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04 Mar 2010
Comments:1
Doubts have been raised by the channel over the priorities of the Green Touch Consortium, following its first meeting last month.
The 16-strong global consortium, spearheaded by Bell Labs – Alcatel-Lucent’s R&D arm – plans to create new technologies that will improve the energy efficiency of data networks over the next five years 1,000-fold.
However, channel onlookers have expressed concerns about how the consortium is planning to counteract the environmental impact its activities may have.
Further reading
Myles Pilkington, group marketing manager at Sims Recycling Solutions, said: “Once the networks have been upgraded, what provisions will be in place to help companies dispose of their resources in an environmentally friendly way?”
Matt Emmins, managing partner at refurbished telecoms VAR MF Communications, said: “It is greener to use old equipment to its max before changing to a new system because high-quality parts can usually be sourced, even if the OEM no longer supports the model.”
Adam Clamp, a consultant at The Green IT Consultancy, said the consortium should consider incorporating education about recycling old IT resources into its wider plans.
He added: “Few companies out there know how to go about recycling IT products, so it could potentially make a big difference.”
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Do you agree?
GreenTouch Vision
As I mentioned in our e-mail exchange, GreenTouch is just in the early stages of establishing its structure and agenda and taking a broad range of issues into consideration. The members are then agreeing as a group on the priorities. So to suggest that we haven't considered this issue or are excluding it from consideration is incorrect.
To make a fair assessment it's important to understand the objectives of GreenTouch and the context for its creation. The goal of GreenTouch is to develop within five years the requisite technologies - basic network, electronics, transport media, semiconductors, etc. - to drastically reduce network energy consumption for the long term. Commercially deployable solutions will not be available most likely for some time after that. We are, after all, talking about a complete reinvention of network technologies.
Over this lengthy period of time it is clear that service providers will upgrade their networks, probably multiple times, to keep pace with demand. This upgrade cycle would take place independent of GreenTouch and those who provision and manage these networks already have highly evolved programs for refurbishing, recycling, and appropriately disposing of equipment. What GreenTouch offers is a way to optimize networks for energy efficiency and this is right in line with the environmentally friendly strategies that these operators have already initiated
The headline of the article indicates that there is 'raging' controversy over this issue, but the statements of those you reference does not bear this out. The executives representing the firms cited here are emphasizing the importance of this issue and proposing approaches for resolution. We certainly value those proposals and as an open consortium welcome input and suggestions from anyone in the industry who would like to offer them
Posted by Paul Ross ? Director, Corporate Communications, Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs | 08 Mar 2010
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