The SCTE/ISBE has teamed with Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) to launch the Adaptive Power Challenge, which is intended to spur development of new solutions to manage energy across broadband networks. Entries will be judged by a panel including representatives from Comcast, Liberty Global, Cox, Canada's Rogers and Shaw, and CableLabs.
The collaborative industry challenge offers winners in two categories - Established Enterprises and Breakthrough Organizations such as labs, universities and startups - the opportunity to test their solutions with the biggest cable operators in the world.
Open to commercial and academic developers, innovators, scientists and technology solution providers, the contest also offers the two winners prizes of $10,000 each for solutions that can lead to breakthrough change in cable network energy management. The SCTE/ISBE and the industry are particularly interested in solutions that address access networks and edge facilities, in which 73-83% of cable operators' energy consumption occurs.
Produced under the auspices of the SCTE/ISBE Energy 2020 program, the Adaptive Power Challenge focuses on finding solutions in three areas that are integral to the delivery of cable communications services:
- Monitoring & Measurement - Monitoring and measuring energy consumption and ambient conditions correlating quality and health of services with energy
- Demand Response - The ability to implement "peak shaving" and functionality that results in load shedding
- Supply & Control - Using the functionality of adaptive power DOCSIS-enabled devices to control consumption profiles and service quality dependent on energy supply
Applications may be submitted until June 29. Entries will be evaluated in Q3 2018 by the judges, with the assistance of representatives of the SCTE/ISBE and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The approaches described in each entry must be APSIS compliant, said Chris Bastian, senior vice president, engineering, and CTO of the SCTE/ISBE.
Finalists in each category will be announced on Sept. 12 at the SCTE/ISBE Standards Energy Management Systems Plenary in Louisville, CO. Six finalists will compete by presenting their solutions on Oct. 23 at Cable-Tec Expo 2018 in Atlanta. The current expectation, according to Bastian, is that the presentations would take a form similar to the TV program "Shark Tank," with the event open to SCTE Cable-Tec Expo attendees. While the hope is that the six finalists would be evenly divided between the Established Enterprises and Breakthrough Organization categories, Bastian acknowledged that might not be the case. Regardless, the two winners will be announced onsite. In addition to receiving the prize money, the winners will see their concepts move to a lab evaluation phase.
More information on the challenge including how to apply is available at https://www.adaptivepowerchallenge.com.
"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," said Bastian via a press release announcing the program. "The goal of APSIS and the Adaptive Power Challenge is 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." In his separate conversation with BTR, Bastian added that another goal of the Adaptive Power Challenge is to get more organizations working on energy saving technology.