Enabling sustainable networking in Europe and the US

Arelion takes a similar approach to sustainable networking in Europe and the US regardless of the regions’ cultural differences. The main difference is that we typically own the European amplifier sites that connect our network on the other side of the pond. Aside from these amplifier sites, we lease both our American and European data center sites. Despite this minor difference, Arelion is working in both regions to build sustainable networks for service providers, content providers and enterprises at every tier in the global Internet backbone, benefiting our customers and the environment in the process.

Proprietary amplifier sites in Europe

In Europe, we own small connection sites (with amplifier equipment and other connection-enabling hardware) every sixty miles in the Internet connectivity chain. No matter how small, these proprietary amplifier sites are essential links in our global backbone. Arelion has constructed hundreds of sites across the continent to invest in our global end-to-end network, empowering us with enhanced choice.

With more control available, Arelion can source green energy from carefully chosen providers and directly implement efficient cooling and power-saving equipment. We have a proven history in green networking, with our early sustainability investments in Europe including free air cooling and absorption chillers. These are optimized pieces of equipment that reduce network infrastructure heat and power output. But we aren’t stopping there.

Arelion recently deployed solar panels at two German sites that produce energy which goes back into our energy provider’s network, proving that the network itself can contribute to green energy. However, it is important to decide what is effective and what is “window dressing” in terms of green energy sourcing and infrastructure.

Complexity does not necessarily correspond to sustainable, cost-effective networking. From the powering equipment to the software, our European amplifier sites are optimized with top-down sustainability strategies, ensuring no wattage is wasted.

Leased data centers in America and Europe

On the data center side, our approaches to sustainable networking in Europe and America are quite similar, albeit less proprietary than our European amplifier sites. In both regions, these data center sites are Point of Presence (PoPs) connectivity hubs leased from carrier-neutral data center operators. These expansive campuses pose challenges related to the control of green energy sourcing. Since Arelion doesn’t own these data center sites, we must research each site and the relevant provider’s sustainability strategy. These energy audits help Arelion understand the sustainability scope of a data center location and the unique industry demands driving that location.

In both regions, these audits address sustainable energy sourcing, energy offsetting and cooling mechanisms. We also work to decommission dated equipment and replace it with innovative solutions that cut power consumption and reduce costs through automated technologies. With solutions like software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN), we provide Internet underlay that helps enterprises route more non latency sensitive data locally, instead of sending all data back to centralized servers at the enterprise headquarters.

Additionally, Arelion deploys PoPs in data centers that run on 100 percent renewable energy sources like solar power, for instance recently in our network expansion in Switch data centers in Atlanta. Our technological investments in optimized routing hardware reduce watts per megabit transferred on the edge, far exceeding the rates of many competitors. This emphasis on sustainable energy in our European and American PoPs helps us reduce costs and minimize the impact of energy rate swings common to the natural gas and fossil fuels currently powering other legacy networks.

Sustainable networking for a connected future

Despite minor differences in our approach to each region, these sustainable connectivity strategies and solutions empower companies to decommission aging, power-hungry equipment while improving network efficiency and operational cost-savings. Climate change isn’t going anywhere, and neither is the demand for high-capacity bandwidth to enable remote work and emerging AR/VR applications.

Since these sustainable connection methods use the latest innovations in routing silicon and the highest density optical pluggable components on the market, they also offer high-capacity bandwidth services that can handle the sheer volume of data usage required by modern users.

Arelion is proud to shape the future of sustainable connectivity in Europe and the US amid these increasing demands on the network. Whether these sustainable options are improving infrastructure or enhancing network efficiency, Arelion is investing in sustainable connectivity according to the preferences of our customers and the needs of the planet, making green networking a global reality.

Art Kazmierczak
Director, Strategic Sales and Network Development