In many disciplines, a greenfield project is one that lacks constraints imposed by prior work. The analogy is to that of construction on
greenfield land
Greenfield land is a British English term referring to undeveloped land in an urban or rural area either used for agriculture or landscape design
Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by la ...
where there is no need to work within the constraints of existing buildings or infrastructure.
Software development
In
software development
Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invo ...
, a greenfield project could be one of developing a system for a totally new environment, without concern for integrating with other systems, especially not
legacy system
In computing, a legacy system is an old method, technology, computer system, or application program, "of, relating to, or being a previous or outdated computer system", yet still in use. Often referencing a system as "legacy" means that it pave ...
s. Such projects are deemed higher risk, as they are often for new infrastructure, new customers, and even new owners.
Cell phone networks
In
wireless engineering Wireless Engineering is the branch of engineering which addresses the design, application, and research of wireless communication systems and technologies.
Overview
Wireless engineering is an engineering subject dealing with engineering problems us ...
, a greenfield project could be that of rolling out a new generation of cell phone 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 in as little time as possible and with a minimum number of
base stations
Base station (or base radio station) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a " land station in the land mobile service."
The term is used in the context of mobile telephony, wireless co ...
.{{Citation needed, date=June 2013 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 constrained the growth of the network. As governments made more
radio spectrum
The radio spectrum is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum with frequencies from 0 Hz to 3,000 GHz (3 THz). Electromagnetic waves in this frequency range, called radio waves, are widely used in modern technology, particul ...
available for licensed wireless telephone operators in the late 1980s, entirely new networks were built that performed better than legacy networks because their designs were free from the constraints of existing systems. Today, any new network designed from scratch to enable new Radio Access Network technologies, such as 3G, 4G, and
WiMAX
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a family of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) options.
The WiMAX ...
are also referred to as greenfield projects.
Other uses
Literal 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 land
In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land pre ...
projects (often the pre-existing site/facilities are contaminated/polluted.)
In transportation industries (e.g., automotive, aircraft, engines) the equivalent concept is called "clean sheet design".
Greenfield also has meaning in sales. A greenfield opportunity refers to a marketplace that is completely untapped and free for the taking.
From an Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) perspective, an IT organization that is being set up from scratch is said to start from a "greenfield" situation. This is because it would have no live services or practices in place to start with.
Brownfield land
In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land pre ...
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Greenfield land
Greenfield land is a British English term referring to undeveloped land in an urban or rural area either used for agriculture or landscape design
Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by la ...
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Greenfield agreement {{short description, Agreement between a union and a new employer, that does not yet have employees
A Greenfield agreement is an agreement between a union and a new employer that does not yet have employeesGreyfield land
* Blue skies research