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While D-Link emerged with its first green Ethernet industry solution in 2007, the new set of switches available for 10, 16, and 14 ports have quite a few added green features, besides being fully managed.
Going by the US studies, it was found that there was a high power requirement for servers and a large amount of power needed for cooling and ventilation in data centers. Studies also found that networking products accounted for one-fourth of the total power consumed by IT equipments, thus making it crucial for networking products to implement green technology. A major reason being that servers are never switched off, unlike an individual PC, thus increasing power consumption manifold.
Addressing this problem, while an ordinary Ethernet switch has the same power on all ports, even with no PC or device connected, D-Link's green Ethernet switch has the ability to automatically turn off the power to port, if no device has been connected for a long time. Further, in terms of cable length-while the normal length is 20 or 100 mts-the green switch senses how far the device is and then turns off power to port accordingly.
This results in a three-fold power savings scenario. Firstly, the switch checks for number of devices connected and how many are in use; secondly it checks how far the connection to the port is; thirdly, in twenty-four hours time frame, how many hours is the PC being used. This approach has shown results of up to 75% savings.
Besides other green features like less heat and noise-a smart fan with speed regulated according to outside temperature, and the ability to function in critical conditions of even 250° C without AC, making it usable in times of power outage are also present. The green Ethernet switch also has several new networking features like IPv6 ready core logo phase two certification, it supports web, SNMP, TELNET, and other latest technologies, offers rich end point security features and joint security provides admission control and real-time defense through, with a tie-up with Microsoft for the same, and a combo console and external SD memory card. Also, the switches are packed in recyclable packing material.
According to Jayesh Kotak, VP, product marketing, D-Link, “We have moved from the unmanaged switch in 2007, to the web managed switch and now the first green managed switch series. Besides the above, we have also launched a dedicated green website called www.dlinkgreen.com, which features a green calculator, similar to the one offered by Yahoo!, which helps one calculate individual requirements according to one's usage. This provides for a 360° approach to green products and helps save on opex and capex as well.”
With the rapid growth in power consumption by the ICT industry, the time is ripe for launching such solutions. With 3G coming in a few months, there will be added pressure on the power consumption, which urgently calls for tighter measures by the industry.
Speaking exclusively to VOICE&DATA on the sidelines of the conference announcing the launch of the switches, Kotak said, “Gradually we will phase out the old switches and only sell the new green switches.” Talking about 3G, he said, “We are looking at introducing several 3G products like broadband routers, 3G photo frames, 3G door phone, etc, in the Indian market, after the success we have had with the same abroad. However, this will all depend on whether operators adopt a locked SIM approach or an open-dongle based approach and let us use their network.”
berylm@cybermedia.co.in