Greening of the internet

TLDR

Energy consumption of networking devices is a controversial issue, with data from the U.S. Department of Commerce indicating that saving energy could have a huge impact, especially in the developing world where scarcity limits Internet deployment. The paper examines the energy consumption of networking devices in the Internet. The authors analyze how putting network interfaces and router/switch components to sleep affects network protocols, using sample packet traces to demonstrate feasibility and identify protocol changes needed for a more aggressive sleeping strategy.

Abstract

In this paper we examine the somewhat controversial subject of energy consumption of networking devices in the Internet, motivated by data collected by the U.S. Department of Commerce. We discuss the impact on network protocols of saving energy by putting network interfaces and other router & switch components to sleep. Using sample packet traces, we first show that it is indeed reasonable to do this and then we discuss the changes that may need to be made to current Internet protocols to support a more aggressive strategy for sleeping. Since this is a position paper, we do not present results but rather suggest interesting directions for core networking research. The impact of saving energy is huge, particularly in the developing world where energy is a precious resource whose scarcity hinders widespread Internet deployment.