INDUSTRY: DS2 DEMOS 400 MBPS BPL CHIPSET
UPLC was on hand last week in New York City as DS2 unveiled a new 400 Mbps chipset that will support access as well as in-home applications. Introducing the new chip, Jorge Blasco, CEO of DS2 explained that the current 200 Mbps chipsets will not provide enough speed to support increased demand from multi-HD applications in the home and for Access BPL system subscriber growth for utilities in the future. With the new chipsets, the application layer speeds are approximately 250 Mbps, and there are additional features such as noise immunity, 256 AES bit security, Video QoS and remote management capabilities that are built in. Plus, the 400 Mbps chip will be interoperable with existing 200 Mbps chipsets. DS2 reported that 3 million 200 Mbps chipsets have been shipped, many of which have gone to British Telecom. For more information, contact the UPLC Legal/Regulatory Department
Read: UPLC PowerLine 11-20-07
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Electric Internet Completes Deployment of BPL for 5 Multi-dwelling Units
Electric Internet Completes Deployment of BPL for 5 Multi-dwelling Units
Electric Internet, a division of River City Internet Group, has just completed deployment of its In-Building Broadband Over Power Line Services (BPL) to five additional St. Louis multi dwelling unit (MDU) properties.
St. Louis, MO, November 28, 2007 --(PR.com)-- River City Internet Group’s Electric Internet division and Ameren Energy Communications have recently completed installation of their In-Building Broadband Over Power Line ( BPL ) solution at five additional St. Louis locations.
* Roberts Apartments ( 72 apartment units in the Central West End )
* Friendship Village of South County ( A 600 unit Independent Senior and Assisted Living community in South County )
* Ventana Luxury Lofts ( 96 lofts in downtown St. Louis )
* Bogen Lofts ( 132 lofts in downtown St. Louis )
* Dorsa Lofts ( 53 lofts in downtown St. Louis )
“Developers and MDU owners today realize that they must provide a quality broadband Internet connection to their tenants,” noted Trey Goede, Executive Vice President, River City Internet Group. “Given the recent installations and 2008 commitments, we expect this growth to continue well into the future.”
In-building BPL enables commercial and MDU property owners to leverage their buildings’ existing internal electrical wiring to deliver high-speed broadband Internet access to every electrical outlet, which becomes a broadband access port by simply plugging in a BPL modem. In-building BPL offers broadband speeds that are significantly faster than cable or phone lines.
About River City Internet Group:
River City Internet Group ( RCIG ) is an Internet delivery system holding company. RCIG ( http://www.rcig.net ) was founded in 2001 and invests in companies that are predominately focused on providing Enterprises and Carriers with Internet based services. In addition to traditional hosting and access services, RCIG also offers network monitoring and management. RCIG has also furthered its presence in the Online Gaming industry with an investment in GameRail, a provider of performance based Game Networking.
About Ameren:
Ameren Energy Communications is a non-rate-regulated subsidiary of Ameren Corporation. Ameren, through its regulated utility subsidiaries, serves 2.4 million electric customers and nearly 1 million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.
Electric Internet, a division of River City Internet Group, has just completed deployment of its In-Building Broadband Over Power Line Services (BPL) to five additional St. Louis multi dwelling unit (MDU) properties.
St. Louis, MO, November 28, 2007 --(PR.com)-- River City Internet Group’s Electric Internet division and Ameren Energy Communications have recently completed installation of their In-Building Broadband Over Power Line ( BPL ) solution at five additional St. Louis locations.
* Roberts Apartments ( 72 apartment units in the Central West End )
* Friendship Village of South County ( A 600 unit Independent Senior and Assisted Living community in South County )
* Ventana Luxury Lofts ( 96 lofts in downtown St. Louis )
* Bogen Lofts ( 132 lofts in downtown St. Louis )
* Dorsa Lofts ( 53 lofts in downtown St. Louis )
“Developers and MDU owners today realize that they must provide a quality broadband Internet connection to their tenants,” noted Trey Goede, Executive Vice President, River City Internet Group. “Given the recent installations and 2008 commitments, we expect this growth to continue well into the future.”
In-building BPL enables commercial and MDU property owners to leverage their buildings’ existing internal electrical wiring to deliver high-speed broadband Internet access to every electrical outlet, which becomes a broadband access port by simply plugging in a BPL modem. In-building BPL offers broadband speeds that are significantly faster than cable or phone lines.
About River City Internet Group:
River City Internet Group ( RCIG ) is an Internet delivery system holding company. RCIG ( http://www.rcig.net ) was founded in 2001 and invests in companies that are predominately focused on providing Enterprises and Carriers with Internet based services. In addition to traditional hosting and access services, RCIG also offers network monitoring and management. RCIG has also furthered its presence in the Online Gaming industry with an investment in GameRail, a provider of performance based Game Networking.
About Ameren:
Ameren Energy Communications is a non-rate-regulated subsidiary of Ameren Corporation. Ameren, through its regulated utility subsidiaries, serves 2.4 million electric customers and nearly 1 million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.
DS2 Licenses Tensilica's Xtensa Processor for 200 Mbps Powerline Chipset
DS2 Licenses Tensilica's Xtensa Processor for 200 Mbps Powerline Chipset
Wednesday November 28, 8:16 am ET
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tensilica®, Inc. today announced that Design of Systems on Silicon S.A. (DS2) has licensed Tensilica’s Xtensa configurable processor to use as a controller in a 200 Mbps powerline chipset. This chipset enables broadband and networking in homes over power lines, coaxial cable and telephone wire.
“We needed a supplier we could depend on, and we were very impressed with Tensilica’s support for their products,” stated Mayte Bacete, operations director, DS2. “The Xtensa configurable processor gives us the right mix of performance and low power that we need for these chip designs.”
