Application Enablement Feature Editorial

How the High Leverage Network Helps Improve Eco-Efficiency

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) has developed the High Leverage Network (HLN) to empower service providers to maintain the architecture necessary to achieve the necessary performance level to meet growing demands on the network. The HLN provides ubiquitous access to any application from anywhere and from any device with the quality they desire.

In addition to such benefits, the HLN can also improve a company's eco-efficiency as it provides a holistic, intelligent, integrated approach to meet the growing demands for high quality content delivered to multiple screens. The HLN reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO) by employing fewer devices that are able to do more with less, thereby offering an eco-sustainable choice for service providers today.

Fewer devices support on the network means less power and less cooling. This in turn reduces the service provider's carbon footprint. The HLN accomplishes this by handling large amounts of traffic more efficiently at the lowest possible layer of the network as both bandwidth and intelligence are designed to send traffic only where it is needed at the highest speed and the greatest efficiency.

This approach was developed in Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs (News - Alert) where researchers recognized that a systems-based approach was required to make meaningful improvements in network energy efficiency. Bell Labs launched the Green Touch Initiative to define systems-based solutions that will reduce the telecommunications carbon footprint while also meeting expectations in performance and capacity.

Bell Labs and Alcatel-Lucent are dedicated to ensuring an eco-sustainable future based on energy-efficient networks. This is also a responsibility for the industry and necessary to drive a healthy global community. When implementing an HLN within the enterprise, the business is contributing to a healthier environment throughout the world.

Consider this: the information and communications technology (ICT) sector only accounts for roughly 2 percent of the world's power consumption and the associated carbon footprint. ICT is considered a clean industry with a light carbon footprint and the true opportunity for HLN is in its ability to reduce carbon footprints through new communications applications for customers.

Eco-sustainability benefits are also possible in adjacent markets; which means the HLN can contribute to a reduced carbon footprint from other sectors that will account for the remaining 98 percent. This is possible through managed communications services, cloud computing, enhanced conferencing, remote learning, smart metering, co-branded green promotions and green data centers.

Eco-sustainability can seem like a daunting undertaking when the right tools are not in place. By turning to the HLN, the enterprise, SMB or any other entity can leverage proven methods for achieving a greener environment.  

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Erin Harrison