New research centre in Melbourne to focus on energy-efficient networks and technologies

Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen, Australia’s Victorian state Treasurer John Lenders and University of Melbourne Professor Rod Tucker have announced that Alcatel-Lucent’s research arm Bell Labs, the University of Melbourne and the Victorian state government are partnering to establish a research centre in Melbourne that will be devoted to innovation in energy-efficient networks and technologies.

To be called the Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET), it will have a staff of researchers and technology experts that will build to a team of 22 during the next three years. Bell Labs and the University of Melbourne will share governance of the centre, which will be based at the university.

The centre will conduct research on a broad range of telecommunications network infrastructure elements and will focus on how those elements can be made more energy efficient. This is an important objective in light of the exponential growth in the usage of those networks that is resulting in a rapid increase in energy consumption. Both the University of Melbourne and Bell Labs are members of the GreenTouch initiative, a global, industry-wide consortium formed to achieve a dramatic improvement in energy efficiency by driving a radical redesign of communications networks.

Victorian State Treasurer John Lenders says that what makes CEET so valuable is both the step it takes towards green telecommunications objectives and the research opportunities it provides for Australia.