Ninety percent of those 4.2 billion people without access live in the developing world, and in the least developed countries less than one person in 10 is online. Meanwhile, in the developed world, 82 percent of the population is online.
These statistics are laid out in a new blog by Marcus Weldon, president of Bell Labs and the CTO of Alcatel-Lucent, who in his piece calls on people and companies to do their part to help the Broadband Commission achieve its goals to flatten the digital playing field across the globe and among different groups of people. In his blog, Weldon talks about the problem that the “digital deserts” that exist today play in setting up a long-term environment in which one set of people can collaborate, communicate, and conduct commerce, and another group of people – to whom he refers as “an analog underclass,” operate primarily in physical space, and if they do want to connect digitally have to wander from connected oasis to connected oasis.
“If we want to avoid this dystopia, we all need to do more to help the [Broadband] Commission and its incredibly laudable goals. And this must start at home – in the organizations for which we work and in which we are involved,” writes Weldon, who has already has offered Bell Labs resources to help the Broadband Commission create and build on projects to bring connectivity to those who lack it.
The Broadband Commission has been around since 2010, but was just re-chartered with the aim of helping achieve the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
“The UN Sustainable Development Goals will stimulate action over the next 15 years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet,” explains ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “All three pillars of sustainable development – economic development, social inclusion, and environmental protection – need ICTs as key catalysts. That is why the Commission believes that ICTs, and particularly broadband, will be absolutely crucial for achieving the SDGs.”
The ITI Secretary-General made those comments last month during The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, an ITU and UNESCO gathering at which high-profile people representing academia, government, and industry came together to discuss and debate how to accelerate the adoption and availability of broadband around the world. The event had a special focus on developing and less developed nations and groups such as the disabled, non-English speakers, rural dwellers, and women.
Communications business magnate Carlos Slim Sr. and the president of Rwanda chair the commission. Other members include former FCC chairman Kevin Martin, who is now with Facebook; Bharti Enterprises CEO and founder Sunil Bharti Mittal; MIT Media Labs founder Nicolas Negroponte; Jeffrey Sachs, who is the special advisor to the U.N. Secretary General and an expert on poverty; and several operator and vendor CEOs, and telecom ministers from around the world.
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We already know the mercurial growth of the Internet and mobile technology. Cloud and data center traffic will increase by 440 percent by 2017, according to a recent Alcatel-Lucent blog post, and video consumption will rise by 720 percent during that time.
What many of us do not know, however, is that the Internet also damages the environment; Gartner recently showed that the Internet creates more than 300 million tons of CO2 a year. So growth of the Internet and mobility is not such a happy picture from a sustainability perspective.
If we are to combat this looming environmental challenge, it will take the work of not just individuals but also businesses committed to sustainable practices. Thankfully, sustainability can be good for companies and not just the environment.
“Organizations that start implementing green solutions are not only helping to reduce the impact of climate change,” noted Nataly Leal, senior communications manager of the Andean region for Alcatel-Lucent in a recent blog post, Internet, a driving force for the responsible development of countries. “Using planet-friendly technologies helps to generate more sustainable business, reduces operating costs, projects a better image of companies and generates a better economy. All these benefits have an impact on business.”
The proper use of technologies can help businesses reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent, according to the Global e-Sustainability Initiative.
“Facing this reality, more technology companies have been working to create new solutions that consume energy in an intelligent way and at the same time be kind to the planet,” Leal noted in her blog post. “Each day these companies launch to market products that meet the major challenges of climate change, seeking help to minimize the impact of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.”
For instance, Alcatel-Lucent has developed applications such as G.W.A.T.T. to assist operators, service providers and interested parties in understanding the energy consumption and costs associated with communications networks in present and future. These help firms identify the conflictive points of the energy and help show how to improve sustainability practices.
The Internet is a boon for business. But business also needs to make sure that it isn’t a detriment to the environment. In fact, as Alcatel-Lucent has done for many years, being a good steward of the earth’s resources needs to become part of a company’s DNA. Indeed, there is demonstrable proof that being a good steward is also good business.
]]>From original Alcatel-Lucent Corporate Blog (Feb. 27)
I had the great pleasure today of participating in the 11th meeting of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, which was held here in Paris.
