New York Post: AMBIENT HOPES FOR REVENUE LIGHTNING

By RICHARD WILNER
July 8, 2007 -- You have to feel for John J. Joyce, the president and CEO of Ambient Corporation, a provider of broadband technology over power lines.

While other broadband companies - those providing the lightning fast internet connections over telephone and cable lines - enjoy brisk growth, nice profits and high profiles, his Newton, Mass.-based concern appears stuck on the sidelines.

Revenue, while up tenfold last year over 2005 - and having doubled in the first quarter over the previous year - still pales compared to the much larger broadband companies.

And Joyce's company has yet to see its first penny of net profit. To boot, shares are off 61 percent over the past 12 months, closing Friday at 6.51 cents.

But Joyce remains optimistic - especially during the hot summer months when protecting the electrical grid is on people's minds and saving power is what most folks can agree on.

Broadband over power lines (BPL) works over a smart grid, where high-tech nodes turn ordinary electrical wiring in a network. Not only can customers hooked up to a smart grid monitor the appliances and turn them on-and-off from remote locations, utilities can determine if and when there is a power overload - and turn off air-conditioners to prevent a black out.

At the same time, customers can access the Internet from any outlet in their house. Since everyone is wired for electricity - and every room has an outlet - accessing the Internet would be a lot easier.

BPL comes in handy in rural areas and in apartment buildings, where drilling through concrete can be a headache.

But the speed of BPL is slower than by other means and utilities don't see the financial reward of investing in smart systems - there are other priorities.

In New York, Ambient has had a residential pilot network wired in an Upper West Side hi-rise. It has proved successful for tenants but Con Edison has no plans to expand it.


"The company also is committed to developing and using innovative products that enhance our reliability," Chris Olert, a Con Ed spokesman, said. "Ambient's broadband over power lines solution is one of the unique approaches that Con Edison is evaluating."