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Technology Stocks : Harmonic Lightwaves (HLIT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sammaster who wrote (4071)	8/29/2002 1:55:59 PM
From: tech101	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4134

The Attck on the Last/First Mile from a Different Angle Piggybacking on power lines New devices let home electrical wiring double as a data network By David Lagesse, The US News & World Report (August, 2002) Threading delicate digital data through a line alongside brute-force, 120-volt current sounds unwise, if not dangerous. But new networking hardware proves that the same outlets that deliver electrical power can deliver the power of the Internet to every room of the house. It's not a new idea, but it hasn't been easy to clear a path for high-speed data through home electrical wires, which are dirty with interference from appliances like power-sucking hair dryers flipping on and off. Now there's HomePlug, an alliance of makers turning out plug-in modules that tame the noise and offer an easy alternative to stringing Ethernet cables or fumbling with quirky wireless networks. Soon, data and power may share the lines on their way to the house too, as electric utilities try to realize an old dream of delivering data over the power grid. The millions of consumers with more than one home computer have been slow to network them, partly because high-speed Internet access isn't spreading as fast as predicted; sharing a fast connection is the strongest motive to link up. Networking Windows machines also remains tricky, and past cabling options didn't look appealing, either. One shortcut made a home's telephone wiring do double duty but didn't work if all the phone jacks weren't wired together. Choking hazard. HomePlug won't work for everyone; it chokes in a few outlets, and even whole homes, sometimes because of built-in surge suppressors. And wireless remains the first choice for laptops that move from room to room. But there's elegant simplicity in piggybacking on the power line, with its multiple outlets in every room. Because data and electricity move at different frequencies, they can share the lines just as different radio frequencies share the airwaves. The HomePlug devices shield their data ports from the current, protecting users and gear. The modules come with connectors for either universal serial bus or Ethernet. Most need a Windows machine to set security passwords; an exception is a model from Phonex that has a button to initiate security, making it easier to use with Macs. In a test, versions from two makers, Netgear and Linksys, linked PCs via outlets at either end of a house, about 50 feet and two floors apart–too far for wireless. True to the spirit of the HomePlug alliance, the Netgear and Linksys units also talked to each other. The average speed beat wireless links and was plenty fast enough for sharing a DSL or cable modem. The power-line equipment costs a bit more; it can be found in stores at about $100 per PC versus $90 for wireless and $50 for phone-line connectors, but HomePlug backers expect their hardware will soon be cheaper than wireless. True elegance hasn't arrived yet, as the modules require a second power outlet next to the computer's. But the HomePlug alliance hopes to get the devices built into PCs and other gear–backers include TV and audio vendors like Sharp, Philips, Samsung, and Sony. They might build stereos, for example, that link with far-flung speakers through a home's electrical wire. "It'll all be done through one cord, a single power cord," says HomePlug President Tom Reed. Outside the home, the convergence of data and power is just beginning. Con Edison in New York City and at least half a dozen other utilities, including Southern Co. in Georgia and Pepco near Washington, D.C., are testing equipment that would deliver the Internet over the power grid. Early results look good, with the lines carrying data faster and farther than expected. A costly hurdle is bypassing the transformers that convert higher voltage electricity to the lower power used in homes–and would scramble any data signal. In Europe, several utilities already sell powerline Internet to thousands of customers. But converting the European power grid is cheaper because a transformer might serve 200 homes there, versus 10 in the United States. If the economics of power-line data work out here, the telcos and cable folks might lose more than Internet customers. There's no technical reason the power companies couldn't also deliver video and voice, says Leif Ericson of Southern Telecom, a Southern Co. subsidiary conducting Internet trials: "The mind can run wild in imagining the applications that can be delivered to the home, to any device that plugs in."