Building Green Software

Chapter 7. Networking

For never was a story of more woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

Shakespeare

How many deaths have been averted by the invention of TCP/IP?

Note

Transmission control protocol over internet protocol (TCP/IP, the world’s most unhelpful spelling out of an acronym), is the set of simple networking rules, or the protocol, that underpins much of modern communications. One of TCP/IP’s fundamental assumptions is that it’s not a great idea to assume your intended recipient has always received your message. If Juliet had only applied the principles of reliable communication, then her story would have had a very different ending. In her defense, comms using these rules is slow and often impractical if you aren’t passing your messages over wires.

In the developed world, reliable communications underpin our lives. Perhaps it doesn’t matter whether they are green or not? Some might argue telecoms is humanity’s most important use of energy and must be maintained and extended at any cost.

Are they right?

Are Networks Already Green Enough?

Since our book is one of the first on the subject of building green technology, we ask as many questions as we answer, and that’s fine. We’re still at the stage of working out how the tech industry needs to respond to the energy transition, and there are few no-brainer moves. Usually, we have to suck our teeth and say, “It depends.” Unfortunately, this chapter is yet another example of that kind of mealymouthed equivocation.

Nonetheless, ...