HomePlug Powerline Alliance Announces Comprehensive, Global Compliance, Interoperability and Coexistence Strategy

Certification program, premier industry ‘Plugfest’ event and coexistence mechanism initiatives align to ensure worldwide compliance of HomePlug products

3 Mar 2006

San Ramon, Calif. - March 3, 2006 - Driving the adoption of open-standards based powerline communications technologies, the HomePlug® Powerline Alliance today 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.

“To be appealing to consumers, an organization must have a comprehensive compliance and interoperability program and also coexist with existing powerline products in the market,” said Matt McRae, senior director of worldwide business development at Cisco-Linksys. “HomePlug is taking the lead as the only powerline organization to offer such a complete strategy. By developing this compliance program, the HomePlug Powerline Alliance further accelerates mass deployment of HomePlug products globally.”

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance has taken key measures to guarantee coexistence between the emerging HomePlug AV technology and the existing installed base of more than 4.5 million HomePlug 1.0 devices worldwide. The HomePlug AV specification defines a coexistence mechanism which is required to be implemented and ensures coexistence with HomePlug 1.0 products. Additionally, the Alliance is actively participating in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) P1901 Work Group and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Powerline Coexistence Work Group to achieve coexistence and interoperability and develop a common mechanism with other powerline technologies.

The HomePlug compliance and interoperability certification programs use common test code, standardized platforms, test specifications and a variety of system profiles. To help manufacturers and consumers easily identify HomePlug-certified products, the Alliance awards each manufacturer a HomePlug logo to incorporate onto product packages and collateral. The Alliance will publish a list of its certified products on the HomePlug website to assist product developers in their supplier selection – ultimately reducing time-to-market and additional costs.

Because HomePlug-certified products have been tested to work well together, consumers enjoy a seamless and easy set-up process when networking their home or business. The Alliance will enable product developers to test their HomePlug products for compliance and interoperability at its next Plugfest in April 2006 at RadioShack's Fort Worth headquarters.

“As powerline communications technologies continue to proliferate in the industry, the technology which will ultimately be most widely deployed must meet consumer needs. The HomePlug Alliance offers a comprehensive and unbiased compliance and interoperability certification program, industry plugfests, and a coexistence mechanism with the more than 4.5 million HomePlug devices that are already being used globally” said Matthew Theall, president of the HomePlug Alliance. “Coexistence with other powerline technologies is effective only if multiple competitive powerline solutions on the same wire have agreed to a standardized mechanism. In this environment, coexistence must be defined in a globally recognized open standards body to ensure worldwide deployment. The HomePlug Alliance is working in the IEEE and ETSI to achieve this coexistence and interoperability goal.”

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance has chosen to work with IEEE and ETSI because they are globally recognized forums, with a successful history of bringing together international companies. Anticipating the legalization of high speed powerline communications in Japan, the Alliance is also expanding its efforts to achieve compliance, interoperability and coexistence in Asia, as well as in other parts of the world.

Additional details of the HomePlug compliance, interoperability and coexistence programs are available at www.homeplug.org

Filed: Mar 2006, Powerline Networking, Press, Co: ETSI, HomePlug, Linksys, Tech: HomePlug 1.0, HomePlug AV