ATIS’ Next G Alliance (NGA) today announced publication of Evolution of Sustainability Indicators for Data Centers and Next Generation Core Networks, a report that provides an overview of key data center sustainability strategies critical for achieving net zero emissions across the entire ICT value chain.
The core network, which handles centralized network functions and the data center on which it can operate, consumes around 19% of total energy in the operation of mobile networks[1]. More core network services have moved into the cloud in 5G. This means a corresponding increase in data center power consumption. Also, electricity consumption from data centers, artificial intelligence (AI) and the cryptocurrency sector could double by 2026.[2] These factors all create a driving impetus to make sustainable operations of data centers a critical ICT industry priority.
“Focusing on the data center domain and covering cloud enterprise and edge data centers of all sizes, this report makes a critical contribution toward advancing sustainable network operation — and is an important step in achieving the Next G Alliance’s objective of minimizing the environmental impact of future generations of wireless technology,” said ATIS Next G Alliance Managing Director Jaydee Griffith.
“We were able to publish a paper that serves as a guide to educate, evaluate and suggest implementations of a holistic sustainability approach,” said Carsten Baumann (Schneider Electric), Lead Editor, Evolution of Sustainability Indicators for Data Centers and Next Generation Core Networks. “While traditional KPIs, such as Power Utilization Effectiveness (PUE), measured a data center’s overall energy consumption relative to the energy used for IT assets, they fail to consider other important sustainability aspects. With this paper we are now able to understand, measure, track, and improve greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of components and buildings, water conservation measures, waste reduction and elimination, as well as the overall impact on the local ecosystem.”
“The ICT industry’s pathway to achieving Net-Zero value chain emissions before 2050 requires organizations to focus on the environmental impacts across the entire lifecycle of products and services, from design, sourcing, and manufacturing to use and end-of-life,” said Bhushan Joshi (Ericsson), Chair, Next G Alliance Green G Working Group.
“Recognizing the growing importance of data centers in enabling the next generation of wireless technologies to provide ubiquitous connectivity, hyper-reliability, ultra-low latency, and AI integration, this whitepaper from the Next G Alliance Green G Working Group offers insights on leveraging sustainability KPIs and the dimensions of observability, choice, and circular economy to optimize the environmental performance of data centers and core networks.”
Access Evolution of Sustainability Indicators for Data Centers and Next Generation Core Networks and the many Next G Alliance resources that are charting the course to North American leadership in the 6G future in the 6G Library.
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[1] Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA). February 2024. Going green: measuring the energy efficiency of mobile networks.
[2] International Energy Agency. 2024. Global electricity demand rose moderately in 2023 but is set to grow faster through 2026.
