infoTECH Feature

June 22, 2011

HomePlug Powerline Alliance Announces Support for IEEE P1905 Working Group's Efforts

The IEEE P1905 working group’s efforts to define the first standard for hybrid home networks have now received support from The HomePlug (News - Alert) Powerline Alliance, the alliance has announced.

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance is an industry-led initiative with 65 member companies that creates specifications, marketing and certification programs to accelerate worldwide adoption of powerline networking with HomePlug technology.

Companies such as Broadcom, Cisco Systems, France Telecom, Qualcomm Atheros, Ralink, Sigma Designs (News - Alert), SPiDCOM Technologies and STMicroelectronics, companies that are HomePlug members, are making considerable contributions to the development of IEEE P1905. By approving the technical requirements, architecture and definitions upon which the standard will be based, the group made substantial progress in April, the alliance stated in a press release.

“The hybrid home network is clearly the network of the future – offering the best networking technology to meet the consumer’s needs – so IEEE (News - Alert) establishing this standard is significant,” said Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. “HomePlug is pleased that the P1905 working group has recognized HomePlug’s undisputed leadership in powerline communications solutions by selecting IEEE 1901 as the underlying powerline communications cornerstone of IEEE P1905. Consumers will immediately benefit from enhanced reliability, ease of use and flexibility.”

To established powerline, wireless, coaxial cable and Ethernet home networking technologies – IEEE P1901 / HomePlug AV, Wi-Fi, MoCA and Ethernet, the IEEE P1905 standard provides an abstraction layer. To maximize a home network’s overall performance and reliability, the standard enables consumers and service providers to combine the capabilities of otherwise disparate networks.

Few years ago, the company announced that the IEEE P1901 Working Group have approved proposals including key HomePlug technology as the baseline for an IEEE powerline communications standard. The balloting took place Thursday at the P1901 Working Group meeting in Kyoto, Japan. For more than a year of intense effort among technical representatives from over 50 companies and organizations, the P1901 standard will reflect the technology and serve the needs of the powerline communications industry as a whole.


Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Raju’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves
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