says Charles Despins, president and CEO of PROMPT (Partenariats de Recherche Orientée en Microélectronique, Photonique et Télécommunications). "It will involve both hardware and software, with wireless playing a huge part. There will be a lot of optical work and a number of new applications." Despins says there are a limited number of next-generation Internet (NGI) initiatives being pursued in Canada, although Canada is considered a leader in incorporating environmental considerations into any new design. The federal funding would support collaborative R&D between academia and industry on basic software and hardware issues that include an emphasis on reducing energy consumption and materials. Central to the NGI will be a reliance on video for service delivery in industries such as healthcare, as well as advanced remote robotics, which reduce the need for travel. "Initially, some partners have committed more than others," says Despins. "Ericsson was really the lightning rod for this, then Nortel Networks, Bell Canada Enterprises, and IBM. We also have smaller SME partners in Calgary, Montreal, and Halifax. Research in Motion is interested, but they are taking a more ‘wait-and-see' approach." One Canadian who has become a vocal advocate of green broadband is Bill St. Arnaud, chief research officer at Canarie Inc., the advanced research and educational network organization. St. Arnaud has been actively involved in the PROMPT proposal and is championing the idea of a carbon-neutral Internet at speaking events, in columns and on his blog. He points out that information, communications and telecommunications (ICT) hardware in terms of computers, routers and switches consume upwards of 9% of the energy produced in North America. But he contends that it's possible to reduce this carbon footprint to zero, and to help other sectors reduce their CO2 output. One solution is to have under utilized equipment replaced with virtual computers, networks, routers and switches, which encourages sharing of remote resources and maximum utilization. Another is to rely more on optical networks, as opposed to electronic routed networks, which have a much smaller carbon footprint. Another partner on the PROMPT project is Calgary-based Optimum Communications Services, Inc. (OCS), a wholesale network service provider. President and CEO Mark Sandstrom says he's enthusiastic about the potential for the NGI to provide environmental benefits. "OCS's internal technologies allow us to deliver connectivity services at a higher cost efficiency. And because we are a service provider we are concerned about the lifecycle costs of the technologies we use. This includes all materials related to energy consumption," says president and CEO Mark Sandstrom, adding that energy efficiency also has an impact on bottom line costs. "The more efficiently the network capacity is utilized, the less physical network capacity is needed to meet the connectivity requirements of a given customer contract, and thus less network equipment hardware is needed," says Sandstrom. "Our network optimization technologies reduce both the materials flows as well as the power consumption associated with our network services." Historically, the standard telco model was based on maximizing the amount of equipment sold. OCS's approach is to minimize these outlays, in part by lowering the network processing capacity requirements by dramatically reducing the number of packet switching hops. PROMPT's Despins says the extensive degree of research and university involvement is exciting, particularly its potential to expand into a cross-Canada initiative. "There haven't really been any recent pan-Canadian initiatives on NGI, unlike in the United States, Europe, and Asia, where there are large ongoing initiatives. In the United States they have programs funded by the National Science Foundation and a number of companies. These represent hundreds of millions of dollars over three or four years." While competition for NCE funding is intense, Despin says he's confident they will go ahead, one way or another. "The B-NCE program has five priority areas and we hit three of them - ICT, the environment and health," he says. "If we don't have success there are other avenues to fund it. "

Telecom giants support federal bid to study zero-carbon Internet

News | March 5, 2008

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