DESIGN
Sustainability into the network
DESIGN
sustainability into the network
DESIGN
sustainability into the network
Building networks that live longer—architectures that adapt and scale
Networks are long-term infrastructure investments that should be cost-effective from day one but must also be capable of scaling and adapting to respond to future demand and continuing to yield ROI for many years to come.
If sustainability is left out of network design conversations, it’s potentially a missed opportunity to minimise the network’s environmental impact over the coming years.
Conversely, combining business and environmental benefits can strengthen the business case for modernisation. New technologies can not only increase capacity and throughput while lowering costs, but also cut energy consumption, reduce real estate requirements, decrease waste, minimise truck rolls, and extend the lifetime of existing assets.
Four design considerations for a modern and sustainable network
Here are four sustainability considerations to keep in mind when designing a cost-optimised, future-ready network. Click the links after each consideration to see how Ciena can help.
1
Energy efficiency of network platforms
The power consumption of network equipment is a critical factor in any design decision. Investment containment is always a key driver, but investing in energy-efficient equipment can help lower operational costs while also reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
As an example, the newest generation of optical transponders can dramatically increase capacity on existing fibre pairs while minimising power consumption by substantially reducing power per bit. These transponders not only help reduce energy costs but also ensure demand can be met with less equipment, placing less strain on site infrastructure, reducing overall waste, and further boosting the bottom line.
2
Minimising site impacts
Increasing capacity used to mean investing in larger platforms capable of handling more traffic. These bigger boxes not only consumed more energy but also needed more cooling and more space—often requiring sites to be retrofitted to cope with the additional load. Capacity growth could therefore come at a big financial and environmental cost.
But that’s no longer the case. You can now take advantage of compact, pluggable electronics—from broadband micro OLTs (uOLTs) to optical transponders—that allow for increased capacity within the existing site infrastructure. Small form-factor platforms also offer high port density and easy stackability, supporting demand growth for longer and minimising pressure on the existing infrastructure.
3
Planning for long-term demand growth
In the fast-paced, constantly evolving technology market, systems must be capable of adapting to shifting demand and requirements so that they can live longer in the network without the need for premature replacement. This longevity can be achieved by prioritising scalability to increase bandwidth as applications evolve and modularity to easily grow resources alongside demand. These complementary flexibility dimensions enable the infrastructure to seamlessly support service evolution, ultimately resulting in less hardware used, fewer site visits (and truck rolls), less waste, and better resource usage. By emphasising these factors during the design phase, you can enhance sustainability while also boosting ROI.
4
Simplifying through convergence
To provide a variety of services, operators often need to rely on a combination of intertwined and interdependent network segments, domains, and layers. As networks evolve through technology generations and architectures, this complexity continues to increase, making it ever harder, riskier, and more costly to scale. These complex environments increase operational cost and the risk of performance issues and make troubleshooting slower and harder, besides being inefficient in terms of energy consumption.
To mitigate complexity while maximising scalability and flexibility, operators should always consider multiservices-convergent network platforms. This approach converges PON, TDM, IP, and Ethernet services on a single platform, enabling shared capacity and higher use and combining increased efficiency with simpler operations, lower costs, and reduced emissions.
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