Service-Towards a Greener Internet Technology and Traffic Engineering

In recent years, there have been many studies on research questions related to reducing ICT energy consumption. The aim is to save energy, improving network efficiency while at the same time meeting user perceived QoS. This presentation will begin with a general background on Internet traffic growth and its energy implications and a tutorial on the effects of traffic management and behaviour on network performance, QoS provision, efficiency and energy efficiency. Next, the focus will shift to optical core networks, justifying the argument that for such networks, efficient design of future telecommunications network will be based on increasing the role of technologies such as circuit/flow switching/routing in the future Internet. Then, a new proposed approach, where traffic flows choose the path and technology most cost effective for them according to their size, will be described. Finally, wireless networks will be considered; in particular, green options involving femtocells and shutting down base-stations will be discussed. The talk is aimed for the general audience and does not rely on significant technical expertise.