Going all-IP

Aging networks are sort of like pinball machines in an era of smartphones. Pinball machines are large, use lots of power, generate heat with their blinking incandescent lights and old-school power structures, and they are purpose built for one game. Smartphones, on the other hand, are power sippers, can deliver thousands of games through the same hardware, and take up very little space. The same can be said for all-IP networks.

PSTN infrastructure typically takes up several floors of space in a central office (CO) and costs as much to cool as it does to operate. All-IP solutions condense floors of equipment down to several racks of highly-efficient, programmable hardware. In the CO, the energy cost reduction achieved through a transition to all-IP can easily exceed 80 percent. There are currently 35,000 COs in the U.S. alone.  At an annual cost of $63 billion, if the global ICT industry cut energy costs by just 50 percent, it would save more than $30 billion. That’s not just a ton of money saved, but also thousands of tons of coal.

Service providers who consolidate their infrastructure also free up valuable real-estate that can be converted into modern, efficiently-cooled data centers. Data centers are, in many ways, the engines of future growth in digital services. From here, service providers can offer cloud-based services such as unified communications or network virtualization solutions. Again, imagine a smartphone, and its infinite app possibilities compared to a pinball machine, and the advantages are self-evident.

Unique solutions

One company in the marketplace with a proven solution for all-IP transformation is GENBAND. According to Synergy Research, GENBAND leads the market in Media Gateway, Softswitch, and NGN/IMS. GENBAND is also closely working with a consortium that is focused on PSTN phase-out options and approaches for supporting network modernization.

The rapidly-growing company that has supported a wide range of large carriers worldwide as they transition to IP infrastructure is GENBAND. In fact, one of GENBAND’s customers, a major carrier, achieved approximately 90 percent energy savings while reducing real estate requirements by 97 percent on a project.

GENBAND is worth specific mention because it has figured out an ingenious strategy to leap over the main hurdle that stands in the way of network transformation: capital expense. Many service providers have spent big on modern wireless networks, and aren’t able to lasso the resources required to pay for a network transformation.

To address the funding issue GENBAND has found partners willing to finance network transformation to IP on the back of energy savings and without upfront capital investments. TelEfficient, a company specializing in capital project management of network transformation projects, has developed a network of domestic and international lenders who provide funding through TelEfficient’s energy savings-based financial tools.

“You can’t solve this problem without solving the financing arm,” said David Walsh, CEO of GENBAND. “By partnering with TelEfficient, we are able to offer a real solution for service providers who are anxious to upgrade their networks and offer the latest communications services to their customers. It is like cash for clunkers, except they drive off the lot in a highly functional new vehicle without any down-payment. The network upgrade is paid for on the back of reduced energy and other costs—taking the risk and capital requirements out of network transformation and dramatically greening the telecom provider’s equipment along the way.”

Benefits to the planet

Solutions from companies like GENBAND offer energy cost reductions of up to 70 percent, but also reduce cooling water usage and lower CO2 emissions. In other words, network transformations also have a profound effect on our world. No one wants to imagine a dystopic future where networks are lightning-fast, but our green spaces are polluted beyond repair. Sustainable solutions leave the world in better shape for our offspring, and frankly ensure that there is a business in the future. Further, this is an excellent opportunity for the ICT industry to take a leadership role and establish itself as a responsible steward of the environment.

Leave the pinball machines in the past

The creation of our digital world comes at a cost, and that cost is increased energy usage. Based on analyst projections and current cost and consumption models, the growth of energy consumption in ICT is unsustainable—something has to give. Operators, consumers, businesses, nations, and the planet will suffer if we can’t kick the coal habit.

Transforming our aging legacy networks to all-IP infrastructure reduces resources, consumption, and waste. In fact, 1 watt of telco equipment power saved results in a total of 2.4W savings in total power consumption. The industry could save billions of dollars by engaging in such a transformation. These types of transformations are lauded by various working groups, but financing has remained a problem. GENBAND offers service providers the technology and financial instruments to leave the PSTN pinball machines in the past and build a profitable, sustainable, energy-efficient future.