The recipe for the energy crisis
Energy prices are rising month by month. How will the energy crisis affect the telecommunications industry? How to minimize the impact of rising energy prices? Representatives of the largest telecoms companies will talk about it during the XV Days of Light, October 11 in Warsaw.
Days of Light is a two-day conference for the telecommunications industry and Data Center. During lectures and technology workshops, experts present the latest solutions for data transmission, optimization and network scalability. They will present the most common challenges and case studies in LAN and Wi-Fi 6 network design.
A new feature of the 15th edition of the conference is the panel discussion. Participation was confirmed by representatives of industry leaders. Panelists from Exatel, Orange, Play Groups (Iliad), Akamai Technologies and representatives of the organizer - Salumanus company will talk about the future of telecommunications and solutions that will minimize the effects of rising energy prices.
The Energy Regulatory Office reports that electricity increased by 100 percent in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period of 2021. Economists are predicting further increases of at least a few percent. - Energy optimization is not new for the telco and data center industry. The Uptime Institute estimates that 82 percent of organizations currently monitor their energy consumption. However, the economic situation requires more decisive steps and faster implementation of energy-saving solutions — believes Marcin Bała, CEO of Salumanus.
Data centers are estimated to account for about 1 percent of the world's electricity demand. Orange, one of the largest telecommunications companies on the Polish market, estimates that their data centers currently consume as much electricity as 40,000 cities. The recipe for less power consumption is to simplify the network architecture and reduce the number of devices and use more current-efficient devices. - In the light of the energy crisis, TCO indicators, i.e. the total 10-year maintenance of network equipment, become more important than investment costs alone — admits Paweł Śmiechowski, Head of the Orange Development Department, one of the panelists of the XV Days of Light.
Changes in network architecture are forced not only by increasing bandwidth, but also by climate assumptions. The European Commission wants 10,000 climate-neutral network nodes to be built by the end of 2030. — It is not enough to equip such nodes with photovoltaic panels, because the costs of energy storage still remain. We need energy- and cost-efficient network devices that use less electricity or perform more functions at the same time. So that in total less equipment works on the network — highlights Adam Sedlin, Head of Transport Network, EXATEL, one of the panelists of the XV Days of Light.
In the Salumanus fiber laboratory, network solutions are being developed to reduce energy consumption by half or even 90 percent. GBC Photonics optical modules are available, which eliminate transponders and save space in rack cabinets. And the GBC Photonics SRD programmer, created by Cracow engineers, reduces the amount of e-waste by enabling multiple use of optical modules.
- During the XV Days of Light we will talk about the solutions of Salumanus and DCN in the context of the challenges - those related to the industry, related to the geopolitical situation, and those of engineering that network specialists face — announces Marcin Bała. — The demands are growing all the time. During the past Days of Light, we talked about 400G transmission, and now we are preparing for 800G testing. It is worth considering what systems to invest in so as not to be left behind.
XV Days of Light will take place on 11 - 12 October at Novotel Warszawa Centrum. The event is free for Salumanus Partners. For more information: https://www.dniswiatla.pl/