“As a leader in broadband powerline communications, DS2 is doing some very innovative design work for every segment of the network, from the most performance demanding backhaul optical switch to the most cost-sensitive home networking PLC appliance,” stated Steve Roddy, Tensilica’s vice president of marketing. “We’re excited that our Xtensa processor was chosen as the controller for these chip designs.”
Wednesday November 28, 8:16 am ET
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tensilica®, Inc. today announced that Design of Systems on Silicon S.A. (DS2) has licensed Tensilica’s Xtensa configurable processor to use as a controller in a 200 Mbps powerline chipset. This chipset enables broadband and networking in homes over power lines, coaxial cable and telephone wire.
“We needed a supplier we could depend on, and we were very impressed with Tensilica’s support for their products,” stated Mayte Bacete, operations director, DS2. “The Xtensa configurable processor gives us the right mix of performance and low power that we need for these chip designs.”
“As a leader in broadband powerline communications, DS2 is doing some very innovative design work for every segment of the network, from the most performance demanding backhaul optical switch to the most cost-sensitive home networking PLC appliance,” stated Steve Roddy, Tensilica’s vice president of marketing. “We’re excited that our Xtensa processor was chosen as the controller for these chip designs.”
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
BPL to let Dallas plug right into Net
Dallas is U.S.' largest test market for Net straight from the socket
10:58 PM CST on Monday, November 19, 2007
By ANDREW D. SMITH / The Dallas Morning News
asmith@dallasnews.com
It weighs less than a hardback book and works from any electrical outlet. If you want to use your laptop in the upstairs bedroom rather than the downstairs study, you can move it as easily as you can a nightlight.
It's a new type of modem that will allow folks in 128,000 Dallas homes access to the Internet through their power lines, reportedly by the end of the year. It's also a major selling point for Current Communications, the company that's building the infrastructure and looking for partners to market it to consumers.
In addition to being the largest domestic test of the "smart grid" technology that may boost power reliability and slash usage, Current's project dwarfs other American efforts to deploy broadband over power lines, or BPL.Dallas residents who live inside Current's footprint will soon have more Internet options than almost any other Americans.
Better still, with Sprint Nextel planning to launch a WiMax network here next year, existing service providers will feel more pressure to boost speeds, cut prices and develop innovative products such as the portable modem.
"Being able to move your connection point is one of the biggest advantages to getting Internet through power lines," said Greg Hormon, vice president and general manager at Current.
"Houses have a lot more electrical outlets than phone jacks or cable sockets, and because the modems pull power from the same sockets they use for Internet access, you don't have to fuss with any wires," Mr. Hormon said.
DirecTV, which announced its plans to sell Current's BPL to customers here in August, still says it's on track for a 2007 launch but declined to discuss prices and other specifics.
Analysts say BPL will have to be cheaper than existing options to win converts.
Demo home
Current, meanwhile, has set up a demonstration home in the M Streets neighborhood to attract other retail partners.
"We want to form enough partnerships so that everyone who lives inside the service area can buy BPL," said Rosemary McMahill, Current's director of regulatory affairs.
"Some people will get it from DirecTV. Some will get it from their power company. Some will get it from other partners."
The technology behind BPL dates back more than a decade, when boosters thought it would provide an affordable way to bring fast Internet everywhere, especially in rural areas that don't get it from cable or phone companies.
Utilities in China, Russia and other countries have begun to translate such dreams into reality, but the design of America's electric grids has limited the spread of BPL to a handful of experiments and Current's 50,000-home network in Cincinnati.
BPL networks won't work unless power companies install new equipment at every transformer – not a big deal in countries where each transformer serves 100 homes but costly in the United States, where each transformer serves five to 10 houses.
The service also requires new energy meters at every home.
The cost of installing the first 300,000 meters around Dallas is expected to run about $450 million.
Current won't say how much it will cost to upgrade the lines serving all those homes, nor will it estimate the total cost of eventually bringing BPL to more than 2 million area homes.
"The Dallas project is the big test of whether smart grids and BPL make financial sense in America, and that's very good news for people in Dallas," said Chuck Newton, president of the Newton-Evans Research Co.
Many observers expect success in Dallas because BPL technology generates two revenue streams – the money consumers spend on fast Internet, plus the money the power company saves by automating labor-intensive services.
Pluses for Oncor
Oncor, the regulated power-line unit of Energy Future Holdings, will get instant feedback on grid performance and home energy consumption throughout Current's smart grid.
That information will allow the company to find and repair problems instantly and nearly eliminate meter readers.
Total savings could exceed the cost of BPL installation.
"I'd guess that when Oncor sees the savings from the initial rollout, it's going to have Current move full speed ahead to wire the rest of its territory, and a lot of other power companies will follow suit," said Gary Sorkin, associate editor of the trade publication BPL Today.
"A lot of different factors are coming together to make this technology take off quickly. ... It won't be that many more years till BPL moves out of the 'other' category in broadband surveys and becomes an option for a lot of consumers."
Current's existing technology supports download and upload speeds around 8 megabits per second.
That's faster than anything else available to Dallas residents, though not as fast as the Fios service that Verizon offers in many northern suburbs.
Such speeds can easily deliver telephone service, but they're not quite fast enough to deliver high-quality live television.
That may change, however, as video compression improves and Current upgrades the software that drives its system.
Serious rival
While broadband providers gear up for competition from Current and its retail partners, all of them must also plan for another serious competitor, the cellular carrier Sprint Nextel.
Sprint announced last week that it had scrapped plans to build a nationwide WiMax network with Clearwire Corp., but the company says it's still on track to deploy WiMax in Dallas and several other big cities next year.
Tests of its WiMax network in Chicago show download speeds around 8 megabits per second and upload speeds around 1 megabit per second.
That's about as fast as cable service is now, and it's faster than most DSL connections.
The Sprint service would be completely wireless, so customers could use it anywhere in the region.
