Alcatel-Lucent has launched new application that allows network operators and others to explore how the use of the latest technologies can dramatically reduce energy consumption, costs and the carbon footprint of their networks.
The new G.W.A.T.T. – Global ‘What if’ Analyzer of NeTwork Energy ConsumpTion app – forecasts trends in energy consumption and efficiency based on a wide variety of traffic growth scenarios and technology evolution choices.
The app provides a view of the entire network, showing how much power is consumed at each point in the network. This makes it possible for G.W.A.T.T. to quickly identify ‘hot spots’ in a network where the most energy is consumed, and also provides a way to identify how different technologies can make the network more efficient.
The rapid adoption of smart phones and tablets are driving up daily Internet traffic dramatically, and forecasts indicate that it will increase up to 85 times by 2017 compared to 2010. By 2017 more than 5 trillion gigabytes of data will pass through the network every year.
G.W.A.T.T. provides a roadmap of how to support this growth in a sustainable and economically viable way.
The application was developed as part of Alcatel-Lucent’s commitment to dramatically reducing the energy consumption and operational costs of information and communications technology (ICT) in the face of dramatic growth in data traffic and associated energy use impacts.
Energy consumption models and scenarios used to build G.W.A.T.T. are based on forecasts and network modeling from Bell Labs, as well as Alcatel-Lucent’s CTO organization and independent consortia including GreenTouch and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI).
Over time, Alcatel-Lucent will continually expand the capabilities of G.W.A.T.T., refining its modeling capabilities, adding new scenarios and technologies, and including new technologies and architectures currently being investigated by Bell Labs and the GreenTouch consortium, the company said.