The Second Homeplug® Powerline Alliance Plugfest Attracts Leading Home Networking Vendors Committed to Interoperability

2 Dec 2002

SAN RAMON, Calif., December 2, 2002 - The HomePlug® Powerline Alliance today announced the successful completion of the second HomePlug Plugfest held earlier this month at the RadioShack Corporate Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Organized by the HomePlug Compliance Working Group the HomePlug Plugfest provides a forum to ensure that HomePlug certified products from different member companies interoperate and perform at levels consistent with the HomePlug 1.0 specification.

“A strong Plugfest component is vital to the HomePlug mission as Plugfests demonstrate the ability for HomePlug certified products to successfully interoperate and provide optimal performance in real world settings,” said Tom Reed, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. “The ever-increasing number of companies participating in our Plugfests and the growing variety of certified products already on retailer shelves, with more coming soon, points to the tremendous momentum around HomePlug within the industry and with consumers.”

HomePlug certified products enable high performance whole-house networking, at speeds comparable to Ethernet, utilizing a home's existing electrical wiring. These products provide a simple solution for consumers interested in networking their home without adding any new wires.

The HomePlug Plugfest event series is sponsored and administered by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, the industry consortium established to provide a forum for the development of an open specification of home power outlet networking products and services. The Second HomePlug Plugfest attracted leading networking vendors, silicon manufacturers and product design teams including:

• Cogency Semiconductor
• Conexant
• Intellon
• Linksys
• Lugh Networks
• RadioShack
• Efficient Networks, Inc., A Siemens Company
• Telewise Communications
• Valence

“The HomePlug Plugfest experience was a terrific one for our product team,” said David Schmertz, Vice President, Home Networking Division, Efficient Networks, Inc., A Siemens Company. “The rigorous tests coupled with the professionalism of the review committee ensured a high-quality process from start to finish that gave us valuable insight into how our product performs in a real-world setting.”

During the HomePlug Plugfest, each device is run through a series of tests specified in the HomePlug Certification Procedure developed by the Compliance Working Group. These tests are designed to ensure that the device tested meets the HomePlug Specification in terms of transmission spectrum, performance and interoperability.

New HomePlug Products Surging Toward the Market

The certification mark distinguishes HomePlug products for consumers and differentiates the products as high quality and interoperable. Upon successful completion of the HomePlug certification, each participating member company may utilize the HomePlug Certification mark on its product packaging and promotional literature. Products that passed the Second HomePlug Plugfest are already beginning to appear on the shelves of major retailers and in E-commerce.

“In the first Plugfest, certified products were predominantly USB and Ethernet external bridged devices - more technical products that are less familiar to the average consumer,” said Ching Yih Tseng, chair of the Compliance Working Group for the HomePlug Alliance. “The Second HomePlug Plugfest included a greater variety of products and innovations including powerline-to-wireless access points and routers and small, wall mounted Ethernet and USB adapters.”

The next Plugfest will be held in the Spring of 2003. Any product company interested in participating should contact HomePlug at (925) 275-6630 or online at www.homeplug.org

Filed: Dec 2002, Events, Powerline Networking, Press, Co: Cogency, Conexant, Efficient, HomePlug, Intellon, Linksys, Tech: HomePlug 1.0