November 21, 2010

Cable system operators can significantly and immediately impact their bottom lines by deploying solutions that can reduce data centre power needs and increase energy efficiency, according to a presentation at the recent Smart Energy Management Initiative (SEMI) forum held by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE).

At the day-long event at Time Warner Cable facilities in Herndon, Va.,
IBM chief energy management engineer, Todd Rosedahl, explained how
server-based, advanced energy-management technologies can reduce power
consumption and maximize system performance per watt. He outlined how
efficiencies can be achieved through such techniques as putting
processors to ‘sleep’, lowering processor voltage and frequency, and
boosting performance under heavy utilization.

“Data centre powering needs are impacted by a wide variety of factors,
most notably environmental conditions and the peaks and spikes of
consumer demand,” said Rosedahl.

The IBM presentation was one of a dozen sessions during the day-long
conference. Highlights included a presentation on learnings from SCTE’s
photovoltaic powering system by Derek DiGiacomo of SCTE, and an update
on the activities of the SCTE Sustainability Management Subcommittee by
Dan Cooper, SMS chair and senior director of technical operations for
Time Warner Cable.

In addition, technical presentations were given by 4CableTV (Line Power
Reduction); Alpha Technologies (Power Planning Strategy); Aurora
Networks (Deep Fiber); CableLabs (Smart Grid); Comcast (Comcast Data
Centre); CommScope/Andrew Solutions (Controlling Hub Site Performance);
Motorola (Deep Fiber); and Networkfleet (Fleet Management).

SCTE will convene the next SEMI Forum in Spring 2011.

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