Greenfield project
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In wireless engineering jargon, a greenfield is a project which lacks any constraints imposed by prior networks. The first cellular telephone networks were built primarily on tall existing tower structures or on high ground in an effort to cover as much territory as possible, quickly, and with a minimum number of base stations. They were developed with no regard for future capacity considerations or Frequency reuse. These early wireless telephone network designs were later augmented with additional base stations and antennas to handle the growing demand for additional voice traffic and higher network capacity. As wireless networks quickly evolved it was evident that the earlier designs forced inefficient constraints on the growth of the network. As governments made more radio spectrum available for licensed wireless telephone operators in the late 80's whole new networks popped up that surpassed the performance of legacy networks having the benefit of starting their designs fresh and without the constraints of existing systems. These whole new cellular networks were constructed with new infrastructure and primarily on new sites in suburban areas or green fields. They were termed "greenfield networks" or "greenfield projects". Today any new network designed from scratch to enable new Radio Access Network technologies (i.e 3G, 4G, Wi-MAX, etc..) are also referred to as greenfield projects.
Similarly in other disciplines like software engineering, a greenfield is also a project which lacks any constraints imposed by prior work. The analogy is to that of construction on greenfield land where there is no need to remodel or demolish an existing structure. Such projects are often coveted by software engineers for this reason, but in practice, they can be quite rare.
Greenfield carries a similar meaning with modern wireless LAN networks. 802.11n Wi-Fi networks have an optional greenfield mode that improves efficiency by eliminating support for 802.11a/b/g devices[1][dead link].
Today, the term Greenfield is not restricted to software domain. Examples of greenfield projects are new factories, power plants, airports which are built from scratch on greenfield land. Those facilities which are modified/upgraded are called Brownfield projects (often the pre-existing site/facilities are contaminated/polluted.)
Greenfield also has meaning in sales. A greenfield opportunity refers to a marketplace that is completely untapped and free for the taking.
[edit] References
- ^ Broadcom. "802.11n: Next-Generation Wireless LAN Technology White Paper". http://www.broadcom.com/docs/WLAN/802_11n-WP100-R.pdf. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
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