Optical Networks – Will they destroy the planet or save humanity?

• Organisers

  Chris Fludger, Infinera GmbH, Germany
  Fabrice Bourgart, Orange Labs, France

• Subcommittee

  SC4 – Techniques for Digitally Enhancing Optical Communication

• Day & Time

  18.09.2022, 14:00 – 17:30

• Location

  Room San Francisco

• Description

  Exponential growth is not sustainable, and the once long-term problems of climate change are becoming rapidly short-term problems affecting resource depletion, waste generation, general pollution and increasing prevalence of natural disasters. This workshop examines the green credentials of the optical communications industry, and looks at initiatives and directions towards a more sustainable future.

  Today’s networks focus on high-end performance and end-user experience. Tomorrow’s networks must also balance energy efficiency with varying traffic-load, and designs focused on sustainability.

  The workshop precedes the Nobel plenary talk of Didier Queloz on Exoplanet Discovery, and in contrast to traditional ECOC workshops, will be open to the general public. There will be plenty of opportunity for thought-provoking discussion and questions!

• Programme

  Session 1 (90 min, 15 min per speaker + 30 min discussion)
   The Big-Picture, Klaus Grobe, ADVA Optical Networking SE, Germany
   Re-use, Reduce, Re-cycle, Florian Doussot, Orange, France
   Give me Moore for less!, Kishore Kota, Marvell, USA
   Power consumption is Over-The-Top
   Panel discussion

  Coffee Break (30 min)

  Session 2 (90 min, 15 min per speaker + 30 min discussion)
   A disruption in the network, Johan Bäck, Infinera, Sweden
   Big-Data vs Intelligent Data, Dan Kilper, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
   Are Optical Networks the Solution for Energy Hungry Data Centers?, Chongjin Xie, Alibaba Cloud, USA
   Are we willing participants or do we need to be dragged screaming to the table?, Jean-Luc Lemmens, IDATE, France
   Panel discussion

• Posed Questions

  Introduction

  The Big-Picture, Klaus Grobe, Senior Director Global Sustainability, ADVA Optical Networking SE, Germany
   How long is exponential growth sustainable?
   An end-to-end view: Where should we focus our efforts for the biggest savings and improvements? Data-center, Access or Metro? FTTH?
   Does Greening-by-ICT make the Optical Telcom industry look good or bad?
   Who is doing what, and will it make a difference? 

  Re-use, Reduce, Re-cycle, Florian Doussot, Orange Sustainable and Circular Ambition for Recertification (OSCAR) Stream Leader, Orange, France
   What’s going on in improving product life-cycle?
   Are pluggable devices the answer to re-use and extending the lifetime of optics, or are we creating a landfill of disposable devices?
   Are our efforts for a circular economy running in circles?
   Should we be using Indium-Berylium-cyano-non-recyclium?

  Give me Moore for less!, Kishore Kota, Associate Vice President Engineering, Coherent DSP Group, Marvell, USA
   What progress have we made in reducing power consumption for optical transceivers and ASICs?
   Will Moore’s law save us? What’s the limit?
   How can we optimize power through design? How much power remains in the optics? What can we save?
   Optimising power depending on traffic load?
   Game-changers?

  Power consumption is Over-The-Top
   What are the power-hungry applications and services? IOT? Streaming? Machine learning? What is the traffic characteristics? Latency? Burstiness? Throughput?
   Is disaggregation beneficial for cost or power?
   Bandwidth as a limited resource?
   PON = Power-efficient Optical Networks?
   What are the game changers ? Will Optical switching make a dramatic difference?
   Network architecture for lower power rather than higher performance?
  

  A disruption in the network, Johan Bäck, Sr. Director, Business Development, Infinera, Sweden
   The need for a simpler more intelligent network.
   Lowering power with lower traffic-load?
  

  Big-Data vs Intelligent Data, Dan Kilper, Professor of Future Communication Networks, CONNECT centre, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
   Optimising networks for lower energy rather than higher performance. Are they mutually exclusive?
   Does network disaggregation spread the flames?
   Big Data & centralized AI, or limited data & Distributed AI?
   Are we a slave to legacy IP? Kill off transcoding?
   Today’s networks seem less-and-less aware of the end-to-end application.
   Any game-changers?
  

  Are Optical Networks the Solution for Energy Hungry Data Centers?, Chongjin Xie, Senior Director, Chief Communication Scientist, Alibaba Cloud, USA
   Moving towards bandwidth/power on demand – energy optimisation for traffic loads
   Designing the network to lower the impact of power hungry applications
   Designing for resilience in an energy constrained environment
   Data-center architectures focused on lower energy rather than higher processing
   Key technologies
   Life-time and re-use of pluggable devices in a data-center
  

  Are we willing participants or do we need to be dragged screaming to the table?, Jean-Luc Lemmens, Director, Media and Telecom, IDATE, France
   Do we as end-users / service-providers / manufacturers have enough incentive to lower energy usage?
   Who will set the goal to be achieved?
   What sacrifices will we have to make?
   How to achieve awareness and co-operation across different segments?