The Broadband Commission is a remarkable institution that exemplifies the growing trend of collaboration between multilateral organizations, governments, civil society, and business. The commission follows a process of co-creation, which brings together the different skills and resources of the member institutions - such as financial management, operational skills, on-the-ground knowledge, regulatory or public policies expertise – to develop solutions to some of the world’s most complex, multi-dimensional challenges.
The Commission was established by the ITU and UNESCO in May 2010, with the aim of boosting the importance of broadband on the international policy agenda. This mission is based on a belief that broadband is an essential ingredient of economic and social well-being in every country.
The Commission is made up of a high-powered community including business leaders/CEOs, senior policy-makers and government representatives, international agencies, academia and non-governmental organizations focused on development issues (including Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus). It is co-chaired by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Carlos Slim, in cooperation with vice-chairs Houlin Zhao, Secretary General of the ITU, and Irina Bokova, Secretary General of UNESCO.
One of the central roles of the Commission is to advocate for higher priority to be given to broadband infrastructure in the highest policy circles to ensure that the benefits of broadband infrastructure and services are realized in all countries.
To date, the Commission has had a great impact in terms of raising awareness of the importance of broadband for sustainable development. There is no question in my mind that it has made a big difference in building consensus that broadband is becoming a critical infrastructure, just like water and electricity.
Still, we have so much work to do: more than 4 billion people remain unconnected to the Internet and 90 percent of these individuals are in the developing world. In the 49 least-developed countries, less than 10 percent of the population is connected.
The average cost of fixed broadband at the end of 2013 still represented one quarter of an average citizen’s monthly income across the developing world (as opposed to less than 3 percent in developed nations). Lack of relevant content, and limited digital and language literacy further worsen this divide.
Yet, recent statistics from the Copenhagen Consensus estimates that by increasing mobile penetration levels by a factor of 3 in the developing world, we could provide a return of $17 for each dollar spent.
We have a real and great responsibility to enable broadband to empower marginalized groups and deliver social and economic benefits to all. We must help ensure that every person in our world has access to information, healthcare, education, equality and economic opportunity.
We are at a critical juncture with regard to meeting this responsibility. The next few months are of paramount importance when it comes to ensuring that broadband and information and communications technology (ICT) are more clearly included in United Nations’ the post-2015 development agenda, which will be codified in a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), (which will build upon the existing Millennium Development Goals).
There is not a single one of the 17 SDGs currently under discussion where broadband and ICT could not have a major positive impact. However, the fact that ICT and broadband have not been made more visible in the establishment of the SDGs is a strong indicator that much work still remains to be done.
During the Broadband Commission meeting, this fact was a key topic of discussion, and I know there was agreement amongst participants of the need to convince key-decision makers outside of the ICT industry of the importance of connectivity, and the enormous role it could play in helping to achieve these goals.
Broadband can reduce poverty and inequality, help ensure access to health and education, help to mitigate climate change, promote peace and international cooperation, and ensure sustainable development in the decades to come. Broadband and ICTs are key ingredients in efforts to ensure that no society, and no individual is left behind.
“Alcatel-Lucent in Action” is the story of one year of action to transform our company and position it for innovation and growth.
In June 2013, Alcatel-Lucent unveiled The Shift Plan: a 3-year repositioning and transformation strategy that refocused the company on IP networks, ultra-broadband access and cloud technologies — areas in which Alcatel-Lucent has extensive expertise and innovation strengths. Since then, Alcatel-Lucent has concentrated all of its energy on the execution of The Shift Plan.
This month, we went live with a dynamic online annual review — Alcatel-Lucent in Action — which tells the story of those first 12 months, taking you behind the scenes of our innovation company determined to secure a strong future for itself at the forefront of the network industry. It charts our progress from 4 perspectives: corporate strategy, market demand, technological innovation and employee engagement.
With perspective from our people — including CEO Michel Combes — video essays on our innovation culture, key facts and statistics from the year and more, it paints a vivid picture of our drive to transform and deliver greater value to our customers and partners through innovation of our networks.
Accessible from any device (PC, laptop, tablets, smart phones), its streamlined design and ease of use will allow you (we hope) to quickly grasp the essence of The Shift Plan and how the company has become the master of its own destiny again.
