News

Alliance sees new standard for Internet – will make it possible to network your home’s audio-visual entertainment — high-definition television, video games, Internet, surround sound, etc.

SINCE 2000, certain manufacturers and retailers have allied themselves to support products allowing you to connect to the Internet using the same power lines that run your home’s toaster or refrigerator.

You can recognize these little "wall warts" or "bridges" that bear the "HomePlug" logo on them.

By Francine Brevetti, BUSINESS WRITER

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~10834~2108878,00.html

This same consortium will later this year agree on the high-speed engineering standards that will make it possible to network your home’s audio-visual entertainment — high-definition television, video games, Internet, surround sound, etc. — the same way, by plugging your networked devices into the wall socket.

The consortium of manufacturers, semiconductor companies, service providers and retailers that are setting these standards is called the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. Their products are bridges that transform computer networking signals into language that electrical wiring can accept.

The alliance’s day-to-day administration and communications are administered in San Ramon by the group’s executive director, Rob Ranck, who is a vice president of Global Inventures, an umbrella group for other standards organizations. (See accompanying story.)

Ranck reports that numerous groups have wanted to compete in developing high-speed audio-visual networking standards, but HomePlug is the one that prevailed.

"HomePlug is the only standard throughout the world" for connecting to the high-speed Internet via copper wire, Ranck said.

The usage of HomePlug products is seeing an uptick, particularly in Europe, where wireless connections are less effective in penetrating the walls of older buildings, he said. Home electronics manufacturers are showing increased interest, he added. Alliance members include Panasonic, Sharp, RadioShack, Comcast, Earthlink, Sony and Mitsubishi.

While manufacturers and retailers compete once they are selling HomePlug products, they first collaborate to determine the technical standards to which the products must conform. It’s not sexy, but it’s essential so the products will work together.

AsokaUSA in San Carlos is a HomePlug manufacturer ( http://www.asokausa.com Elsa Chan, its director of business communications, said, "Standardization helps interoperability and provides consumer confidence in the product."

The Powerline Alliance ( http://www.HomePlug.org has solicited suggestions for audio-visual standards that will be determined late this summer. Ranck predicted a more realistic 18 months before these hit the shelves.

AsokaUSA’s Chan is looking forward to the development of these standards and wishes they would be ready in time for pre-Christmas production. But she conceded that her company will have to wait till next year.

A HomePlug A-V standard for high definition television, for instance, would mean you could transport incoming program material from the set-top box throughout all your HDTVs in the house.

"This could allow TiVo type functionality with pay-per-view benefits. And you don’t have to run any wires" from one device to another, said Ranck.

You just plug them in.

So far the A-V specifications will allow transmission of up to 200 megabits per second, faster than wireless can provide without the security problems that wireless can entail.

Ranck sees powerline connectivity as offering advantages over wireless connectivity or Wi-Fi.

"The home use of the notebook really drove Wi-Fi. But only so many laptops will come home," he said. "But when you look at the number of electronic devices connected to the wall, there are even more than just audio-visual products."

While the adoption rate of HomePlug is much slower than wireless, cable or DSL, the fact that the invisible network is already in your home is its big draw. A draw that Ranck thinks will be irresistible in time.

"Potentially, the tortoise could beat the hare. That’s what all the HomePlug manufacturers would like to see happen," he said.

Ranck is also the shepherd for two other standards groups under the Global Inventure’s aegis, the OSGI Alliance and UPnP Implementers Corp.

Francine Brevetti can be reached at (510) 208-6416 and [email protected]

Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.