"The broadband world is changing incredibly fast," Mr. Sorkin said, "and Dallas seems to be out ahead of other places."
ROLLING OUT BPL
Where is broadband over power lines available?
Nowhere yet, but Current has wired more than 110,000 houses in the M Streets and surrounding neighborhoods. Homes need new power meters to use BPL, so if you live in that area and have a new meter, you're probably in the footprint. If you have the same meter you've had for years, your home is not wired for BPL yet.
Can I call Current to get BPL?
No. Current isn't selling fast Internet directly to consumers. It will sell its capacity through experienced retailers. DirecTV is the only partner that Current has announced so far, but it is working to sign up others, especially power companies. Such partnerships would let consumers buy fast Internet and electricity on the same bill.
When can I actually get this?
DirecTV says it's on track to begin selling BPL by year-end, so existing customers who live inside the BPL zone will probably see offers soon. Folks who live inside the footprint but don't want to do business with DirecTV will have to wait for Current to find other retailers.
10:58 PM CST on Monday, November 19, 2007
By ANDREW D. SMITH / The Dallas Morning News
asmith@dallasnews.com
It weighs less than a hardback book and works from any electrical outlet. If you want to use your laptop in the upstairs bedroom rather than the downstairs study, you can move it as easily as you can a nightlight.
It's a new type of modem that will allow folks in 128,000 Dallas homes access to the Internet through their power lines, reportedly by the end of the year. It's also a major selling point for Current Communications, the company that's building the infrastructure and looking for partners to market it to consumers.
In addition to being the largest domestic test of the "smart grid" technology that may boost power reliability and slash usage, Current's project dwarfs other American efforts to deploy broadband over power lines, or BPL.Dallas residents who live inside Current's footprint will soon have more Internet options than almost any other Americans.
Better still, with Sprint Nextel planning to launch a WiMax network here next year, existing service providers will feel more pressure to boost speeds, cut prices and develop innovative products such as the portable modem.
"Being able to move your connection point is one of the biggest advantages to getting Internet through power lines," said Greg Hormon, vice president and general manager at Current.
"Houses have a lot more electrical outlets than phone jacks or cable sockets, and because the modems pull power from the same sockets they use for Internet access, you don't have to fuss with any wires," Mr. Hormon said.
DirecTV, which announced its plans to sell Current's BPL to customers here in August, still says it's on track for a 2007 launch but declined to discuss prices and other specifics.
Analysts say BPL will have to be cheaper than existing options to win converts.
Demo home
Current, meanwhile, has set up a demonstration home in the M Streets neighborhood to attract other retail partners.
"We want to form enough partnerships so that everyone who lives inside the service area can buy BPL," said Rosemary McMahill, Current's director of regulatory affairs.
"Some people will get it from DirecTV. Some will get it from their power company. Some will get it from other partners."
The technology behind BPL dates back more than a decade, when boosters thought it would provide an affordable way to bring fast Internet everywhere, especially in rural areas that don't get it from cable or phone companies.
Utilities in China, Russia and other countries have begun to translate such dreams into reality, but the design of America's electric grids has limited the spread of BPL to a handful of experiments and Current's 50,000-home network in Cincinnati.
BPL networks won't work unless power companies install new equipment at every transformer – not a big deal in countries where each transformer serves 100 homes but costly in the United States, where each transformer serves five to 10 houses.
The service also requires new energy meters at every home.
The cost of installing the first 300,000 meters around Dallas is expected to run about $450 million.
Current won't say how much it will cost to upgrade the lines serving all those homes, nor will it estimate the total cost of eventually bringing BPL to more than 2 million area homes.
"The Dallas project is the big test of whether smart grids and BPL make financial sense in America, and that's very good news for people in Dallas," said Chuck Newton, president of the Newton-Evans Research Co.
Many observers expect success in Dallas because BPL technology generates two revenue streams – the money consumers spend on fast Internet, plus the money the power company saves by automating labor-intensive services.
Pluses for Oncor
Oncor, the regulated power-line unit of Energy Future Holdings, will get instant feedback on grid performance and home energy consumption throughout Current's smart grid.
That information will allow the company to find and repair problems instantly and nearly eliminate meter readers.
Total savings could exceed the cost of BPL installation.
"I'd guess that when Oncor sees the savings from the initial rollout, it's going to have Current move full speed ahead to wire the rest of its territory, and a lot of other power companies will follow suit," said Gary Sorkin, associate editor of the trade publication BPL Today.
"A lot of different factors are coming together to make this technology take off quickly. ... It won't be that many more years till BPL moves out of the 'other' category in broadband surveys and becomes an option for a lot of consumers."
Current's existing technology supports download and upload speeds around 8 megabits per second.
That's faster than anything else available to Dallas residents, though not as fast as the Fios service that Verizon offers in many northern suburbs.
Such speeds can easily deliver telephone service, but they're not quite fast enough to deliver high-quality live television.
That may change, however, as video compression improves and Current upgrades the software that drives its system.
Serious rival
While broadband providers gear up for competition from Current and its retail partners, all of them must also plan for another serious competitor, the cellular carrier Sprint Nextel.
Sprint announced last week that it had scrapped plans to build a nationwide WiMax network with Clearwire Corp., but the company says it's still on track to deploy WiMax in Dallas and several other big cities next year.
Tests of its WiMax network in Chicago show download speeds around 8 megabits per second and upload speeds around 1 megabit per second.
That's about as fast as cable service is now, and it's faster than most DSL connections.
The Sprint service would be completely wireless, so customers could use it anywhere in the region.
"The broadband world is changing incredibly fast," Mr. Sorkin said, "and Dallas seems to be out ahead of other places."
ROLLING OUT BPL
Where is broadband over power lines available?