I joined Alcatel-Lucent about 100 days ago and it has been a pleasure to contribute to shape this annual review which is not only our way of communicating what has been achieved, but also what we stand for, and what we want to build.
I welcome your feedback. Please participate in our 1 min survey and we will donate 1 Euro to Alcatel-Lucent Foundation, dedicated to helping youth innovate in the digital economy.
]]>In short, the networking piece of smart grid deployments is critical, as the migration of utility infrastructure to meet the needs to remotely monitor and manage their grids grows in complexity. “The new IP/MPLS technologies offer a great deal of benefits within the utility in cost savings, operational efficiency and cost savings, and they also mandate a new way to operate, bridging those traditional organizational silos,” noted Mark Burke, VP of Intelligent Networks and Communications for DNV – GL, in a recent GridTalk posting.
In the first of what will be a three-part series on smart grids and the value that can be created the economic perspective provided by Burke, who outlined a number of ways that smart grid projects can maximize their technology investment, is instructive.
Source: To download GridTalk click here.
Burke provided a number of recommendations that will resonate with utilities as they evaluate how to move forward, and here are five of particular significance.
First, embrace standards.
“Standards drive innovation while maintaining security and reliability”, noted Burke. “They encourage mass production, driving the cost of equipment down, while also enabling the development of an ecosystem of value-added products and solutions. They reduce the total cost of ownership for the systems they procure, but also encourage the development of devices that may leverage communications protocols to provide additional value to customers and the society at large.”
Second, monetize excess capacity.
Adding high-bandwidth fiber is a big investment, but it also can create new profit centers that can help projects recoup the investment. One way to monetize excess capacity is through establishing an unregulated subsidiary tasked with taking advantage of the newly-created infrastructure.
Third, prepare for distributed power generation.
One side benefit of deploying a converged IP/MPLS system is readiness for distributed generation and renewable energy sources such as wind power and photovoltaics.
“With IP/MPLS you can accommodate these in a common architecture and in a standards-based environment so that the unit costs are low over time,” noted Burke. “As the smart grid environment matures and gets more diverse with renewables and other new challenges, the total cost of implementation will go down as well.”
Fourth, consider public-private partnerships, especially where investment in energy infrastructure is traditionally lacking. In some markets, demand response can’t be exploited by governmental entities or utilities but third-party, commercial concerns can capture that value instead of leaving it on the table.
Finally, it is worth the effort to help shape public regulation.
“Power providers should really get involved with educating both consumers and regulators, which may have very small staffs and are overburdened,” Burke suggested. “Only through that level of engagement will help maximize the value of moving to a more sophisticated energy system including IP/MPLS-based smart grid. The regulators are quite sensitive to the needs of the customers.”
There are other ways to maximize investment on the Alcatel-Lucent blog post, but these are ones that clearly should be top of mind.
They wanted to reduce the energy consumption of mobile networks by half. Instead, they developed a framework that cut nearly three quarters of energy consumption.
Led by Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson over the course of two and a half years, the EARTH (Energy Aware Radio and neTwork tecHnologies) consortium of 15 telecommunications providers, vendors and academic institutions developed everything from more efficient components in radio base stations to solutions on the radio network level, according to a press release from Alcatel-Lucent. The research was partially funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7).
In the process, the consortium demonstrated how operators could save up to 70 percent of energy consumed in their networks using a holistic energy efficiency approach for 4G radio communications.
The consortium came to the conclusion that a holistic approach could save energy through:
Because the EARTH consortium was made up of operators and vendors, key components of the system were implemented, validated, experimentally analyzed and tested under realistic operating conditions in many cases. As Alcatel-Lucent noted this proved that the efficiency claims of the approach are more than just theoretical.
“We have taken Green to the heart of our research programs,” said Tod Sizer, head of access research at Alcatel-Lucent’s research arm, Bell Labs. “Our commitment to initiatives such as EARTH is a prominent example of how Alcatel-Lucent is driving sustainable innovation. We know it cannot be accomplished alone, and we need models of action like EARTH.”
“We were glad to have a leading role in the EARTH project, and to contribute to creating a broader understanding of trends in network energy consumption over the next ten years, added Jan Färjh, vice president and head of Ericsson Research. “It will be crucial for telecom companies to work even more actively with implementing the best practice concepts developed in the project into reality.”
