Powerline battles WiFi to network the broadband home

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 13 December 2007 09:56

Business IT - Technology

Market research firm In-Stat claims that broadband over powerline (BPL) networking is emerging as a winner in the race for multimedia home networking worldwide, and the leading manufacturer of BPL chipsets agrees, naturally. In-Stat says that the 2007 market for broadband powerline networking equipment will be almost double its value in 2006. And according to BPL chip maker DS2, the demand is being driven by a growing realisation that wireless technologies in the home, even those using the new high speed 802.11n standard, just won't be able to deliver the bandwidth needed by current and emerging multimedia applications.

DS2 - a Spanish company that claims to have delivered the first 200Mbps powerline communications chip - says that, by 2009, average bandwidth demands to support the home user could be three times the amount actually available. "Many of the wireless and wired technology options available today are not robust enough to meet the performance demands of expanding network use within the home."

According to DS2, whose current chipsets are used in equipment able to deliver up to 400Mbps over in-home wiring, "Consumer bandwidth needs will start facing increased pressures in the next 12 months and research from the NPD Group forecasts that lower speed powerline chipsets will be replaced during 2008 - they will simply be unable to cope with the pressures of home networking - just as DS2's 400Mbps technology is set to increase at a rapid pace from 2009 onwards."

The latest generation of WiFi technology, conforming to the IEE802.11n standard, is claimed to offer up to 600Mbps  but in practice these speeds are likely to be achieved only over short distances with few obstacles such as walls.

Jorge Blasco, DS2 CEO, commented: "Consumer demand for increased bandwidth is rising as people add more applications and consumer electronics products to the network. More homes are becoming digital networks and more service providers are extending their IPTV and entertainment offerings - such as British Telecom, with its BT-Vision service, Telefónica, with its Imagenio, and Verizon, which this month announced a five-fold increase in the amount of HD channels to be available on FiOS TV next year. The growth and popularity of the home network is fantastic and we now have to ensure that the bandwidth available to consumers is able to sustain the multimedia applications of the future."