Intellon Announces 12 Service Providers Worldwide Now Deploying Intellon HomePlug® ICs for IPTV Applications

Intellon Continues to Win Business with Global Service Providers Distributing Carrier Grade IPTV Content With No New Wires® Technology

2 Jan 2007

Ocala, FL - January 2, 2007 - Intellon Corporation, the world leader in standards-based powerline communications (PLC) integrated circuits (ICs), today announced that 12 service providers in Europe and Asia are now using Intellon's HomePlug ICs for in-home IPTV distribution.

Operators now deploying Intellon's ICs for IPTV include 1&1, Chung Hwa Telecom, Club Internet, France Telecom, Free, Hanaro Telecom, neuf cegetel, PCCW, Simmin, Tele2, Telecom Italia France and TPSA.

As with any pay television service, IPTV has to be carrier grade in terms of performance. Service providers in Europe and Asia typically began installing IPTV service by running new Ethernet cable to distribute the broadcast TV and Video on Demand content from the residential gateways to the IP Set Top Boxes near the customers' TVs. Before deploying Intellon's solution, operators were consistently reporting that 10%-30% of their customers were canceling the newly-ordered IPTV service when new Ethernet wiring was required for the installation.

Intellon's HomePlug 1.0 with Turbo technology essentially turns the electrical wiring in customers' homes into an instant Ethernet network without the need to install new wires. The service provider industry is quickly adopting Intellon's solution because it is easy for customers to install themselves without a truck roll, carrier-grade in performance and retains customers who would otherwise cancel service due to the inconvenience of new wiring. Operators are reporting that their new service cancellation rates have dropped from 10-30% to less than 1% as a direct result of using Intellons HomePlug solution.

“We feel more comfortable being able to offer our customers the freedom to install their Voice/DSL modems seamlessly in a different room than where the TV is, and to give them an option that doesn't involve running a cable through their living rooms,” said Olivier du Besset, Residential Department Marketing Manager for neuf cegetel in France. “The HomePlug adapters have become a very popular alternative, so we know our customers are very happy with this.”

“Because HomePlug Turbo is a very simple, plug and play solution, we are now offering our customers a do-it-yourself option for Broadband multimedia home networking services,” said Dr. Allen Wong, director of product development for PCCW in Hong Kong. “On all fronts, Intellon provided the best combination of user friendliness, price and time to market, allowing us to get a solution in place for our customers very quickly.”

“Intellon is proud that we are solving real IPTV installation challenges for a dozen global operators,” said Cameron McCaskill, vice president of business development for Intellon Corporation. “Our 85 Mbps HomePlug 1.0 with Turbo chipset has been very successful for service providers that need a customer-installable home backbone for distributing standard definition video. We expect to see our IPTV business grow substantially during 2007, as additional operators adopt our Turbo solution for standard definition IPTV applications and new and existing customers begin to deploy our 200 Mbps HomePlug AV-based IC for high definition IPTV applications.”

HomePlug 1.0 with Turbo and HomePlug AV-based products using Intellon ICs are available today. Intellon's HomePlug-based powerline communications solutions are deployed worldwide by dozens of OEMs, ODMs and service providers for applications such as in-home data networking, Wi-Fi extension, IPTV in-home distribution, audio and video streaming, and Broadband over Powerline (BPL). Intellon's ICs operate over coax as well as powerlines and support bridges to WiMAX, Wi-Fi, Ultra WideBand (UWB) and coax technologies for increased network flexibility.

Filed: Jan 2007, IPTV, Press, Co: HomePlug, Intellon, Tech: HomePlug 1.0