The consortium also developed a framework for evaluating wireless energy efficiency. The EARTH Energy Efficiency Evaluation Framework (E3F) creates an objective and fair rating of wireless network energy efficiency. Major operators have long desired a global standard to measure wireless network energy efficiency, as part of their efforts for eco-sustainability and they now have one with E3F.
The EARTH consortium was composed of project coordinator Alcatel-Lucent, technical manager Ericsson, NXP Semiconductors France, DOCOMO Communications Laboratories Europe GmbH, Telecom Italia S.p.A., CEA, University of Surrey, Technische Universität Dresden, imec, IST- Technical University of Lisbon, University of Oulu, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, TTI and ETSI, according to the Alcatel-Lucent press release.
More information about the findings of the consortium can be found at the EARTH website.
]]>As much as we have come to rely on communications technologies to stay connected and streamline business processes, those providing the access must still pay attention to the impact on the environment. Eco-sustainability in fact is emerging not just as an issue of being a good corporate neighbor, but as important for being a preferred provider of products and services. This is why it has become important that the telecommunications industry use a uniform protocol for measuring the eco-impact of its services and networks.
A recent Alcatel-Lucent TechZine article, Seven Steps to Greater Green House Gas Awareness in ICT, explored this topic. It highlights the new global standards designed to create a unified approach to the measurement of green house gas emissions. Focus is on current life cycle assessment tools such as those developed by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) which can be employed by ICT vendors, particularly the telecom ones, for estimating the eco-impact of services and/or networks in a meaningful and actionable way.
The good news is that current approaches offer flexibility in terms of the available data and the business purpose of assessments. Thus, by adhering to specified guidelines, service providers are able to more effectively and efficiently pinpoint potential problem areas, report on improvements and maintain best practices that can impact the environment.
A brief review of the ALU’s seven steps for doing a comprehensive assessment is instructive:
Those familiar with the next generation communications online community are probably aware from reading the featured articles and blogs of the past few years of ALU’s commitment doing well by doing good. From the top down, the company takes seriously not only its responsibilities to be a good steward of the earth’s resources, but its belief that its solutions should enable its customers to have a strong eco-sustainability strategy so they can do likewise, and that doing so is good for business as well as the environment.
Under the category that you can’t fix or improve what you cannot measure accurately, having the best tools and the right strategy for doing comprehensive eco-impact assessments is an important part of making sure ICT’s contribution to eco-sustainability it optimal. The TechZine article is a good place to start for obtaining detailed information on the seven steps, as well as the next steps you company may wish to institute to be a better environmental steward.
]]>It will take dedication, teamwork and technology to achieve the future we want in terms of reducing poverty, advancing social equity, and ensuring environmental protection. That’s the message behind upcoming Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, this June in Brazil.
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and others are focusing heavily on technology as one key aspect in achieving a better future. At a Rio+20 planning conference earlier this month, Philippe Richard, who heads up green strategy at Bell Labs, participated in the closing panel, where he highlighted the role information and communications technology (ICT) plays in sustainable development.
“ICT is a mandatory enabler if we want to succeed in time,” Richard stressed in an ALU Corporate Responsibility blog entry. “The technology required for making a difference will mean leapfrogging for many.” To help push successful sustainable development, ICT must also be efficient and ubiquitous. “Ultimately access to broadband must be a top public policy priority for inclusive global sustainability,” Richard added.
ALU has been busy working on ICT solutions as a component of sustainable development, through Bell Labs. Its GreenTouch initiative is a co-creative platform the enables meaningful collaboration as part of the green economy. “Alcatel-Lucent’s ICT solutions contribute towards the much needed, low-carbon economy, including perspectives relative to national energy consumption patterns,” Richard noted.
A key message during the planning conference was that long-term results for sustainable development and the green economy depend on technology investments that yield OPEX savings—rather than short-term CAPEX deals. ICT has a lot of potential in this area, but needs more investment.
“Unfortunately, we are not going fast enough because of financial and economic roadblocks,” Richard said. “Even if the best technology is available, deployment is hindered by those limited by CAPEX only based decisions. This is where UN agencies, EU/global policy makers can help by providing appropriate policy support and incentives (including carbon pricing).”
