Juniper Networks & Ixia Announce Telecom Energy Efficiency Metric
Juniper Networks Inc. and Ixia a global provider of IP performance test systems, announced the formation of the Energy Consumption Rating (ECR) Initiative – a framework for measuring the energy efficiency of network and telecom devices. Juniper Networks, Ixia and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs collaborated to develop a vendor-neutral energy efficiency metric.
The ECR metric creates a common energy denominator between different network and telecom systems operating within a single class. The ECR methodology defines the procedures and conditions for measurements and calculations, and can be readily implemented with industry-standard test equipment.
"Reducing the energy use of information technology has been a cooperative effort between industry and the public sector," said Bruce Nordman, Research at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. "Our work with the ECR initiative brings this partnership to network and telecom equipment. Standard test procedures are necessary for good public policy in this area and needed to recognize new efficient technologies and products."
The ECR draft specification 1.02 establishes a framework for classifying network equipment and a methodology for measuring energy efficiency. The final "performance-per-energy unit" rating, expressed in (watts) / (Gigabit per second) can be reported as a peak (scalar) or synthetic (weighted) metric that takes dynamic energy management capabilities into account. The ECR framework and methodology is vendor-neutral and can be easily adapted to upcoming energy-related ICT standards and legislations
"In addition to fostering the ECR Initiative, Ixia has built a test application that implements ECR methodologies and metrics within a fully automated, highly accurate and repeatable platform: IxGreen," said Vic Alston, Senior Vice President of Product Development at Ixia. "IxGreen, in conjunction with Ixia’s platform and test application, provides stateful device load and correlates traffic throughput to energy consumption."
"The ECR Initiative is an important step toward making energy efficiency ratings for telecommunications a reality," said Opher Kahane, senior vice president and general manager, High End Systems Business Unit, Juniper Networks. "Our service provider customers are focused on energy efficiency for maximum operational savings, service quality, reliability and the environmental impact of their networks, and our products are designed to help them meet these objectives."
The ECR is an open initiative that welcomes participants and users from network equipment manufacturers, government agencies, carriers, and enterprises. It is immediately applicable to establish the relative energy efficiency of network components produced by different manufacturers within a solid, unified and vendor-neutral test methodology. The ECR specification and additional details are available at the ECR Initiative’s web site. The specification is free to the public.
