SCTE•ISBE, Comcast and Liberty Global have teamed, launching a challenge that aims to entice academics, startups, and other technology providers to develop new solutions for network energy management as they compete for a monetary prize.
Dubbed the Adaptive Power Challenge, winners in two categories – “Established Enterprises” and “Breakthrough Organizations,” such as labs, universities and startups – will be awarded $10,000 prizes each. The incentive is part of SCTE’s Energy 2020 program, and the organization said the challenge is particularly interested in innovations focused on access networks and edge facilities, which it said is where between 73 and 83 percent of cable operators’ energy consumption happens.
Entries will be judged by a panel including representatives from Comcast, Liberty, Cox, Rogers, Shaw, CableLabs, SCTE•ISBE, and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
The challenge is looking for solutions focused on three areas:
- Monitoring and measuring energy consumption and ambient conditions correlating quality and health of services with energy.
- The ability to implement “peak shaving” and functionality that results in load shedding
- Using the functionality of adaptive power DOCSIS-enabled devices to control consumption profiles and service quality dependent on energy supply.
Applications are due by June 29. Six finalists are expended to be announced mid-September, and will then compete for the prize by presenting their solutions at the Cable-Tec Expo to be held this October in Atlanta, where two winners will be chosen.
“Consumption of services varies according to a number of factors such as time of day, seasonality, and situational demands, but power requirements for today’s equipment are constant,” Chris Bastian, senior vice president, engineering, and CTO of SCTE•ISBE, said in a statement.
He noted the goal of the Adaptive Power Challenge, “[I]s to treat energy as a network resource, driving creation of a new generation of systems and equipment that can increase or reduce the power required to align with consumer use.”
