Powerline Communications Industry Launches Global Association - The Universal Powerline Association

7 Jan 2005

Las Vegas, Nevada - January 7, 2005 - The launch of the Universal Powerline Association brings together the major players in the Powerline Communication (PLC) arena to jointly work on industry standards and promote the worldwide deployment of interoperable and coexisting PLC networks.

The Universal Powerline Association (UPA) aligns industry leaders in the global PLC market to the purpose of ensuring “a level playing field” for the deployment of, both access and in-home, PLC technologies to the benefit of consumers worldwide. The UPA members are committed to an open federated PLC world that will share standards and harmonize regulations globally.

The UPA aims to catalyze the growth of PLC technology by quickly developing technical specifications (appropriate for all PLC stakeholders) as a basis for industry standardization. The Association will then submit to, support and enhance these specifications within the appropriate standard making bodies, the standard making bodies include IEEE, ETSI, CENELEC and CISPR. It is the intention of all UPA members to deliver, to the market, products that comply initially with the “to be defined” specification and ultimately with the recognized open standards. The first technical specification to be addressed by the UPA focuses on the coexistence between Access and In-home PLC technologies, which further demonstrates the UPA's universal approach.

“The Universal Powerline Association is the first truly global PLC organization to cover all markets and all PLC applications. A key aim is to promote the tremendous potential of PLC technologies to build a global communication society to government and industry leaders. The UPA is the only the forum that can strengthen international cooperation in the emerging PLC market.” said Eric Morel, Chairman of the Board of the UPA.

“There is an increasing need for open standards and full coexistence for PLC technologies to achieve a strong position in the communication infrastructure. We have initially attracted the key PLC equipment manufacturing companies, utilities, consumer electronic equipment manufacturers, and chipset providers to create a powerful association that will define and seek to harmonize PLC standards globally. We are an open association that welcomes all interested companies to participate in shaping the future of PLC,” Eric Morel continues, “and wish to see our membership base increase to include service providers, telcos, system integrators, telecom product manufacturers and others.”

The UPA's focus on time-to-market will benefit all players in the PLC value chain, by guaranteeing high performance and maximizing the usage of the spectrum.

The Universal Powerline Association invites all interested companies and organizations to join and contribute to the development of global PLC standards and regulations. Companies interested in receiving more information about UPA are invited to contact the UPA Chairman of the Board Eric Morel at eric.morel@upaplc.com

Filed: Jan 2005, BPL, Powerline Networking, Press, Co: UPA, Tech: None