Redesigning a Point-to-Point Optical Transceiver for an Energy Efficient Access Network
The Point-to-Point Optical Transceiver project, led by a team of researchers from the Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET) at the University of Melbourne and Bell Labs/Alcatel-Lucent, redesigns the point-to-point optical transceiver. The resulting equipment—incorporating a new hardware design and a custom-built, optimized ASIC—will provide a 30-fold increase in energy efficiency compared to today’s state-of-the-art optical transceiver. The new transceiver can be coupled to adaptive powering schemes for further energy efficiency gains. It is expected to save energy costs for Internet Service Providers, and will benefit both businesses and consumers who want a high-capacity, secure and direct fiber connection that is energy efficient. GreenTouch is exploring its use for two applications:
- A point-to-point, high-speed broadband network that will provide secure, low-energy, dedicated service to business
- An energy-efficient, point-to-point network that would be used inside of homes to connect home electronics gear—such as Internet TV and wireless routers—to wired in-house networks.
“The impact of such a single device is quite remarkable,” said Thierry Klein, chairman of the GreenTouch Technical Committee. “For example, when applied to the in-home networking scenario, the new optical transceiver will reduce the overall power consumption of the entire metro access network by 27 percent; this translates to about 4 terawatt hours of electricity saved on an annual basis, equivalent in terms of annual greenhouse gas emissions to taking nearly 600,000 cars off the road.”
View the press release:
New GreenTouch Innovations to Reduce Energy Consumption in Wireline Access Communications Networks by 46 Percent