Nowhere yet, but Current has wired more than 110,000 houses in the M Streets and surrounding neighborhoods. Homes need new power meters to use BPL, so if you live in that area and have a new meter, you're probably in the footprint. If you have the same meter you've had for years, your home is not wired for BPL yet.
Can I call Current to get BPL?
No. Current isn't selling fast Internet directly to consumers. It will sell its capacity through experienced retailers. DirecTV is the only partner that Current has announced so far, but it is working to sign up others, especially power companies. Such partnerships would let consumers buy fast Internet and electricity on the same bill.
When can I actually get this?
DirecTV says it's on track to begin selling BPL by year-end, so existing customers who live inside the BPL zone will probably see offers soon. Folks who live inside the footprint but don't want to do business with DirecTV will have to wait for Current to find other retailers.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Australia: Labor, Coalition looking at powerline broadband !
By Jo Best, ZDNet Australia | 2007/11/19 11:37:02
With the election looming, there does appear to be one issue that both Liberal and Labor can agree on: broadband over powerline could one day be used to get Internet access to Australia's remotest regions.
In response to questions gathered from readers, ZDNet Australia asked both parties for their stance on the question of broadband over powerline (BPL).
Communications Minister Helen Coonan told ZDNet Australia that her office is monitoring developments around new broadband technologies including BPL.
"My department has kept an eye on it," she said. "[Trials of the technology] suggested it could be a way of delivering broadband effectively into the home."
"It's very interesting. My department has a standing brief to be kept abreast of all developments," she added.
Labor communications spokesperson Stephen Conroy told ZDNet Australia that he has seen broadband over powerline technology used in Tasmania. "We've got some good working models," he added.
Conroy said that Labor will be looking at "all available" broadband delivery mechanisms, including broadband over powerline.
A number of trials of broadband over powerline are already underway in Australia, including a pilot by Country Energy in NSW and Aurora Energy in Tasmania.
NEC recently told ZDNet Australia that some of Australia's larger telcos are looking at BPL for last mile access.
However, NEC believes questions regarding interference will need to be solved before any large scale rollouts will go ahead.
With the election looming, there does appear to be one issue that both Liberal and Labor can agree on: broadband over powerline could one day be used to get Internet access to Australia's remotest regions.
In response to questions gathered from readers, ZDNet Australia asked both parties for their stance on the question of broadband over powerline (BPL).
Communications Minister Helen Coonan told ZDNet Australia that her office is monitoring developments around new broadband technologies including BPL.
"My department has kept an eye on it," she said. "[Trials of the technology] suggested it could be a way of delivering broadband effectively into the home."
"It's very interesting. My department has a standing brief to be kept abreast of all developments," she added.
Labor communications spokesperson Stephen Conroy told ZDNet Australia that he has seen broadband over powerline technology used in Tasmania. "We've got some good working models," he added.
Conroy said that Labor will be looking at "all available" broadband delivery mechanisms, including broadband over powerline.
A number of trials of broadband over powerline are already underway in Australia, including a pilot by Country Energy in NSW and Aurora Energy in Tasmania.
NEC recently told ZDNet Australia that some of Australia's larger telcos are looking at BPL for last mile access.
However, NEC believes questions regarding interference will need to be solved before any large scale rollouts will go ahead.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Powerline network throws down the gauntlet on Ethernet, 802.11n at 400Mbps
By John Timmer | Published: November 15, 2007 - 06:15AM CT
Yesterday,
DS2, a leading provider of chipsets for powerline networking devices, hosted a demonstration of its next-generation equipment for the press and financial analysts. The hardware was impressive, handling data at sustained rates of well over 400Mbps while maintaining backwards compatibility with earlier generations of the company's hardware. But, while powerline networking is a promising solution for a number of problems, there are some substantial challenges to its adoption by the broader market.
Built for speed
DS2, based in Valencia, designs the processors and creates integrated chipsets that enable OEMs to produce networking solutions; they don't actually sell end-user hardware themselves. The previous generation DS2 chipset, introduced four years ago, enabled communications at 200Mbps over standard power lines. That generation has been widely deployed by European telcos, and displaces earlier equipment in consumer hardware.
The new generation doubles the bandwidth to 400Mbps a second. Even after control, error correction, and quality of service information are subtracted, the end users will have access to well over 200Mbps of usable bandwidth. That's double 100-BaseT Ethernet and better than 802.11n can do under most conditions. The demonstration hardware came in a carrying case that was roughly the size of an unabridged dictionary. It was shown handling data transfers at 230 Mbits/s between two laptops, happily sending its signal through surge protectors and power strips.
DS2's test equipment
Hopefully, production units will be more compact than DS2's test equipment
DS2 has ensured that its hardware is backwards compatible with earlier products, and showed the new device talking to current consumer wallplug adapters at about 100Mbps. In contrast to wireless solutions, where the presence of earlier hardware pulls the entire network down to its level, each device on a powerline network negotiates its connections independently. Thus, a 400Mbps device can communicate at full speed with whatever generation hardware is present.
The presentation emphasized other advantages over wireless. 802.11 hardware constantly has to readjust its signal and contend with environments (such as New York City, where the demo took place) with many other wireless signals. As a result, data transfer using 802.11n was erratic; in contrast, the powerline transfer shot up to full speed and stayed there. DS2 also implied that differences in the underlying technology meant that powerline data transmission had fewer limitations for future bandwidth increases—they have a lead over wireless, and expected to keep it.
DS2's hardware will also come with some niceties on the software side. 256-bit AES encryption will be handled on the fly, and won't limit transmission speeds in any way. Pairing devices for encryption is vaguely similar to the process of pairing a phone with a Bluetooth headset. The chipset will also host a lightweight, POSIX-compliant operating system that will allow remote management; they demonstrated it hosting a web server that displayed performance data. Although the hardware is primarily being sold through its use of powerlines for data transmission, it will also work over coaxial cables and twisted-pair wiring, adding to the flexibility of its deployment.