It all boils down to investing wisely and starting early enough in development projects to make a lasting difference. Smart procurement, coordinated policy and reward programs for transformative technology are all important elements in creating a sustainable green economy.
For Richard, his colleagues at Alcatel-Lucent, and others involved in sustainable development, ‘green’ is the next big revolution of the 21st century. With forecasted 27% increase in energy consumption associated with communications service provider networks now through 2016, the time is ripe to capitalize on ICT opportunities, including potential for 15% global emissions reduction by 2020.
“We have an enormous and still relatively untapped potential, to dramatically help other economic sectors to be greener,” Richard concluded.
]]>People working in the Chinese information and communications technology (ICT) industry are open to the concept of going green, but need support and education to achieve carbon reduction targets using technology. That is the conclusion of a recent research study conducted at China’s Tsingua University Media Lab on behalf of Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) titled, “Green Information Communications Technology in China.”
The study involved surveying 1,072 ICT industry professionals from enterprises, associations, government departments, and higher education institutions in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Nanjing. It found that most Chinese companies are aware of green technology efforts. In fact, 59 percent of respondents plan to go green. More than 90 percent of the professionals who participated believe technology can support a low-carbon economy through energy consumption reductions and motivating society to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
“The study found that 39 percent of businesses in China planned to reduce carbon emissions by 1-20 percent within the next three to five years with the national target of 17 percent in China’s 12th five-year plan,” ALU noted in announcing the research. “However there was resistance to adopting more sustainable policies due to what they see as high capital, time and human resource investment requirements,” they stated.
This suggests that a coordinated approach between the Chinese government, education authorities, enterprises and the technology industry will be the most successful way to reduce carbon emissions on a national scale using ICT.
“The relationship between ICT and the environment is complex and multi-faceted,” noted Rajeev Singh-Molares, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Asia-Pacific Region, in the report. “Enterprises, government bodies and academic institutions need to work in tandem to spur the development and innovation of green ICT through environmentally sustainable models.”
Education is a key component of driving growth of ICT applications in a green economy.
Although the ICT industry in China overall has a consistently high view of this technology’s role in a green economy, knowledge levels of survey respondents varied when it came to ICT applications for carbon emissions reduction.
“Only 7.1 percent of enterprise respondents, 3.9 percent of college respondents and 16.7 percent of respondents from relevant departments of the government/associations could identify ten low-carbon technology applications… Respondents of ICT enterprises were most knowledgeable about green ICT’s ability to improve logistics and to provide alternatives to face to face communication,” the researchers found.
Based on results of this research study, ALU recommended that the Chinese government take several steps to promote ICT as a means of achieving carbon emission reductions and growing the green economy:
“With the information industry becoming one of China’s fastest growing economic sectors, green ICT provides a leapfrogging opportunity to mitigate some of the challenges in our environment, including climate change, energy efficiency and biodiversity among others,” Singh-Molares concluded.
]]>The GreenTouch consortium was formed with the ambitious goal of inventing new technologies that could reduce the energy expenditure of telecommunication networks by a factor of 1000 by 2015. Two of the newest members of the consortium are the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, two premier research institutes in India. We recognized that India faces certain unique challenges and Green is not only far more relevant in emerging markets such as India, but also that emerging markets require certain unique technical challenges in the field of Green Networking. With this in mind, the Green Telecom and IT Workshop was co-organized by Bell Labs and IISc with support from GreenTouch to explore collaborative opportunities, on April 4-5, 2012.
The Workshop was kicked off with two exciting keynotes by Dr. Gee Rittenhouse, President of the GreenTouch consortium and Prof. Rod Tucker from the University of Melbourne. Dr. Gee Rittenhouse outlined the vision of GreenTouch. He outlined some ongoing projects in wireline and wireless networking that would help achieve this goal. Dr. Rod Tucker then delved into the details of why research in Green networking was absolutely essential. His analysis showed that while Telecom comprised about 2% of total energy consumption today, with the rapid growth in data traffic, this fraction could reach alarming proportions in a few years.
Further, on Day two there was a keynote talk by Prof. Vinod Sharma from IISc. Apart from these key notes, there were 21 technical talks from Academia and Industry comprising IISc, IIT Delhi, IIT Chennai, IIT Mumbai, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), IBM Research, Microsoft Research and Bell Labs. The talks were divided into 6 sessions comprising Green IT, Green Access (2 sessions), Green Routers and Transport, Green Devices and Energy Harvested Networks.
