Broadband Over Powerline a Home Networking Winner

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Broadband over Powerline (BPL) has been emerging steadily over the past several years for in-home networking, access/utility company applications, and the technology is continuing strong growth, reports In-Stat. With no new cabling needed, broadband powerline networking is emerging as a winner in the race for multimedia home networking worldwide, the high-tech market research firm says.

“Management and conservation of energy has become the overriding driver for smart grid, utility applications, where both broadband and low-speed powerline communications will play a roll. As a result, we expect solutions using HomePlug Command and Control solutions to emerge in a big way, although we envision many combination solutions evolving including powerline and low-speed wireless technologies” says Joyce Putscher, In-Stat analyst.

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• Surpassing the inflection point in 2006, worldwide broadband powerline equipment based on HomePlug, CEPCA and UPA powerline reached 5.4 million.
• Global growth for broadband powerline networking equipment will approach 100% in 2007.
• Although broadband has gained most of the attention, the HomePlug Command & Control (HPCC) low-speed specification has recently been approved with meaningful shipments expected in 2008. Worldwide market acceptance is expected to be strong over the next five years, driven by many regional mandates for energy management and savings.

Recent In-Stat research, Powerline Home Networking 2007 Update: Gaining Power in the Global Market (#IN0703456RC), covers the worldwide market for home networking over powerline. It provides service providers, equipment and semiconductor vendors valuable guidance on market trends and expected progress, opportunities, segmentations, and market sizing. Worldwide forecasts include unit segmentation by geographic region, product categories, technology, bandwidth, PHY/MAC chipset ASP, retail vs. service provider channel, and in-home networking vs. access and utility use. This research also references data from In-Stat’s annual home networking consumer survey, conducted during the first half of 2007.

This research is part of In-Stat’s Residential Connectivity service, which provides comprehensive analysis of the worldwide home networking market and the connected digital home from in-home infrastructure to networked media devices, from equipment, services, silicon, applications, and consumer perspectives. This service guides all individuals interested in areas such as wired and wireless home network hardware, multimedia and entertainment networking, consumer network storage, network support services, home automation, home network silicon, routers, residential gateways, and more.