GRiDA: A green distributed algorithm for backbone networks

Abstract

In this work, we face the problem of reducing the power consumption of Internet backbone networks. We propose a novel algorithm, called GRiDA, to selectively switch off links in an Internet Service Provider IP-based network to reduce the system energy consumption. Differently from approaches that have been proposed in the literature, our solution is completely distributed among the nodes. It leverages link state protocol like OSPF to limit the amount of shared information, and to reduce the algorithm complexity. Moreover, GRiDA does not require the knowledge of the actual traffic matrix, an unrealistic assumption common to all other proposals. Results, obtained on realistic case studies, show that GRiDA achieves performance comparable to several existing centralized algorithms.