Who needs the speed?
It's pretty easy to view 400Mbps as overkill, but the company's CEO, Jorge Blasco, did his best to argue otherwise. He pointed out that, four years ago when the 200Mbps hardware was introduced, everyone viewed that as excessive. Due to market realities, however, the 200Mbps equipment has only recently reached the point where it represented the majority of the powerline hardware sold. They want the hardware on the market as soon as possible, so that it's common and cheap by the time that bandwidth needs catch up. Besides, Blasco said, "speed is never high enough if you can deliver it at the right cost."
Planning for the adoption curve: NPD Group data shows that it takes some time for new equipment to displace earlier generations.
DS2 also has some pretty clear ideas of what will drive future bandwidth needs: delivery of HD content and IPTV. Chano Gomez, one of the company's VPs, expects HD movie downloads "very soon," and highlighted IPTV self-install kits offered by BT that include powerline hardware. According to DS2, the new hardware will allow IPTV providers to send 10 HD channels down the pipes simultaneously.
Gomez also suggested that 400Mbps hardware would be even more critical once content makes its way inside the home, as home networks are going to need roughly three times the bandwidth of their connection to the outside world. That's because of centralized storage devices, such as HD-DVRs and NAS boxes, that are going to need to be able to send HD streams to several locations in the house while simultaneously supporting computer backups and internet access. Suddenly, 400Mbps doesn't seem like overkill.
Remaining barriers
So, why aren't we all using powerline network equipment? In Europe, there are nearly 400 million users, but they are very unevenly distributed: over half are customers of Telefonica in DS2's backyard, Spain. In the US, regulations can vary from state to state; in some cases, power companies are prohibited from using their wiring for anything other than the delivery of power. On the national level, the FCC already considers powerline broadband to be just another information service, so the states appear to be the big hold up.
For the home user, cost of equipment has been a major factor. 802.11 hardware is good enough for most common uses, and its volume of sales and bundling as standard hardware have caused prices of even the most current equipment to drop rapidly. A set of four powerline adapters, in contrast, can run well over $100. That situation is unlikely to change until bandwidth needs outpace 802.11's capacity. Performance has been disappointing as well. Some of the recent HomePlug AV powerline networking equipment we've tested at the Orbiting HQ has failed to impress, with speeds lagging 802.11g, let alone 802.11n.
Worse still for both consumers and ISPs are compatibility problems among the equipment from the three main providers—the DS2 execs were happy to point out that some of their competitors make equipment that's not even compatible with their own earlier generations, much less anyone else's. DS2 is trying to work with the IEEE to define a powerline standard, but the proposal currently under consideration would allow different "flavors" of the standard that remain incompatible. As things stand now, however, buying equipment from different companies can be a crapshoot.
Yesterday,
DS2, a leading provider of chipsets for powerline networking devices, hosted a demonstration of its next-generation equipment for the press and financial analysts. The hardware was impressive, handling data at sustained rates of well over 400Mbps while maintaining backwards compatibility with earlier generations of the company's hardware. But, while powerline networking is a promising solution for a number of problems, there are some substantial challenges to its adoption by the broader market. Built for speed
DS2, based in Valencia, designs the processors and creates integrated chipsets that enable OEMs to produce networking solutions; they don't actually sell end-user hardware themselves. The previous generation DS2 chipset, introduced four years ago, enabled communications at 200Mbps over standard power lines. That generation has been widely deployed by European telcos, and displaces earlier equipment in consumer hardware.
The new generation doubles the bandwidth to 400Mbps a second. Even after control, error correction, and quality of service information are subtracted, the end users will have access to well over 200Mbps of usable bandwidth. That's double 100-BaseT Ethernet and better than 802.11n can do under most conditions. The demonstration hardware came in a carrying case that was roughly the size of an unabridged dictionary. It was shown handling data transfers at 230 Mbits/s between two laptops, happily sending its signal through surge protectors and power strips.
DS2's test equipmentHopefully, production units will be more compact than DS2's test equipment
DS2 has ensured that its hardware is backwards compatible with earlier products, and showed the new device talking to current consumer wallplug adapters at about 100Mbps. In contrast to wireless solutions, where the presence of earlier hardware pulls the entire network down to its level, each device on a powerline network negotiates its connections independently. Thus, a 400Mbps device can communicate at full speed with whatever generation hardware is present.
The presentation emphasized other advantages over wireless. 802.11 hardware constantly has to readjust its signal and contend with environments (such as New York City, where the demo took place) with many other wireless signals. As a result, data transfer using 802.11n was erratic; in contrast, the powerline transfer shot up to full speed and stayed there. DS2 also implied that differences in the underlying technology meant that powerline data transmission had fewer limitations for future bandwidth increases—they have a lead over wireless, and expected to keep it.
DS2's hardware will also come with some niceties on the software side. 256-bit AES encryption will be handled on the fly, and won't limit transmission speeds in any way. Pairing devices for encryption is vaguely similar to the process of pairing a phone with a Bluetooth headset. The chipset will also host a lightweight, POSIX-compliant operating system that will allow remote management; they demonstrated it hosting a web server that displayed performance data. Although the hardware is primarily being sold through its use of powerlines for data transmission, it will also work over coaxial cables and twisted-pair wiring, adding to the flexibility of its deployment.
Who needs the speed?
It's pretty easy to view 400Mbps as overkill, but the company's CEO, Jorge Blasco, did his best to argue otherwise. He pointed out that, four years ago when the 200Mbps hardware was introduced, everyone viewed that as excessive. Due to market realities, however, the 200Mbps equipment has only recently reached the point where it represented the majority of the powerline hardware sold. They want the hardware on the market as soon as possible, so that it's common and cheap by the time that bandwidth needs catch up. Besides, Blasco said, "speed is never high enough if you can deliver it at the right cost."
