New mass market Powerline Adapter available now from Ascom
Broadband Internet Access for the Mass Market
6 Mar 2002
Ascom Powerline Communications releases a new version of its field proven Powerline adapters. The product is defined to serve the residential mass market with broadband internet access up to 1,5 Mbps. This new adapter bases on Ascom's standard powerline adapters, with up to 4,5 Mbps bandwidth per individual user.
The mass market adapter is fully plug & play and can be connected at any power-plug inside the private home. Besides broadband internet access in the up- and downstream direction, also indoor networking is supported. This allows the simultaneous connection of multiple PCs with the internet.
Reduction of List Prices and Cost-per-Line
The mass market powerline adapter is priced between 20% and 45% lower than the high-end adapter series. This results in a substantial reduction of the cost-per-line for Powerline access. This results in an immediate improvement for the Powerline business case of an utility and allows to price Powerline enabled internet access highly competitive against competition from ADSL and cable.
Benefits for Endusers, Utilities and Society
Ascom Powerline solutions form an attractive offer for utilities, in order to provide combined voice, data and energy to their customers. As endusers benefit from outstanding and competitive services, utilities face a unique business opportunity. Powerline introduces for the first time real competition in the last-mile, in terms of costs and services, after the failure of unbundling and infrastructure competition like WLL (wireless local loop).
About Powerline Communications
The Powerline technology currently transmits data up to 4.5 Megabits per second (Mbps) via the electricity supply grid – in the medium-term rates of up to 20 Mbps are possible – and provides permanent high speed access to the Internet (always online) from every mains voltage supply socket in a building, and makes broadband capacity cost-efficiently available over the “last mile”. It is no longer necessary to always dial into the network, or indeed to install additional cabling within a building. Hence Powerline Communications is also an interesting alternative for an in-house data network.
Based on international market research and the great interest shown by electricity supply utilities and systems integrators, as well as from end users, a further strong increase in demand can be expected. The electricity supply grid, with a worldwide coverage of around 95 percent, is one of the very largest networks. On a global basis, there is a far greater capacity available for PLC usage via the electricity supply grid than there are telephone lines. Powerline is particularly suitable for Internet access, telephony, building automation, security applications, people care and special electricity supply company services.
Ascom creates the basis for the networked world of tomorrow
Ascom is an internationally active Swiss high-tech group with more than 10,000 employees worldwide and revenues of approximately CHF 3 billion. As a major systems integrator with a strong technology base and leader in the home market Switzerland, Ascom's strengths lie in the building and operation of secure, highly reliable networks and the integration of voice and data. As Number 3 in the transport revenue systems market, Ascom already holds a leading global position. Worldwide the company is amongst the leading suppliers of power supply systems and products. In addition, Ascom achieves peak technological performance in data and voice transmission via the electricity supply grid (Powerline Communications). With the building and operation of highly complex infrastructures in the telecoms and IT sectors, Ascom creates the basis for a networked world of tomorrow.
