HomePlug Powerline Alliance introduces AV2 specification

HomePlug Powerline Alliance has made yet another stride forward in the home networking race that leverages existing powerline wires with the introduction of its new AV2 specification.

The new AV2 specification offers a number of elements to enhance performance and coverage for powerline-based broadband networks while remaining interoperable with the existing broad base of HomePlug AV / IEEE 1901 compliant products.

According to the alliance, HomePlug certified products are available in a growing number of manufacturers at various retailers and are being deployed by more than 30 service providers globally.

With the HomePlug entertainment technology, a consumer can build a home network over existing power wiring to connect to any device with an Ethernet port or to extend the range of a WiFi router. Because HomePlug AV2 can support Gbps broadband speeds it can accommodate the consumer's appetite for video streaming services, multi-room IPTV, gaming and other HD audio and video applications.

In separate but related news, the drive to have a common home networking standard that accommodates powerline, coax cable, Ethernet and WiFi also passed a major milestone as the IEEE 1905.1 Working Group on its unanimous approval of the Hybrid Networking (P1905.1) draft standard.

IEEE's 1905.1 standard is a software abstraction layer that manufacturers of consumer electronic devices (i.e. game consoles, storage devices, Blu-Ray players and TVs) can incorporate into their products to support one hybrid home network.

In addition to enabling applications and upper layer protocols to be "agnostic" to the underlying home networking technologies, the 1905.1 simplifies the consumer's set up process for their respective devices and network management.

For more:
- see the AV release
- and the 1905.1 release

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HomePlug Powerline Alliance endorses IEEE's hybrid home networking standard
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