Abstract: Cloud computing services have recently become a ubiquitous service delivery model, cov- 25
ering a wide range of applications from personal file sharing to being an enterprise data 26
warehouse. Building green data center networks providing cloud computing services is 27
an emerging trend in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, 28
because of Global Warming and the potential GHG emissions resulting from cloud services. 29
As one of the first worldwide initiatives provisioning ICT services entirely based on renew- 30
able energy such as solar, wind and hydroelectricity across Canada and around the world, 31
the GreenStar Network (GSN) was developed to dynamically transport user services to be 32
processed in data centers built in proximity to green energy sources, reducing Greenhouse 33
Gas (GHG) emissions of ICT equipments. Regarding the current approach, which focuses 34
mainly in reducing energy consumption at the micro-level through energy efficiency 35
improvements, the overall energy consumption will eventually increase due to the growing 36
demand from new services and users, resulting in an increase in GHG emissions. Based on 37
the cooperation between Mantychore FP7 and the GSN, our approach is, therefore, much 38
broader and more appropriate because it focuses on GHG emission reductions at the 39
macro-level. This article presents some outcomes of our implementation of such a network 40
model, which spans multiple green nodes in Canada, Europe and the USA. The network 41
provides cloud computing services based on dynamic provision of network slices through 42
relocation of virtual data centers.