Planning for the adoption curve: NPD Group data shows that it takes some time for new equipment to displace earlier generations.
DS2 also has some pretty clear ideas of what will drive future bandwidth needs: delivery of HD content and IPTV. Chano Gomez, one of the company's VPs, expects HD movie downloads "very soon," and highlighted IPTV self-install kits offered by BT that include powerline hardware. According to DS2, the new hardware will allow IPTV providers to send 10 HD channels down the pipes simultaneously.
Gomez also suggested that 400Mbps hardware would be even more critical once content makes its way inside the home, as home networks are going to need roughly three times the bandwidth of their connection to the outside world. That's because of centralized storage devices, such as HD-DVRs and NAS boxes, that are going to need to be able to send HD streams to several locations in the house while simultaneously supporting computer backups and internet access. Suddenly, 400Mbps doesn't seem like overkill.
Remaining barriers
So, why aren't we all using powerline network equipment? In Europe, there are nearly 400 million users, but they are very unevenly distributed: over half are customers of Telefonica in DS2's backyard, Spain. In the US, regulations can vary from state to state; in some cases, power companies are prohibited from using their wiring for anything other than the delivery of power. On the national level, the FCC already considers powerline broadband to be just another information service, so the states appear to be the big hold up.
For the home user, cost of equipment has been a major factor. 802.11 hardware is good enough for most common uses, and its volume of sales and bundling as standard hardware have caused prices of even the most current equipment to drop rapidly. A set of four powerline adapters, in contrast, can run well over $100. That situation is unlikely to change until bandwidth needs outpace 802.11's capacity. Performance has been disappointing as well. Some of the recent HomePlug AV powerline networking equipment we've tested at the Orbiting HQ has failed to impress, with speeds lagging 802.11g, let alone 802.11n.
Worse still for both consumers and ISPs are compatibility problems among the equipment from the three main providers—the DS2 execs were happy to point out that some of their competitors make equipment that's not even compatible with their own earlier generations, much less anyone else's. DS2 is trying to work with the IEEE to define a powerline standard, but the proposal currently under consideration would allow different "flavors" of the standard that remain incompatible. As things stand now, however, buying equipment from different companies can be a crapshoot.
Ambient Issues Stockholder Update
Ambient Issues Stockholder Update
Thursday November 15, 8:30 am ET
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ambient Corporation (OTCBB: ABTG - News), a leader in Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) solutions, issued today the following update to its stockholders from President and CEO John J. Joyce.
Dear Stockholders:
Since my last update to shareholders on September 26, 2007, I am pleased to report Ambient has continued to make progress with our largest field deployment in the southeastern United States. Our deployments with Consolidated Edison, FirstEnergy Service Company and Entergy Corporation also continue to operate. These deployments, which use Ambient’s suite of BPL products, are directed towards a variety of goals including striving to dramatically improve the efficiency with which utilities serve their customers.
The Company’s focus remains on enabling Smart Grid applications. We remain active with outreach and developing relationships with key industry players. Recently, Ambient joined over 50 other green companies at the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center's 3rd Annual Conference on Clean Energy to represent Smart Grid communications, and was present at the New York meeting of ValueRich, connecting Ambient with clean energy institutional investors.
Ambient also received its fourth U.S. patent in 2007, bringing the Company’s patent portfolio to eighteen (18) U.S. patents, covering a number of BPL technology areas. Ambient’s patents encompass such areas as data couplers on medium voltage power lines, coupler enhancements, data coupler usage, coupler placement in buildings, coupler construction and solutions to overcoming challenges of high voltage stress and high current. Actual patents and their claims may be viewed at www.uspto.gov. The US Patent and Trademark Office has notified Ambient of additional applications whose claims have been allowed, and publication is anticipated to follow.
Key Ambient personnel continue to participate in the development process of industry standards and legislation in both the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 3221) and the U.S. Senate (HR 6) through the GridWise Alliance and other lobbying efforts. As Ambient has previously stated, the Company believes the establishment of standards will help drive industry adoption for Smart Grids worldwide. Ambient’s system architecture is designed to incorporate any standards-based products, including any chipset, and can be modified to accommodate any standards-based chipset. Ambient equipment can be available as quickly as compliant chipsets are available.
In addition to the most recent financing of an additional $2.5MM of capital announced on November 2, 2007, the Company has notified the 2006 Debenture holders that it intends to pay the scheduled December 2007 payment in cash, rather than in registered shares of Ambient stock. As part of its continuing efforts to limit the distribution of Ambient stock at a discount-to-market price, Ambient has paid in cash the last five scheduled monthly 2006 Debenture payments, reducing current debt. Ambient’s remaining short-term debt with the 2006 Debenture holders, after making the December payment in cash, will be $103,500.
With the aforementioned developments, Ambient continues to strive to meet the following goals and objectives set forth in the 2007 Annual Meeting: increasing revenues, enhancing the Company’s technology and protecting its intellectual property rights, fostering the creation of industry standards and stabilizing the capital structure.
Unaudited consolidated financial statements for the nine months ended September 30, 2007, can be found in our third quarter 10QSB filed with the SEC on November 14, 2007 at http://www.sec.gov.
As always, thank you for your continued support and interest in Ambient.
Sincerely,
John J. Joyce
President and CEO of Ambient
About Ambient Corporation
Ambient is a pioneer in the Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) industry and is engaged in the design, development and marketing of patented, FCC-certified BPL equipment and technologies. Ambient utilizes proprietary technology and in-depth industry experience to provide optimal solutions for Smart Grids and the Broadband Access and In-premise markets. Headquartered in Newton, MA, Ambient is a publicly traded company (OTCBB: ABTG - News). Visit Ambient at www.ambientcorp.com.
Thursday November 15, 8:30 am ET
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ambient Corporation (OTCBB: ABTG - News), a leader in Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) solutions, issued today the following update to its stockholders from President and CEO John J. Joyce.
