HomePlug® Powerline Alliance Demonstrates Homeplug-Certified Products at Connections 2002

14 May 2002

SAN RAMON, Calif., May 14, 2002 - The HomePlug® Powerline Alliance, an industry consortium established to provide a forum for the development of an open specification of home powerline networking products and services, will display and demonstrate HomePlug certified products from 9 member companies at CONNECTIONS 2002 in Dallas, Texas.

HomePlug member companies demonstrating consumer products for North American applications include Asoka USA Corporation, Gigafast Ethernet, Linksys Group Inc., NETGEAR, Inc., Phonex Broadband Corporation, Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. Ltd., and ST&T Instrument Corporation. The products include USB-HomePlug adapters and Ethernet-HomePlug bridges. In addition to the consumer products, HomePlug member companies that will demonstrate HomePlug certified reference designs include Cogency Semiconductor and Intellon Corporation. The products being demonstrated enable high performance, whole-house networking utilizing a home's existing electrical wiring. These products make it easy for consumers to plug in to any electrical outlet and immediately have a high-speed network.

“The demonstration of these products that are compliant with the HomePlug 1.0 specification is a significant milestone for us,” said Tom Reed, President of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. “The interoperability of these products exemplifies a tremendous sense of cooperation, which allows normally competing companies to work together to introduce new technologies and services for the betterment of their customers.”

HomePlug products are an ideal solution for consumers who want whole-house connectivity. Power outlet connectivity enables the use of multiple outlets in every room at a lower cost per connection point. Additionally, the convenience of connecting any device through a power outlet will enable exciting new products covering entertainment, information access and telephony services.

The HomePlug specification, for which these products are based, went through extensive field trials prior to finalization. These field tests, which involved 500 consumer homes in North America during 2001, proved the interoperability, compatibility and efficiency of the HomePlug technology, validating the HomePlug 1.0 specification. In November of 2001, HomePlug implemented a certification process, which will ensure that HomePlug certified products from different member companies would interoperate and allow consumers to purchase from multiple sources.

Demonstration Of HomePlug compliant Product

The demonstration of HomePlug certified products will take place at the HomePlug Powerline Alliance exhibit (booth #407) at the CONNECTIONS 2002 event in the Wyndham Anatole Hotel in Dallas TX. May 14-16, 2002.

The following HomePlug certified products will be displayed and demonstrated: