HD-PLC Alliance Certifies Powerline Coexistence Recommended by NIST SGIP PAP15

Friday, January 7th, 2011

LAS VEGAS — 2011 International CES — The HD-PLC Alliance, a world leader of promotion and certification of HD-PLC Powerline Communication Technology, announced it has started the certification program for powerline coexistence that the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) SGIP PAP15 recently approved as a mandatory requirement for all Broadband over Powerline (BPL) systems, including IEEE Std 1901 and ITU-T G.9960 and G.9961. The HD-PLC Alliance has long supported this coexistence initiative by NIST PAP15, and the alliance has dedicated its efforts to making powerline coexistence a standard in both IEEE 1901 and ITU-T.

In addition, several HD-PLC Alliance members announced their IEEE 1901-compliant products will be released in 2011. The HD-PLC Alliance certification for wavelet OFDM IEEE 1901-compliant products that contain a mandatory coexistence protocol is starting in Q1 2011. The alliance will also certify PLC devices compliant with ITU-T G.9972.

Supporting this critical decision by NIST, the HD-PLC Alliance is confident that its additional coexistence certification will broaden the applications for powerline in homes and industries around the world, especially under the circumstances in which incompatible powerline standards emerge in the market this year.

“In order to avoid the fatal problems caused by different powerline systems installed in a home area network, the decision by NIST SGIP PAP15 is extremely important to accelerating powerline market growth. HD-PLC intends to open the coexistence certification program not only to its alliance members and partners, but also to all other powerline companies and organizations.” said Mr. Michimasa Aramaki, President and Chairman of HD-PLC Alliance.

The HD-PLC Alliance also announced three new members: Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation, Egretcom Co., Ltd, and Qool Technologies Ltd. Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corpotation (“AKM”) is a leading semiconductor designing and manufacturing company, and is the key business domain company of Asahi Kasei Corporation. Egretcom is a communication technologies expert promoting green energy solutions with HD-PLC. Egretcom released its first HD-PLC Energy Power Monitor product last year. Qool Technologies is a leading vendor of communication products, including powerline adapters. Qool Technologies released its first HD-PLC product, HMS-HD150, December 2010 in Japan.

“HD-PLC welcomes its strong new members. In order to accelerate the wide adoption of HD-PLC as an IEEE 1901-compliant world standard, we are dedicated to actively promoting HD-PLC certification globally.” said Mr. Tomiya Miyazaki, vice president of the HD-PLC Alliance.

During International CES 2011 in Las Vegas, HD-PLC can be seen at the DLNA booth (Central Plaza, booth CP3).