Dear Stockholders:
Since my last update to shareholders on September 26, 2007, I am pleased to report Ambient has continued to make progress with our largest field deployment in the southeastern United States. Our deployments with Consolidated Edison, FirstEnergy Service Company and Entergy Corporation also continue to operate. These deployments, which use Ambient’s suite of BPL products, are directed towards a variety of goals including striving to dramatically improve the efficiency with which utilities serve their customers.
The Company’s focus remains on enabling Smart Grid applications. We remain active with outreach and developing relationships with key industry players. Recently, Ambient joined over 50 other green companies at the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center's 3rd Annual Conference on Clean Energy to represent Smart Grid communications, and was present at the New York meeting of ValueRich, connecting Ambient with clean energy institutional investors.
Ambient also received its fourth U.S. patent in 2007, bringing the Company’s patent portfolio to eighteen (18) U.S. patents, covering a number of BPL technology areas. Ambient’s patents encompass such areas as data couplers on medium voltage power lines, coupler enhancements, data coupler usage, coupler placement in buildings, coupler construction and solutions to overcoming challenges of high voltage stress and high current. Actual patents and their claims may be viewed at www.uspto.gov. The US Patent and Trademark Office has notified Ambient of additional applications whose claims have been allowed, and publication is anticipated to follow.
Key Ambient personnel continue to participate in the development process of industry standards and legislation in both the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 3221) and the U.S. Senate (HR 6) through the GridWise Alliance and other lobbying efforts. As Ambient has previously stated, the Company believes the establishment of standards will help drive industry adoption for Smart Grids worldwide. Ambient’s system architecture is designed to incorporate any standards-based products, including any chipset, and can be modified to accommodate any standards-based chipset. Ambient equipment can be available as quickly as compliant chipsets are available.
In addition to the most recent financing of an additional $2.5MM of capital announced on November 2, 2007, the Company has notified the 2006 Debenture holders that it intends to pay the scheduled December 2007 payment in cash, rather than in registered shares of Ambient stock. As part of its continuing efforts to limit the distribution of Ambient stock at a discount-to-market price, Ambient has paid in cash the last five scheduled monthly 2006 Debenture payments, reducing current debt. Ambient’s remaining short-term debt with the 2006 Debenture holders, after making the December payment in cash, will be $103,500.
With the aforementioned developments, Ambient continues to strive to meet the following goals and objectives set forth in the 2007 Annual Meeting: increasing revenues, enhancing the Company’s technology and protecting its intellectual property rights, fostering the creation of industry standards and stabilizing the capital structure.
Unaudited consolidated financial statements for the nine months ended September 30, 2007, can be found in our third quarter 10QSB filed with the SEC on November 14, 2007 at http://www.sec.gov.
As always, thank you for your continued support and interest in Ambient.
Sincerely,
John J. Joyce
President and CEO of Ambient
About Ambient Corporation
Ambient is a pioneer in the Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) industry and is engaged in the design, development and marketing of patented, FCC-certified BPL equipment and technologies. Ambient utilizes proprietary technology and in-depth industry experience to provide optimal solutions for Smart Grids and the Broadband Access and In-premise markets. Headquartered in Newton, MA, Ambient is a publicly traded company (OTCBB: ABTG - News). Visit Ambient at www.ambientcorp.com.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Comtrend Takes Home Networking to 400Mbps Over Powerlines
November 12, 2007 12:00 PM Eastern Time
Comtrend Takes Home Networking to 400Mbps Over Powerlines
Telecom Equipment Manufacturer announces the PowerGrid 904, First Ethernet-Powerline Adaptor That Enables 400Mbps Speeds Over Existing Wiring in a Home.
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Comtrend Corp., a leading supplier of broadband, VoIP and data networking equipment, today announced it has become the first manufacturer to offer home networking adaptors that support speeds up to 400 Mbps. Comtrend’s new product, called the PowerGrid 904, is an Ethernet Powerline adaptor that plugs into any standard power plug in a home. The PowerGrid 904 provides Comtrend’s carrier customers a competitive advantage in deploying next-generation triple-play services, particularly IPTV, over existing wiring within a consumer’s home.
The PowerGrid 904 plugs into any power outlet into the home and has Ethernet plugs to turn the home power lines into a network. Each power outlet in the home with a PowerGrid 904 becomes a place to connect Residential Gateways, IP Set Top Boxes and Computers to join a high speed home network. The PowerGrid 904 uses advanced chipset technology from DS2 (www.ds2.es) to achieve speeds up to 400Mbps. The PowerGrid 904 and DS2 chipset technology are compliant with the Universal Powerline Alliance (UPA) standard.
With this new technology carriers have a simple way to deploy IPTV and other advanced triple-play services within a consumer’s home. The use of power lines within a home to create a network eliminates the costly and time consuming need to re-wire with Ethernet cables. With such features as Quality of Service (QoS), remote management and repeater function, the PowerGrid 904 is capable of distributing reliable services in any home environment.
“Reliable distribution of high speed data within a consumer’s home is the key to a successful deployment of triple play services,” said Andrew Morton, Comtrend’s General Manager. “With the advancement of high speed technologies over copper or fiber for carrier deployment the home network is the final frontier to deliver such services as High Definition TV to any room in a home. The PowerGrid 904 meets our telco customers’ current and future needs with breakneck speeds up to 400Mbps over power lines, QoS, remote management and repeater function.”
The PowerGrid 904 will start shipping early next year. For more information about Comtrend’s entire portfolio of telecom products visit www.comtrend.com.
Comtrend Takes Home Networking to 400Mbps Over Powerlines
Telecom Equipment Manufacturer announces the PowerGrid 904, First Ethernet-Powerline Adaptor That Enables 400Mbps Speeds Over Existing Wiring in a Home.
