SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean power line communications firm said Sunday that it has signed a deal to jointly develop its next generation broadband over power line (BPL) technology with a U.S. Internet company.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Exscoms Corp. and Atlanta-based EarthLink Inc. calls for the joint effort to commercialize the XPNet system developed by the South Korean venture start-up.
Exscoms President Lee Seong-an said the business arrangement is expected to bring in at least 200 billion won (US$214 million) in royalty earnings from its partner.
EarthLink is a leading Internet and communications firm that offers dial-up, high-speed, voice, web hosting, wireless, and home networking and security services to over 5 million users.
"It is a joint endeavor to put XPNet into wide-scale use, but Exscoms is recognized as the patent holder of the basic technology," he said.
BPL refers to technology that uses regular power lines to provide broadband services including ultra highspeed Internet, home networking and plant automation.
Currently, only telephone lines, fiber optic cables and specially modified power lines can be used to transmit broadband data.
Power cables require expensive devices to be used as broadband communication conduits.
Lee said EarthLink had taken part in a successful experiment in March to check the stability and effectiveness of the BPL technology developed by Exscoms.
"In the test, visual, real-time, chatting took place between operators who were 32 kilometers apart, and connected only by a power line using the XPNet system," he said.
The executive said XPNet has considerable growth potential because it can be used in countries that are in the process of setting up national broadband communication links and may be interested in supplementing optic fiber cables with power lines, and those that have yet to move down this road and do not have adequate resources.
He said the technology behind the broadband system has been submitted for intellectual property protection in South Korea, the United States and several other industrialized countries.
Posts
This is attributable to Jerry Grasso, EarthLink's Director of Corporate Communications:
ReplyDelete"On Sunday, May 27th, Exscoms Corp. announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding of with Atlanta-based EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK). It has been reported inaccurately by media outlets that certain won/dollar amounts could possibly be earned as a result of the agreement.
The MOU agreement is only to explore the opportunity to test and evaluate Exscoms’ ‘XPnet’ technology.
Any other forecasts beyond this statement, especially regarding potential commercial viability, or related business arrangements, are premature and inaccurate. Any revenue forecasts are speculative, and are not endorsed by EarthLink, or Exscoms, at this time."