The speakers from Bell Labs were Thierry Klein, Peter Vetter, Peter Winzer, David Neilson, Milind Budhikkot, Rouzbeh Razhavi and Vikram Srinivasan. They outlined various approaches by Bell Labs Researchers to tackle the 1000X goal ranging from small cells, dynamic spectrum access and cloud RAN on the wireless side, to bit-interleaved PON, quantum communications and spatial multiplexing and green routers and interconnects on the wireline side.
It was interesting to note that almost all the Academics from India were focused on the design of energy harvested networks. The key challenge in India is that cell sites do not have reliable access to the power grid and up to 70% of the operators OPEX is energy related. Prof. Jamadagni from IISc and a member of TRAI outlined the regulators proposals on making a significant fraction of base stations in rural and urban areas run on energy harvested sources by 2020. Prof. Jhunjunwala from IIT Chennai explored the optimal mix of energy sources (solar, battery and diesel generators) in order to minimize the operator’s OPEX. Prof. Vinod Sharma in his key note talk explored the fundamental information theoretic and queuing theoretic limits of communications in energy harvested scenarios. Other Indian Academics talked about the design of algorithms for communications in energy harvested scenarios, including using cooperative relays etc.
In addition to the technical talks, there was a Panel discussion on “The Innovation Opportunity and need for green telecommunications in India”. The Panel was moderated by Suresh Goyal, Head of Green Research in Bell Labs and included Gee Rittenhouse, Prof. Rod Tucker, Arun Seth (Chairman Alcatel-Lucent, India), Mrs. Shachi Devi ( CTO, Indus Towers), Harish Hande (Co-founder, SELCO, India, Magsaysay award winner), Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, (Professor, IIT Chennai) and Srikantan Moorthy (Senior Vice President and Group Head, Education & Research, Infosys). The Panel discussion was extremely lively and spanned a broad range of topics from Green Telecom to sustainability. The lively debate highlighted some of the unique challenges faced in India from a sustainability and Green perspective.
On the whole, the workshop was well attended with around 150 participants spanning Academia and Industry. It helped build bridges between IISc, IIT Delhi and other Green Touch partners and several areas of potential collaboration have been identified.
More Info: Website url: https://sites.google.com/site/greenworkshops4/?s_cid=smm_tmc0304_bl
Pictures from the workshop: https://picasaweb.google.com/bell.labs.blog/GreenTelecomITWorkshopByIIScAndBellLabs?authuser=0&feat=directlink&_cid=smm_tmc0304_bl
]]>Two opposing forces are driving the need for more efficient use of energy – the increased use of mobile device coupled with the power needed to sustain their use are necessitating that the telecom industry step up its efforts to improve eco-efficiency overall.
Given the trend of increased demands of today’s mobile users – and the proliferation of new and different end-user applications and devices – an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is a smart choice for service providers who are also looking for new revenue opportunities.
“Consumers are no longer content with a simple telephone; they want broadband and accessibility, wherever they are, on any device they choose. They want access to information, plus instant and reliable communications,” a recent whitepaper by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), “Alcatel-Lucent IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS): Eco-efficiency Makes Economic Sense,” points out.
At the same time, while a “green” lifestyle may not drive demand for new communications services, it changes the way we live and work, and in many cases, reduces our environmental impact. According to Alcatel-Lucent, telecommunications can reduce the environmental impact of other industries as well, by changing the way people live and work.
Considering this “anywhere, anytime” phenomenon continues to grow rampantly, service providers need to work toward a solution that will benefit the earth, as well as their own bottom lines.
The amount of electricity needed to browse the Internet and talk on the phone in the U.S. alone shows that a new system is needed. According to the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), data centers and telecom systems account for 3 percent of the U.S total electricity demand, and the proportion is growing rapidly.
Since the telecommunications industry uses so much electricity, the industry can make a positive impact on total energy consumption, not only by reducing its consumption through more efficient network infrastructure, but also by helping other industries to reduce their impact.
