From the Ottawa Citizen:
Data to flow through electrical outlets
Hans Greimel, with files from Vito Pilieci of The Citizen
Associated Press; The Ottawa Citizen
HANOVER, Germany --
Starting this summer, every
electric socket in your home
will be able to delivers
phone calls, e-mail and
even video.
That's what a group of
companies promised at
CeBIT, the huge computer
and technology fair in
Germany, with a Florida firm
saying the technology will hit
stores as early as June.
An Ottawa firm developing
similar technology, Cogency
Semiconductor, says that's
optimistic, but only a little.
Intellon of Ocala, Florida,
has created adapters that
allow people to plug a regular phone line into a regular power outlet,
turning the home's electrical wiring into a miniature local area network.
Using a second adapter, users can then plug in other phones, a
computer, or fax machine into another wall socket and receive data over
the existing electrical wiring.
Intellon chief executive Horst Sandfort says the company will sell
PowerPacket adapters in quantities of "hundreds of thousands" this
June for roughly $100 U.S. a piece.
Ron Glibbery, president of Cogency, which makes the semiconductors
that allow the technology to function, said: "You will see these products
within the next few months.
"While June sounds a little aggressive, I would definitely say this will be
available some time this summer."
The powerline technology is catching on across North America and
Europe and could turn local electrical companies into competition for
global telephone companies. |
