HomePlug Powerline Alliance Members Announce HomePlug AV Products

Alliance Reports Accelerated Market Traction and Product Shipments

6 Mar 2006

San Ramon, Calif. - March 6, 2006 - The HomePlug® Powerline Alliance today announced HomePlug AV products, membership growth and ramp up in product shipments year over year. Two member companies, Aztech Systems Ltd and devolo AG, recently announced devices that support the HomePlug AV specification. The HomePlug Powerline Alliance anticipates that dozens of end-user HomePlug AV products will be available by the end of 2006.

HomePlug AV Products Announced

HomePlug AV (200Mbps) is a high-speed, cost effective method of distributing audio, video (including multiple streams of HDTV) and data in the home without new wires. Multiple silicon vendors, including Arkados, Conexant, Intellon and Spidcom are expected to ship HomePlug AV chips.

Recent HomePlug member news:

• devolo AG, a worldwide market leader for HomePlug-based home-networking solutions, announced that it will be demonstrating its professional solutions for HDTV video-streaming over ADSL2+ and in-house powerline communications with transfer rates of up to 200 Mbps with the new HomePlug AV standard in hall 15, booth D12 at CeBIT. devolo will demonstrate how triple play services can be transmitted over in-house powerlines in its own TV and entertainment area.

New HomePlug member announcements:

• Aztech Systems Ltd, a global leader in data communication, voice communication, multimedia, contract manufacturing and retail distribution, will introduce its Ethernet HomePlug Audio Video 200Mbps solution at CeBIT 2006. The high-speed powerline solution provides an ideal platform for High Definition TV and Video on Demand.
• Intellon Corporation, the world leader in HomePlug standards-based powerline communications (PLC) integrated circuits, today announced that devolo AG of Aachen, Germany are bringing HomePlug AV powerline communications products to European markets. New products based on the global 200Mbps HomePlug AV standard support triple-play and high definition multi-media home entertainment applications.

“These HomePlug AV silicon and product announcements signify that members will soon be deploying the first of millions of products that will be shipped to customers worldwide,” said Matt McRae, senior director of worldwide business development at Cisco-Linksys. “HomePlug members have joined this alliance because it is the only open-standards based powerline group offering a robust compliance and interoperability program, industry interoperability plugfests and coexistence with millions of HomePlug products already in the market. The alliance is also working in the IEEE and ETSI to achieve a global interoperability and coexistence mechanism. With this program, consumers can be sure the powerline products they use in their home meet stringent requirements to guarantee they work well together. The HomePlug Alliance is the only powerline organization with a comprehensive program in place to deliver all these ingredients.”

Since August 2005, Alliance membership has grown more than 30 percent, totaling 65 member companies. Further, more than 4.5 million HomePlug 1.0 chipsets have been shipped to date, with volume deployment at an all time high of more than 20 service providers worldwide. The volume of new HomePlug products available is increasing at a rate of 1 million units per quarter.

“We expect our membership and HomePlug-enabled product shipments to continue their upward spiral, as the HomePlug technology adoption rate increases worldwide in 2006,” said Matthew Theall, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. “The HomePlug Powerline Alliance is the only organization driving true open powerline communications standards, and that has been the driving force of our success.”

HomePlug Technology Update

In 2006, the HomePlug Alliance has made significant progress with its HomePlug Command & Control (HPCC) and HomePlug Broadband over Powerline (BPL) specifications:

• HPCC: The Alliance is expected to ratify its HPCC specification in Q3'06, which is designed to enable advanced, whole-house control of lighting, appliances, climate control, security and other devices. The Alliance selected Yitran Communications Ltd., a leading supplier of PLC technology, as the baseline technology for the HPCC specification in February 2006.
• BPL: A to-the-home broadband access technology, HomePlug BPL is expected to be ratified by the fourth quarter of 2006.

Worldwide Presence and Upcoming Events

• March 7-9, 2006 – IDF Spring, San Francisco, Moscone Center West
• March 9-15, 2006 – CeBIT, Hanover, Germany (Hall 14, Stand H13)
• For more information about HomePlug events, visit www.homeplug.org

Compliance and Interoperability Program

The HomePlug® Powerline Alliance recently announced a robust compliance, interoperability and coexistence program. To set the framework for an excellent consumer experience, this strategy includes a certification process, a Plugfest event and proactive efforts to maintain coexistence and interoperability with existing products and other powerline standards.

Companies interested in receiving information about the HomePlug Powerline Alliance are invited to contact Executive Director Rob Ranck (rranck@inventures.com) for details on membership and activities.

Filed: Mar 2006, Launches, Powerline Networking, Press, Co: devolo, HomePlug, Linksys, Tech: HomePlug AV