HomePlug Alliance hits some milestones, rallies the troops at CES

We've been disappointed by the fits and starts that powerline technology has suffered in the past, but an honest look over the past year's HomePlug Alliance achievements isn't without bright spots. Growth in the install base (now at 25 million devices), products and vendors (18 new members) are nothing to sneeze at, and HomePlug AV2's promise of 600Mbps speeds sounds promising going forward. Kicking of at CES this week and moving forward, the alliance wants to see lots more household connectivity for HDTV, HDMI and all manner of data transfer you want to get done without tearing down the sheetrock in your home. Could this be the year that HomePlug really takes off, or will disappointing real-world performance continue to dog the technology? Hit the link for the alliance's rosy view and let us know your predictions in the comments.

January 6, 2009 – The HomePlug® Powerline Alliance today announced it will be showcasing innovative products and technologies from multiple member companies at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (January 8-11, 2009) in South Hall 2, Booth #25826. Demonstrating their leadership in the powerline communications (PLC) industry, HomePlug Alliance member companies have now shipped more than 25 million PLC devices worldwide, a more than 50 percent increase from the same time last year, with cumulative product certifications now equaling more than 165 products over the last seven years. This marks the end of a very exciting and productive year for the alliance, with a number of key milestones having taken place.

The growing international support of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance is exhibited with the addition of 18 new member companies from a variety of industries to the alliance throughout the year, including Contributor member Renesas and a number of utilities including American Electric Power, Consumers Energy Co., Duke Energy, Electricite de France (EDF), Oncor Electric Delivery, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Reliant Energy, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric. Other new members include Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co., Ltd., Juice Technologies, LLC, Landis+Gyr, NuVo Technologies LLC, Pioneer Corporation, PowerMax Global, LLC, ST&T Corporation, TELECOM Bretagne and Watteco.

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance's Smart Energy Initiative has been a very important new area. In August, the alliance reached an important milestone by announcing a liaison partnership with the ZigBee Alliance and major utility companies to help build the Home Area Network (HAN) Green Ecosystem for controlling load devices at peak demand such as thermostats, pool pumps, white goods and electric vehicles, and providing real time information to the consumer. This initiative is the only utility industry-led solution that will deliver ubiquitous whole-home energy management.

In November, the completion of the HomePlug AV2 Market Requirements Document (MRD) was announced. HomePlug AV2 technology targets evolving home network requirements with usable throughput speeds up to 600Mbps and more robust coverage.

And capping off a momentous year, the alliance announced on December 22 that the IEEE P1901 Working Group approved proposals including key HomePlug technology as the baseline for an IEEE standard for high speed powerline networking.

"This past year has brought about so many significant developments for the HomePlug Powerline Alliance and continued to cement our place as the leader in the powerline communications industry," said Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. "The HomePlug Alliance has made reliable technology a reality and it is the only high-speed technology with interoperable solutions from multiple vendors. By every real-world measure, HomePlug technology is the global leader in networking via powerlines – more shipments, more member companies, more certified products and more satisfied consumers."

This week at the 2009 International CES in Las Vegas, the HomePlug Powerline Alliance will showcase innovative products and technology demonstrations from a variety of member companies including:

• HDTV distribution featuring Intellon solutions
• Home entertainment systems from Russound incorporating solutions from Arkados
• Smart energy demonstrations featuring solutions from Yitran and Simply Automated
• HDMI over powerline demonstrated by ST&T
• Connectivity for security cameras, gaming and Internet access demonstrated by GigaFast

[John Willaford @ Jan 7th 2009 4:42PM]

Yeah, Panasonic's not helping the effort one bit.
Of all companies to go all proprietary on something, they are really messing this up.

[Oli D @ Jan 7th 2009 3:15PM]

6mbit?

No way

[shamowfski @ Jan 7th 2009 3:30PM]

600Mbit. Most people don't have gigabit running in their houses now, so this could actually be useful. And that is enough bandwidth for HD video. If I could stream my pc, ps3, 360, whatever around the house without having to run wires and still get HD, this product has promise.

[kjb434 @ Jan 7th 2009 3:17PM]

I'm happy they moving on with the technology. It has promise if they get all the kinks worked out.

[Mike @ Jan 7th 2009 3:28PM]

I've been using a Linksys PLK200 Powerline kit for well over a year now and it's never once failed, slowed down or otherwise wreaked havoc with my network. And for all the people who seem to think they'll only work on the same circuit, I've actually got one in my bedroom on a 15 year-old circuit and one in my basement on a 3 year-old circuit *and* they're running through two separate breaker boxes.

I've pushed them pretty hard and they've yet to break. The only problem? The lights on the unit are incredibly bright, but a piece of electrical tape soon fixed that ;-)

[nephersir7 @ Jan 8th 2009 1:41AM]

Ive gone wireless since 1 of my netgear powerline adapters failed after 2 months. I couldnt get it replaced because their customer service sucked,

[BPLgeek @ Jan 8th 2009 9:33AM]

I currently own a pair of Home-plug 85Mbps-Turbo (which actually had a throughput of 15M~20Mbps on the average) and a pair of Home-plug-AV200 (which actually had a throughput of 30M~40M average).

When I consulted a Lightning Isolator company for protection from surges for all connected equipment, these guys surprised me with their Lightning Protection systems for in-home BPL, by actually providing protection from lightning surges as well as enhancing the performances of both the pairs of PLC-adaptors!

During the tests, throughputs were averaging 70Mbps and 160Mbps, respectively! Something no one would believe but was right in front of my eyes (ping at average of 3ms)!

Not only I could connect all the connected equipment via one and the same wall-outlet but it also offered protection from surges!

Unfortunately, These guys did not want to sell their Performance-enhancement Lightning Isolators yet! They said something like looking for a strong International partner before launching.

I am itching for the day when I can lay my hands on those gadgets! Any ideas guys?

[Joel @ Jan 8th 2009 2:45PM]

While wireless speeds continue to flounder these increased powerline speeds sound very promising.. Whatever saves me from crawling in the attic and drilling holes into my dry wall to run network cables.