For example, Alcatel-Lucent IMS solutions help service providers reinvent communications across fixed, mobile and web, while paving the way for a smooth migration to all-IP networks with scalability and security.
“Technologies that can be enhanced with IMS (video conferencing, presence aware messaging, and anytime access) reduce or eliminate the need to travel to meetings or commute daily,” the whitepaper said.
The Alcatel-Lucent End-to-End IMS Solution helps operators offer multimedia communication services including voice, video, web, messaging and other conversational services using the most effective communications tools, whether it is their PC, TV, mobile phone, or home phones.
In fact, Alcatel-Lucent claims its IMS solution reduces the environmental and economic impact by over 90 percent, compared to a TDM-based solution. The service allows service providers to respond to the demands of today’s consumers, while also opening the door to new revenue streams.
As importantly it highlights Alcatel-Lucent’s commitment to ecosustainability as a vendor and as an enabler for its customers to be responsible stewards as well. As ALU CEO Ben Verwaayen says, “Corporate Responsibility is our business imperative. It defines our organization.”
]]>Hopefully, you have been an avid follower of the Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) Market & Consumer Insight (MCI) team’s recently concluded three-week India journey across urban and rural parts of the states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and the National Capital Region (NCR). As it came to a close, the group culled several important insights on neo-urbanization:
As seen through all of the posts from the team members, and the series of items I have described in previous blogs, neo-urbanization is modernizing many areas of the world that were previously without access to healthcare, education, employment – and technology. In particular, parts of India are becoming networked hubs that are oriented and planned around smart functionality and sustainability.
Based on preliminary findings, each of the three locations – Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and the NCR – represents different stages of neo-urbanization. However, combined, they have allowed the MCI group to capture neo-urbanization in most of its gradations, according to a the final blog post that summarizes highlights of the three-week journey.
NCR is an example of the impact of new and rapidly established industries on the local population, while Ahmedabad (Gujarat state) captured the optimism of being on the path towards a smart city of the future smart about to be created on the periphery of the city.
“Similarly, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) provided compelling examples of ICT-enabled development and governance – great models for other parts of the world, especially for those in emerging markets,” wrote Revital Marom, head of the Market and Consumer Insight (MCI) at Alcatel-Lucent.
For example, the group discovered that while ICT usage beyond voice is present only in “faint traces” with the computer entering urban homes, Internet accessibility in cyber cafes it is still perceived to be expensive.
Ultimately, the MCI team has determined a need for accessibility to government initiatives and schemes, which, powered by ICT-enabled solutions that ALU views as integral to its corporate responsibility, could really make a difference to the lives of those living there.
While the three areas the group traveled to have differences, they also share a common trait: a strong need for ICT-enabled development.
“This development will be critical in order to deal appropriately with the opportunities and implications of an increasingly neo-urbanized world,” Marom said.
The MCI group will share a final report and outcomes of this research. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments about this project, Alcatel-Lucent invites you to email revital.marom@alcatel-lucent.com.
By Beecher Tuttle
Skyrocketing energy demands and the push for greener, more sustainable energy solutions has helped bring smart grids to prominence, and has encourage a number of utilities to deploy a next-generation network alongside their electrical grid.
AltaLink, one of Canada's largest electricity transmission providers, is one of the utilities that is currently undergoing the complex, yet highly advantageous transition from a TDM architecture to a next-generation IP-based network.
In an effort to provide other utilities with a roadmap for the migration, Clinton Struth, principal engineer at AltaLink, and Dr. Marc Maurer, key account manager at Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) recently authored a TechZine article, IP/MPLS-based Networks for Mission-Critical Services, that details some of the benefits and challenges of embracing a smarter network.
AltaLink's initiative was born back in 2007, when the company made the decision to replace their ATM and TDM-based network with a next-generation, packet-based Wide Area Network (WAN). When looking at their options, the company felt that it had two reasonable choices; it could deploy an Internet Protocol/Multi-Protocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) infrastructure or a next -generation Synchronous Digital Hierarchy/Synchronous Optical Network (SDH/SONET).
When looking at the SDH/SONET option, AltaLink found that it didn't offer as much value as they had hoped, other than its ability to extend the lifespan of the network itself.
