Industry Eyes Web CPE Energy Efficiency

Internet service providers, equipment suppliers and retail equipment manufacturers joined the Consumer Electronics Association and the NCTA to announce a new voluntary agreement to improve the energy efficiency of Internet modems, routers and other customer premises equipment (CPE). The agreement sets requirements intended to improve the energy efficiency of small network equipment (SNE) by 10% to 20% compared to typical recently deployed devices and cover more than 90% of U.S. broadband households - roughly 80 million homes.

Signatories to the agreement to date include service providers AT&T, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Verizon; and manufacturers Actiontec, ARRIS, Cisco, D-Link, EchoStar Technologies, NETGEAR, Pace and Ubee Interactive.

The new SNE voluntary agreement runs through 2017 and is modeled on the voluntary agreement for set-top box energy conservation launched in 2013. As with the set-top box agreement, the new voluntary commitment requires broadband service providers and retail equipment manufacturers to publicly report SNE energy use, including annual progress reports by an independent third party. Additionally, the agreement mandates annual verification audits to ensure SNE devices are performing at the efficiency levels specified in the agreement, and regular consultation and engagement with regulatory authorities and other stakeholders.

CableLabs contributed to the development of the technical specification in the SNE agreement with the support of its professional testing staff, use of the CableLabs Energy Lab and its coordination of the many contributors to the technical specification. Additionally, CableLabs will assist with the implementation of the agreement, as it has done with the set-top box agreement.