Universal Powerline Association Launches Command & Control Working Group

UPA Command and Control Working Group developing specification to deliver interoperability and coexistence with narrowband and broadband Powerline technologies.

September 11, 2007 – London– After extensive market research, global consumer interactions and resulting technical analysis; the Universal Powerline Association (UPA) has approved and launched the official UPA Command and Control Working Group (CCWG) to meet the real world needs for converging narrowband low-speed and broadband high-speed Powerline technologies.

The UPA will be the first organization to put forth a complete global vision for true end-to-end Powerline networking interoperability and coexistence. With the addition of the CCWG, the UPA will be the only technology organization offering complete, fully compatible Powerline solutions encompassing: Access, In-Home, and In-Building connectivity for industrial control, consumer networking and power utility management applications.

The primary goal of the Command and Control Working Group is to promote forward thinking open protocol packet based Powerline networking for command and control applications that are currently limited or restricted to primarily “on/off” type command structures today and historically.

The working group, through member specialties and its substantial combined knowledge and experience base, shall focus on market needs for residential, commercial and industrial applications covering home automation, gateway access to the home, mission critical controls, smart grid and overall energy applications.

In home automation alone, Parks Associates and EH Publishing recently reported that U.S. revenues generated through the custom integration/installation channel are projected to grow 8% to 9% from 2007 to 2008. Total channel revenues will reach $9.8 billion in 2007 and grow to more than $11 billion in 2008 driven by technology advancements allowing for more retrofit projects and by the growth in sales of existing dealers.

The UPA sees value in setting global specifications and standards that meet the needs of consumers. Eric Morel, Chairman of the UPA commented, “The UPA Command and Control Specification will bring “Command and Control” into the 21st Century becoming the foundation for ongoing advances in overall powerline communication and networking globally.”

UPA member companies that make up the CCWG are as follows (in alphabetical order):

• AcBel Polytech
• Ambient Corporation
• BPL Global
• Current Technologies International
• DS2
• Duke Energy
• Ilevo
• PCN Technology
• Moscow City Electricity Grid
• Toshiba Electronics Europe
• Toyo Networks & System Integration Co.,Ltd
• Watteco

The Working Group is chaired by Paul Bertrand of Watteco: The CCWG initiatives are lead by Jeff Tolnar of BPL Global for outdoor applications and Daniel Drolet of PCN Technology, Inc. for overall infrastructure applications. The scheduled timeline of the UPA Command and Control Technology Specification is to be complete within 9 months. The initial meeting of working group companies is scheduled on September 19th in Paris, France.

Companies having products or interests in these markets are cordially invited to join the UPA – Universal Powerline Association and Command and Control working group by visiting our website at www.upaplc.org, or by contacting the UPA’s Permanent Secretary, Donald Pollock. (Contact details below)