ESnet Offers National Dark Fiber Testbed Resources to GreenTouch Members to Spur Innovation
First Demo of a GreenTouch Solution by a Major Telecommunications Provider
AMSTERDAM - Dec. 12, 2011 - GreenTouch™, a global industry initiative dedicated to dramatically improving the energy efficiency of information and communications technology (ICT) networks by a factor of 1,000, today announced that the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) has made its national dark fiber testbed network available to all GreenTouch members to conduct energy efficiency network research. Managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ESnet is the Department of Energy’s (DOE) primary scientific network, linking thousands of DOE scientists to each other and to international collaborators.
The testbed is a key component of Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Networking Initiative (ANI), a program created through a $62 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investment to develop the next generation scientific network in the U.S. ANI comprises a coast-to-coast prototype 100 Gbps network and a nationwide experimental testbed that has access to almost 13,000 miles of dark fiber. The dark fiber portion of the ANI testbed offers GreenTouch members an unprecedented and persistent platform for experimentation and testing of radical new energy efficiency technologies.
“For GreenTouch members to achieve our goal of drastically improving network energy efficiency by 2015, we will have to rapidly develop, test, and demonstrate new technologies,” said Gee Rittenhouse, chairman of the GreenTouch Consortium and newly named COO of Alcatel-Lucent Software, Services and Solutions. “The dark fiber and testbed that ESnet is making available to our member organizations can significantly accelerate the cycles of network research and innovation.”
GreenTouch members include industry, academic and non-governmental research institutions. GreenTouch’s agenda includes developing a new energy-efficient architecture, specifications, and roadmaps as well as demonstrating key components needed to sustainably grow data networking as the Internet expands.
“ESnet’s national dark fiber testbed, we believe, represents the first large-scale resource for energy efficiency research for networks, and we hope will provide a platform for other forthcoming initiatives,” said Inder Monga, Area lead, Research and Services at ESnet. “We are excited by the possibilities this resource can bring to accelerating work in this important research field. We welcome proposals from the community to leverage the dark fiber that we hope will lead to new technologies that can fulfill the goals GreenTouch is driving towards.”
Membership in GreenTouch is open to any organization or individual committed to environmental sustainability and supporting the consortium in realizing its vision. More information about joining GreenTouch is available on the consortium's website at www.greentouch.org.
About ESnet
ESnet provides the high-bandwidth, reliable connections that link scientists at national laboratories, universities and other research institutions, enabling them to work together on some of the world's most important scientific challenges including energy, climate science, and the origins of the universe. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, and managed and operated by the ESnet team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), ESnet provides scientists with access to unique DOE research facilities and computing resources, as well as to scientific collaborators including research and education networks around the world.
About GreenTouch
GreenTouch is a global consortium of leading service providers, academic and industrial research institutions and non-governmental organizations working together to define the challenges, identify the trends and issues and develop solutions that will achieve the goal of delivering within five years the architecture, specifications, roadmap and demonstrations of key components needed to increase the energy efficiency of ICT networks - in particular, the service provider networks that make up the Internet - by a factor of 1,000 from current levels.
In June 2010, GreenTouch received an award for energy efficiency innovation at the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards event.
GreenTouch and the GreenTouch logo are trademarks of Stichting GreenTouch.
Contact:
GreenTouch: Deb McGregor-Fonteix
+1 908-582-7066
deb.mcgregor-fonteix@greentouch.org
ESnet: Jon Bashor
+1 510-486-5849
jbashor@lbl.gov
