Networking gear goes green

Servers get most of the glory when it comes to energy management, but the networking gear is about to catch up, reveals CIO.

Over the past year, network equipment vendors have begun to emphasise energy-efficiency features, something that was never a top priority before, says Dale Cosgro, a product manager in Hewlett-Packard's ProCurve network products organisation.

He notes vendors have already adopted some energy-related features such as high-efficiency power supplies and variable-speed cooling fans. But with switches, he adds, there's a limit to what can be done in the area of power management today.

Grid Net has revealed that its PolicyNet software platform now supports long term evolution (LTE) for any device, notes Smart Meters.

LTE is the mobile standard developed by the 3rd-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), operating under a name trademarked by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

Grid Net explains: “LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System which was introduced in 3GPP Release 8. Much of this focuses on adopting 4G mobile communications technology, including an all-IP flat networking architecture.”

Millions of Israelis were left unable to make cellphone calls or send text messages when a technical glitch brought down the servers of Cellcom - one of the big three Israeli cellular phone companies, says Haaretz.

Cellcom said the halt in services had been caused by a fundamental and complex network problem.

"There is a problem in the heart of the system," a spokesman for the company told the Israeli media. Cellcom said there was "a temporary difficulty for some customers in making and receiving phone calls."