IP/MPLS, on the other hand, provides a cost-effective, visually-oriented network management system that enables utilities to provision, manage and operate critical smart grid services as well as the ability to report on their statistics. Couple this with the solution's dynamic bandwidth allocation and the fact that most AltaLink services would likely transition to IP, and AltaLink made their choice.
After evaluating several vendors and completing a series of pilot tests, AltaLink selected its supplier, Alcatel Lucent, in January 2010 and began the rollout a year later.
Now about halfway through the migration, Struth and AltaLink believe the IP/MPLS infrastructure is highly capable of enabling the "better management of the transmission infrastructure to ensure more reliability, safety and cost efficiency."
Struth's confidence in IP/MPLS stems from the fact that the technology overcomes two common doubts:
Some utilities have questioned whether IP/MPLS can meet the strict latency requirements necessary to run an electrical grid. Struth has found this concern to be inaccurate, noting that IP/MPLS has been used to deliver time-sensitive applications like backhauling of mobile data traffic for many years.
As noted in the posting, "IP/MPLS is sometimes and incorrectly still perceived as connection-less IP-technology that can provide very cost-efficient data transport but only with a 'best-effort' like quality of service (QoS)… This is the case for IP only however in contrast, the MPLS part of IP/MPLS makes the solution connection-oriented and capable of multiple guaranteed QoS levels."
As for cyber-security, AltaLink and ALU were able to implement a multi-tier security concept with multiple security layers and intrusion-detection check-points. This move, which adds full control plane protection, comprehensive password protection and several additional security layers, is enabling the company to align it network security with that of Tier-1 carriers.
"By successfully engineering the network to support critical applications such as SCADA and TPR, this next-generation network can not only replace existing TDM networks but is flexible enough for a smart grid future," the two authors add.
Struth and Maurer offered a few key takeaways from the migration that can help utilities that follow in AltaLink’s footsteps:
While much of the attention of smart grid deployments has been on the benefits for consumers and electric utilities in terms of things like customer control and choice and utility efficiency and eco-sustainability, the next generation communications infrastructure to enable smart grid benefits to be fully realized is a critical piece of the story. And, as AltaLink’s example shows, IP/MPLS - based networks are a core part of ensuring utility communications infrastructures are up to the challenge.
]]>By Susan Campbell
The ever-increasing demand for energy has created the need for the development of the Smart Grid. This efficient approach to energy management and consumption will change the way we produce, consume and recycle energy. The efficient operation of the Smart Grid will be a long time in coming, however, as many challenges still exist to complete implementation and adoption.
According to a recent Alcatel-Lucent article, Dealing with the Smart Grid’s Key Drivers and Challenges, the future of smart grids includes significant changes to the way we live, work and play. It is expected to impact the business landscape, the energy marketplace and the ways in which we interact both culturally and socially.
In the future smart grids will also enhance control and convenience in the industrialized work, while also enabling positive social progress in developing nations. These benefits are expected to gain traction, but the speed and success will depend greatly on how skillfully energy providers today manage change.
The Smart Grid's challenges demand that we overcome the question of “will we thrive, or merely survive?” The Smart Grid can truly create significant change for both operators and consumers and how well players on both sides anticipate and prepare for those changes will determine the outcome.
One key area of change will be in cultural values. The Smart Grid’s key drivers have always been increased efficiency and reduced reliability on costly resources or offshore supplies. Traditionally, users thought little of their energy use, perhaps paying attention only to the number of lights on in the house or the temperature on the thermostat. In the new culture, we will be in control of how and how much and from where we consume energy.
The Smart Grid will extend beyond the walls of our homes and businesses, reaching out to transportation, communications and other key areas. Exciting and powerful new applications will allow us to fully manage all activities, determining our energy consumption and controlling just how much we rely on the grid itself.
The future of the Smart Grid includes electric vehicles and thousands of renewable generation sources that will add significant management complexity, while also assisting in the migration to peak demand issues, political instability and fluctuating energy prices. With the introduction of partnerships and coalitions, higher value will be extended to both energy operators and consumers.
All stakeholders understanding the opportunities in this space will benefit from the advanced technologies and regional regulatory environments as they create the perfect landscape for new high-potential business models. Those who can understand and effectively address the key drivers for success will benefit the most. The Smart Grid can help support these transformations as long as scalability, reliability and full inclusion for millions of consumers are included.