ATIS Announces Three New Energy Efficiency Standards for Telecom

In an age when communications service providers and even enterprises are going “green” – attempting to figure out and reduce power consumption by network elements and data centers – it would be expected that there would suddenly spring up a profusion of power consumption/efficiency metrics and standards.

 

Verizon, for example, publishes a document called “Verizon (News - Alert) NEBS Compliance: Energy Efficiency Requirements for Telecommunications Equipment – Verizon Technical Purchasing Requirements.” Verizon’s “TPR” document defines the minimum requirements for the purchase of telecom equipment for Network Equipment-Building System compliance. Verizon’s document provides a test methodology for calculating what they called the Telecommunications Equipment Energy Efficiency Rating, or “TEEER,” a calculated value representing the energy efficiency rating of a specific product, to be used by Verizon in evaluating their supplier’s equipment when procuring equipment assemblies used in Verizon’s telecom networks.

 

The intent is to foster the creation of more energy efficient telecommunications equipment by Verizon’s supplier community, thereby reducing the energy requirements in Verizon networks. Verizon’s methodology is applicable to but not limited to shelf, frame and cabinet mounted DC powered network equipment to be installed in environmentally-controlled environments and equipment located at the customer premises. AC powered customer premises equipment and AC powered data center type equipment shall also be covered in this TPR.

 

And now, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, otherwise known as “ATIS (News - Alert),” a large technical planning and standards development organization committed to the rapid development of global, market-driven standards for the information, entertainment and communications industry, has just published three standards used to determine telecommunication equipment’s energy efficiency. The standards introduce the Telecommunications Energy Efficiency Ratio, or “TEER,” as a measure of network-element efficiency.

 

The standards provide a comprehensive methodology for measuring and reporting energy consumption, and uniformly quantify a network component’s ratio of “work performed” to energy consumed.

 

The efficiency standards are specific to equipment type, network location and classification. Normalizing these ratings by functionality enables “apples-to-apples” equipment comparison. This systemized assessment results in repeatable and comparable energy consumption measurement.

 

It is felt that TEER’s development will assist in the industry’s commitment to environmental sustainability and green business practices and enable diverse industry elements to have increased efficiencies and cost containment, which should translate to savings for end-users.

 

The three American National Institute Standards have been developed by ATIS’ Network Interface, Power and Protection Committee, which develops and recommends standards and technical related to power systems, electrical and physical protection for the exchange and interexchange carrier networks, and interfaces associated with user access to telecommunications networks. The new standards define TEER’s General Requirements, Transport Equipment TEER, and Server Equipment TEER. These are the first of a larger collection – related to diverse network processes including: routers, power rectifiers and wireless access equipment – currently in development. The completed documents are available for purchase on the ATIS Document Center www.atis.org/docstore under the following numbers:

 

• ATIS-0600015.2009, Energy Efficiency for Telecommunication Equipment: Methodology for Measurement and Reporting – General Requirements

 

• ATIS-0600015.01.2009, Energy Efficiency for Telecommunication Equipment: Methodology for Measurement and Reporting -- Server Requirements

 

• ATIS-0600015.02.2009, Energy Efficiency for Telecommunication Equipment: Methodology for Measurement and Reporting – Transport Requirements

 

ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, a member and major U.S. contributor to the International Telecommunication Union Radio and Telecommunications’ Sectors, and a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission. More than 300 companies actively formulate standards in ATIS’ 20 Committees, covering issues including: IPTV (News - Alert), Service Oriented Networks, Home Networking, Energy Efficiency, IP-Based and Wireless Technologies, Quality of Service, Billing and Operational Support. In addition, numerous Incubators, Focus and Exploratory Groups address emerging industry priorities including “Green”, IP Downloadable Security, Next-Generation Carrier Interconnect, IPv6 and Convergence (News - Alert).