Panasonic Speeds BPL
Japanese company wakes up the sleepy world of broadband over power lines with a plan to network its refrigerators and TVs.
September 30, 2005
The slowly evolving world of broadband over power lines (BPL) got an injection of high-speed DNA on Thursday with Panasonic?s introduction of a module and software that will make BPL technology faster than Ethernet and almost as ubiquitous, but less complex than wireless.
The High Definition Power Line Communication (HD-PLC) evaluation module from the Japanese conglomerate will boost the network speed of BPL to 170 megabits per second (Mbps), which will make it faster than most Ethernet networks in the home, which top out at 100 Mbps. It will also beat the speed of the fastest current BPL products by a factor of eight.
Until now, most of the test products or proposed BPL products operated at much slower speeds?between 500 kilobits per second (Kbps) and 20 Mbps.
Panasonic and the BPL community are hoping that the ubiquity of power outlets in the home would also give it an ease-of-use advantage over wireless, which can be difficult to install and maintain.
Panasonic?s module will be embedded into an adapter, which when plugged into a power outlet in the home transforms it into a network connection.
But Panasonic?s vision for BPL goes well beyond the home computer network. The company, which also manufactures televisions, VCRs, CD players, refrigerators, DVD players, DVRs, and fax machines, among other devices, is hoping that consumers take advantage of BPL technology to network televisions and refrigerators.
And the list of Panasonic?s potential network residents in the home is long. Panasonic is one of the world?s largest makers of electronic devices and home appliances.
Matsushita, Panasonic?s parent company, is the engine behind the Panasonic, Quasar, Technics, and JVC brands, among many others. The company also sells vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and industrial robots.
Remote Connections
Matsushita executives foresee a home network that will allow consumers to check on how much meat or milk is left in the refrigerator from a mobile phone or a laptop at work. Or the network could turn devices on and off from locations outside the home.
Panasonic/Matsushita and other BPL product makers are hoping to piggyback on the popularity of broadband and the ubiquity of power outlets in the home. Currently consumers must arrange devices such as TVs and computers depending on where broadband outlets are installed in their homes.
?Panasonic?s goal is to provide a complete, easy-to-use home networking solution for its customers,? said Paul Liao, chief technology officer of Panasonic Corporation of North America. ?Panasonic is confident that businesses and consumers everywhere will soon enjoy the benefit of affordable, accessible, and secure networking and information systems.?
The company will demonstrate the technology at the CEATEC exhibition, which begins next Tuesday in Chiba, Japan.
BPL technology has evolved relatively slowly in the U.S., with a limited number of commercial deployments, but has lacked a high-profile champion among high-tech systems vendors.
In July, Google seemed to be stepping into that role when the search company, along with Goldman Sachs and Hearst, invested $100 million in Current Communications, a BPL start-up. But few details have been revealed about that investment.
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