HomePNA Alliance, the industry group that's responsible for evangelizing a specification that enables service providers to use a home's existing wiring to distribute broadband data and video, has certified over 75 products as HomePNA compliant.
A number of major North American telcos, including AT&T (NYSE: T), Bell Canada (NYSE: BCE), CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and Telus (Toronto: T.TO) all currently use HomePNA as their no new wires home networking method.
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de la Vega |
To date, over 20 million HomePNA products have been shipped to telcos, satellite and cable service providers across five continents. In June, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) announced plans to incorporate its technology into its Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines.
While a number of service providers have continued to incorporate HomePNA as their home networking technology tool, some telcos like AT&T, CenturyLink and Verizon would ultimately like to simplify the home network installation process with self-installable WiFi-based products.
Ralph de la Vega, president of mobility and consumer services, AT&T, said that while they have developed a set of best practices around using HomePNA in their U-verse installations, he thinks that using WiFi-enabled devices could potentially save network installation time.
"Today, an installation it connecting the boxes in the home in a wired way, but we have been working for a number of years in trying to simplify that operation so the boxes connect to one another wirelessly in a house," he said.
Likewise, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam touted a similar theme during the recent Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. Traditionally an advocate of the competing Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) approach that leverages a home's existing coax cable, McAdam also wants to reduce the cost in-home wiring.
"We've brought some wireless suppliers that we've got great relationships in developing product with into the home, to say, 'if I get fiber to the ONT in the basement, what are my options inside the house?' so that I don't have to do all of this coax wiring, which just takes a huge amount of time and is frankly a big opportunity for maintenance issues as you go forward," he said.
However compelling WiFi and other competing approaches like the all-in-one home wiring techniques like G.hn are, the reality is they are just one of several tools in the veritable toolbox service providers will use as they continue to scale their residential home networking service plans.
For more:
- see the release
Special report: Michael Weissman & Richard Nesin, HomePNA on driving IPTV deployments
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