HomePlug Proponents Argue For Simplicity

By Natali T. Del Conte
10.05.06

Members of the Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) industry said Wednesday that the technology needs to be simplified and more accessible to an audience.

BPL enthusiasts met at the HomePlug Technology Conference, which governs the standards for communications, including broadband Internet, over traditional power lines.

"We expect to see HomePlug directly supporting or installed in over 100 million products by 2010," said Carl Mansfield, senior manager of networking technologies for Sharp Labs of America. "What we expect is that consumer devices will need a number of different connectivity options. Over time various applications will converge through mutual functionality through interoperability in communications paths. HomePlug gives consumers options, which is what they want."

Setting up the technology leaves something to be desired, however.



"The other day my neighbor told me about setting up his wireless system and he was so excited that it worked because he expected it not to," said Craig Cahill, senior manager of worldwide business development for Cisco-Linksys Corporation. "The industry has to work on its interface so that people have more faith in the system."

Content, not technology, is what will ultimately drive consumers to HomePlug. Kevin Gage, senior vice president of content strategy and digital media for NBC Universal, gave the keynote address on Wednesday morning, discussing the ways that content has evolved due to broadband technology.

"You can download a King Kong movie in 80 minutes," Gage said. "In 1985 it would have taken three years to download a DVD quality movie of King Kong. In a few years it will take less than 10 minutes."

Downloading capabilities make consumers more demanding and articulate about online content and its delivery format.

"Wireless gives us freedom and that is creating what we call a pull customer," Gage said. "A pull customer doesn't have to watch what is being fed to them. They're deciding when and where they want to watch their content."

Gage estimated that 26 million people will be watching video content on portable devices by 2009 and will demand to interact with the content that they download. Last year TV game show "Deal or No Deal" received 50 million votes per episode in its first year on the air. When compared with the 1 percent participation that "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" received five years ago, the message is clear that consumers want to immerse into their content, not just consume it, he said.

But connectivity still has to be simplified. Consumers don't have enough understanding of BPL and they are afraid to deploy it in their homes. Cahill said that Cisco will make announcements in January at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that will help solve the interface enigma. Content providers such as Comcast are on board and the hardware is in place, he said. The consumer is the only missing link at this juncture.

"Right now we develop products and then we find a way to take it to market. I think from the evolution of the consumer space, we really have to look at what is driving the demand and then develop the products around that," Cahill said.

As BPL and other broadband systems gain momentum, services such as VoIP, digital home security, and IPTV can also expect increased adoption. Radomir Jovanovic, president and chief executive officer for SPiDCOM, predicted that there will be 63 million IPTV subscribers worldwide by 2010, although the phenomenon has seen growth restricted to Europe and the U.S., and very little in Asia and South America.

The HomePlug Technology Conference runs through Thursday in Burlingame.