NGMN recommends open-source tech for energy efficiency in broadband

The adoption of open-source technology and a focus on total network transparency are key recommendations for the global broadband industry in a new report concerning measuring energy consumption in virtualised Radio Access Network (RAN) networks. The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN) publication was developed with the contribution of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), vendors, and research institutes.

"Managing and minimising energy consumption is paramount within our industry," asserts Arash Ashouriha, Chairman of the NGMN Alliance Board and SVP Group Technology at Deutsche Telekom. The new NGMN publication presents important recommendations for industry standards, helping to facilitate more accurate and real-time estimations of energy consumed by virtualised or cloud-native network functions.

Laurent Leboucher, Member of the NGMN Alliance Board and Group CTO at Orange, emphasises, "Sustainability is a significant concern for MNOs and their customers. Accurate measurement of energy usage in our networks and associated carbon emissions is essential. This publication marks a crucial stride towards fostering greater transparency in energy consumption within virtualised infrastructure."

The report from NGMN underscores the need to enhance current 3GPP Virtual Network Function (VNF) / Cloud Network Function (CNF) energy consumption estimation frameworks for more precise measurement of energy consumed by VNF/CNF on shared IT/Cloud infrastructure. It also extends recommendations to Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) to expedite the development of such improved frameworks.

Moreover, the NGMN publication cites the potential of utilising Redfish by Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) along with open-source tools like Kepler and Prometheus to enable MNOs to perform network-wide, real-time, and accurate assessments of IT-infrastructure performance and power consumption.

The report also highlights that operating models will impact MNOs' capability to manage the performance and energy consumption of virtualised RAN functions. It suggests that Application Programming Interfaces between Cloud Service Providers and MNOs may need to replace standardised FCAPS (Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security) interfaces, should they not be exposed by the Cloud Service Provider.

Anita Doehler, CEO at NGMN Alliance, stated, "This publication further advances the industry's capacity to deploy disaggregated, virtualized and cloud-native architectures while effectively managing energy consumption and environmental impact. Bringing together the industry to tackle our shared challenges, unlocking opportunities and providing crucial guidance to the industry is NGMN's core mission."

This collaboration between NGMN partners aims to drive the most urgent subjects in the industry today, which includes NGMN's Strategic Focus Topics such as Mastering the Route to Disaggregation, Green Future Networks and 6G research and development.