Universal Powerline Association Membership Tripled in 2006 !!!

24 January 2007, 04:00am ET

LONDON, Jan 24, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

The Universal Powerline Association (UPA) today announced that its membership tripled during 2006, bringing its membership to over 20 premier companies. The new members come from various countries around the world, from diverse market segments and represent the key elements of the Powerline communications value chain including multiple silicon providers, home networking product manufacturers, BPL Access product manufacturers, and system integrators. Driving the recruitment of new members is the UPA vision of openness and a harmonious Powerline communications market based on open standards and regulations globally.

New members include: BPL Global, Commax, Comtrend, Current Technologies, Cypress Semiconductor, D-Link, Naeil Community, Netgear, Open Solutions, Pirelli Broadband and Watteco.

The UPA aligns industry leaders in the global Powerline communications market and covers all markets, including the access market and the in-home Powerline market. The UPA strives to ensure a level playing field for the deployment of interoperable, coexistent Powerline products to benefit consumers worldwide. As the number of UPA product developers continues to grow, so will the global mission of the UPA. The resulting product certification and compliance with UPA specifications will continue to expand. Additional membership, including Powerline Management software and second source silicon companies, strengthens the UPA's ongoing mission and increases the benefits to consumers globally.

"The UPA has further established itself as the Powerline Communications organization that works with leading standard setting bodies to establish global standards. Standards based on coexistence and interoperability are key to the success of this industry," stated Eric Morel, Chairman of the UPA. "We look forward to even greater progress in 2007, where we will have more interoperability events and even greater membership."

Additional members from all UPA membership categories are coming on board with announcements following shortly in 2007. In the 4th Quarter 2006, the UPA enhanced its membership categories to best serve the needs of all market participants ensuring ongoing participation at all levels.

For more information on joining the UPA contact, Donald Pollock at + 44 1780 470003 or donald.pollock@universalpowerlineassociation.com.

About the UPA

The Universal Powerline Association (UPA) is an International not-for-profit trade association working to promote global standards and regulations in the fast developing powerline communications market. The UPA aims to catalyze the growth of powerline technology by delivering UPA certified products that comply with these specified standards and regulations. All products and applications designed around UPA guidelines will communicate, from simple coexistence to full interoperability. The UPA provides all powerline players the opportunity to respond to key customer expectations with open standards, based on interoperability, security and coexistence and supported by exclusive and independent certifications, the only global guarantee of quality and confidence for high-speed power line technology available today.

Members of the UPA include AcBel Polytech Inc., Ambient Corporation, BPL Global, Corinex Communications Corp., Current Technologies International, Cypress Semiconductor, D-Link, DS2, Duke Energy, Ilevo (Schneider Electric Powerline Communications), Itochu Corporation, Netgear, Open Solutions, PCN Technology, Pirelli Broadband, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Tecnocom, Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH, TOYO Network Systems and Watteco.

Additional information about the UPA is available at www.upaplc.org.