In today’s digital age, energy consumption has become a major concern for businesses. As more high-performance applications and cloud computing solutions come into play, the need for energy efficiency is increasingly important. Network visibility and monitoring is not an exception, as it consumes a significant amount of energy. However, Cubro, a leading network visibility solutions provider, has developed innovative ways to address this concern effectively.

Energy prices increased dramatically in 2022. In the UK, customers pay nearly 0.4 EUR per kWh, in Germany, the prices fluctuate from 0.13 to 0.47 EUR per kWh, and in Asia Pacific Japan and Australia, residential electricity rates are around 0.3 EUR / kWh (Dec 2022). The prices are still in turmoil and vary a lot.

Why Power Consumption Matters for Businesses?

A typical modern server XEON with eight cores and 32 GB memory consumes 500 W. The table shows the worst-case scenario for power consumption over one year.

In addition to the server power consumption, the cooling adds another 40% to the energy cost. UPS increases power use even further.

CSPs have been aware of energy consumption for many years, and the higher energy prices have only accelerated this energy-saving process. Hypothetically if one server costs 5,000 EUR, the cost for 35 servers per rack with 10 racks totals 1.75 MEUR, and the OPEX just running the servers is 0.8 MEUR, including cooling. In just over two years’ time, the accumulated OPEX is higher than the CAPEX based on running costs without maintenance or manpower costs.

Data Centres are not the only instances using power. According to Huawei, a 5G site needs 12 kW power, comparable roughly to one rack of servers in the data centre. Understandably CSPs are trying to find ways to reduce the base station energy costs as well.

Since OPEX is a significant component in running the network, all solutions lowering energy consumption are welcome. High power consumption not only hits a business’ bottom line but also impacts the environment. Companies are searching for ways to reduce energy consumption without compromising performance or reliability to combat this. Cubro offers advanced options for feeding network monitoring solutions that minimize power usage while providing all necessary information for network performance tools.

Benefits of Cubro’s Solutions

Cubro’s solutions provide real-time visibility into network performance, enabling businesses to identify and resolve issues quickly, reducing downtime and improving energy efficiency. Compared to its competitors, Cubro’s solutions are more energy-efficient and offer more advanced features for network visibility. Cubro’s solutions are designed to be flexible and scalable, enabling businesses to easily add or remove monitoring points as their network evolves.

Cubro has been using Cavium and, lately Tofino chipsets for nearly ten years. Cubro’s advanced NPBs with CPUs use ARM technology. The Tofino chipset allows Cubro to perform functions on the chipset that would otherwise require an additional appliance. ARM, with its reduced instruction set, minimizes power consumption and also requires less cooling.

Both chipset and CPU power efficiency lead to a compact solution that is feature rich and low in power consumption.

Cubro’s solutions are highly scalable and can be customized to meet the needs of businesses of any size. Integration with existing network infrastructure is easy, allowing businesses to reduce power consumption without significant investments in new hardware. An example is Cubro’s CDR solution, which significantly decreases data volume up to 1000:1 while dramatically reducing power consumption.

Cubro’s solutions are competitively priced, making them an affordable option for businesses looking to reduce their power consumption. The solutions offer a cost-effective way to enable the monitoring of network traffic and reduce energy costs, providing businesses with a quick return on investment.

Customer Testimonial

“We are highly satisfied with the performance of Cubro’s Smart NICs in our solution. The solution has proven to be very effective in reducing overall power consumption and has eliminated the need for extensive rack space that our previous solution demanded. The efficiency and effectiveness of Cubro’s solution have exceeded our expectations, and we would highly recommend it to anyone seeking a reliable and high-performing solution for their business needs.”
Network Architect, Leading European Operator

Do you have any questions about the solutions from Cubro? Our specialists are happy to help.