Homeplug Alliance Plans Home Revolution

Alliance Plans Home Revolution
Barbara Gengler NOVEMBER 08, 2005

AFTER years of hype, a technological makeover for the house may not be far off. The industry's HomePlug Alliance hopes its next generation of home networking technology, HomePlug AV, will revolutionise the way consumers and providers think about distributing multimedia entertainment content.
The alliance recently finished developing specifications for HomePlug AV and expects products to be available by the end of the year.
Service providers will supply products such as television set-top boxes and adapters with the technology built in. Eventually it will be integrated into consumer appliances.
The alliance has established three promoter groups focused on specific standards to tackle in-home connectivity, broadband over powerline applications and command and control tools. Alliance membership has grown to include about 50 companies. HomePlug sponsors include Cisco, Comcast, EarthLink, Sharp, RadioShack and Sony, and contributors include Arkados, Conexant and Intellon.
Intel, Linksys and Motorola joined recently as sponsors and General Electric has joined the board of directors. HomePlug Powerline Alliance president Matt Theall, of Intel, says the changes and the addition of new members come at an exciting time for the alliance.
"Millions of products based on the alliance's initial powerline communications standard, HomePlug 1.0, have been sold," he says.
"The alliance recently announced the completion of its HomePlug AV multimedia connectivity specification, enabling products based on it to reach consumers in 2006."
Theall says the alliance is working on a broadband-over-powerline specification and will conduct competitive lab and field tests soon to develop a home automation standard.
HomePlug technology lets users plug an ADSL modem router into a HomePlug and immediately share broadband internet access in any room with a powerpoint.
It connects up to 15 devices, into the network.
HomePlug AV is the next generation of technology. Its purpose is to provide multi-stream, entertainment-oriented networking over existing AC wiring in a house while tackling interoperability with HomePlug 1.0.
Powerline technology uses power lines in a house as a path for a high-speed network, enabling digital devices to connect to each other and the net. At 14Mbps, HomePlug provides faster connections than 802.11B wireless or even standard 10Mbps wired ethernet.
Research has confirmed that the basic home-networking gear market continues to be driven by higher speeds, lower prices and increasing network areas in a house.
Home networking revenue from annual home networking hardware shipments and the total value of equipment that incorporates a home networking connection, will jump from almost $US9 billion ($12 billion) in 2004 to more than $US20 billion in 2009, according to research.
The next HomePlug Powerline products, due later this year, include a Powerline to 802.11g 54Mbps wireless access point and a HomePlug 1.0 turbo-compliant turbo powerline to ethernet desktop adapter.
This report appears on australianIT.com.au.