LAS VEGAS--Trendnet is one of a few networking vendors that's been strong on being green. During CES 2010, the companyand now it announced at CES 2011 the integration of energy efficient Green Wi-Fi technology in its wireless networking products.
Green Wi-Fi is designed specifically for wireless networking products. The company claims that this would result in the reduction of power consumption in its applicable wireless routers, access points, and adapters by up to 50 percent.
The GreenNet technology, which was introduced back in 2008, determines and supplies the appropriate amount of electrical power to each hardwired switching port as required by the connected device, by the port, or by the length of the connected Ethernet cable. The new Green Wi-Fi technology, according to Trendnet, works similarly, and is based on the same energy-saving principles.
More specifically, the company says, Green Wi-Fi technology reduces power consumption in wireless devices at different stages of the wireless information transfer process, such as when a wireless router is idle and not connected to another wireless client (which is estimated to be some 70 percent of the time for the average home router), or when devices are connected but there is no data being transferred between them.
Green Wi-Fi also reduces power consumption based on wireless signal strength. For example, when a computer is closer to a Green Wi-Fi router, and connects to the router with a stronger signal strength, the router will automatically lower its output power for the connection to that specific computer.
Currently there are a few products from the company that support Green Wi-Fi technology, including version 2.0R of the 150Mbps Wireless-N Home Router, model
Though wireless networking products have relatively low energy consumption, they are generally turned on 24-7. This means that in a long run, this new measure of power saving will help save a significant amount of energy over the lifetime of the products.