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Comtrend Corp., a leading supplier of broadband, VoIP and data networking equipment, today announced it has become the first manufacturer to offer home networking adaptors that support speeds up to 400 Mbps. Comtrend’s new product, called the PowerGrid 904, is an Ethernet Powerline adaptor that plugs into any standard power plug in a home. The PowerGrid 904 provides Comtrend’s carrier customers a competitive advantage in deploying next-generation triple-play services, particularly IPTV, over existing wiring within a consumer’s home.
The PowerGrid 904 plugs into any power outlet into the home and has Ethernet plugs to turn the home power lines into a network. Each power outlet in the home with a PowerGrid 904 becomes a place to connect Residential Gateways, IP Set Top Boxes and Computers to join a high speed home network. The PowerGrid 904 uses advanced chipset technology from DS2 (www.ds2.es) to achieve speeds up to 400Mbps. The PowerGrid 904 and DS2 chipset technology are compliant with the Universal Powerline Alliance (UPA) standard.
With this new technology carriers have a simple way to deploy IPTV and other advanced triple-play services within a consumer’s home. The use of power lines within a home to create a network eliminates the costly and time consuming need to re-wire with Ethernet cables. With such features as Quality of Service (QoS), remote management and repeater function, the PowerGrid 904 is capable of distributing reliable services in any home environment.
“Reliable distribution of high speed data within a consumer’s home is the key to a successful deployment of triple play services,” said Andrew Morton, Comtrend’s General Manager. “With the advancement of high speed technologies over copper or fiber for carrier deployment the home network is the final frontier to deliver such services as High Definition TV to any room in a home. The PowerGrid 904 meets our telco customers’ current and future needs with breakneck speeds up to 400Mbps over power lines, QoS, remote management and repeater function.”
The PowerGrid 904 will start shipping early next year. For more information about Comtrend’s entire portfolio of telecom products visit www.comtrend.com.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Duke Energy CEO Says Indiana Can Become a Crossroads for Energy
Duke Energy CEO Says Indiana Can Become a Crossroads for Energy
October 31, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS - The following are excerpts from a speech Duke Energy Chairman, President and CEO Jim Rogers gave today to the Economic Club of Indiana in Indianapolis.
To ensure a sustainable and secure energy future, I have two aspirations for this country – that we substantially decarbonize our energy supply in this century and that we become the world’s most energy-efficient economy.
Practically speaking, the way we can begin to achieve these aspirations is to take an entirely new path – and change the way we think about and use energy in this country.
In addition to being known as the nation’s highway hub – Indiana is positioning itself to become the Crossroads of America for energy as well.
An energy plan for Indiana
I applaud Governor Daniels’ “Homegrown Energy” plan – which puts that classic Midwestern quality of self-reliance at the heart of Indiana’s long-term energy vision.
But the governor’s plan doesn’t stop there. His vision is to turn Indiana’s homegrown natural resources into an economic engine. As Indiana’s largest electric supplier, Duke Energy looks forward to being part of that destiny, through our proposed Edwardsport coal-gasification plant and pursuit of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Just last week, Duke Energy issued bids for power from renewable energy sources – including sun, wind, water, organic matter and other sources. Earlier this year, we agreed to purchase energy from Indiana’s first commercial wind farm, in Benton County, beginning in the spring of 2008. We are also collaborating with Purdue University on wind-power research, and on the potential for using switch grass as a fuel combined with coal.
The low hanging fruit is energy efficiency, and it’s available now.
It will help meet growing energy demand – which in this country is expected to grow by 40 percent by the year 2030.
It is economical – even compared to the cost of building traditional generation.
It will help us address global climate change. If we can find ways to use less energy, that means fewer power plants will have to be built. It also means we can retire our older, higher-emitting power plants, sooner.
Utilities uniquely positioned to deliver energy efficiency
Duke Energy has an established relationship of mutual trust with our customers. Just as we provide them with the electricity they need – we are also in a position to provide them with universal access to energy-efficiency programs and services.
We’ve traditionally been rewarded for selling more of our product, not less. But if we can help meet customers’ energy needs with less electricity – at less cost and with less environmental impact – shouldn’t we be doing that as well?
We can provide the same or even greater value to our customers by helping them save energy as we do by supplying it.
We are working to change the regulatory model in the states we serve, so that companies like ours have the incentive to provide energy-efficiency products and services.
Earlier this month, we filed a request with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to increase by more than 10 times the energy savings we get from our efficiency programs for Indiana customers. We have filed similar proposals in North Carolina and South Carolina, and we plan to introduce them also in Ohio and Kentucky over the coming six months. If approved in all five states we serve, we project that we could avoid building more than 6,000 megawatts of generating capacity by the year 2017.
We will be paid only for the results we achieve – not for how much we spend on energy-efficiency programs. That has been the traditional approach. If we can demonstrate that we are successful in reducing demand, customers will pay approximately 10 percent less than the cost of building and operating new power plants to meet that same demand. And customers who take full advantage of energy efficiency programs will see their power bills go down.
Cathedral thinking
In the year 2000, the National Academy of Engineering chose the electrification of America and the developed world as the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century – ahead of air and space flight, television, the computer and the Internet. I believe that turning the electric grid into a digital-communications and energy-efficiency network could very well be one of the greatest achievements of the 21st century.
This is consistent with a philosophy I call “cathedral thinking.” The great cathedrals of Europe were built, not in a matter of months, or even years – but over many decades, in some cases centuries. Most of the craftsmen and laborers who painstakingly built them, stone by stone, did not live to see the end result. But that did not dampen their creativity, or their resolve to build lasting monuments to their beliefs. The vision of the architects, the stonemasons, the carpenters and the clergy who built them shared one purpose – to create a lasting legacy.
In addressing today’s energy challenges, we must take the same approach as those cathedral builders took centuries ago. We can’t change the world in one day, one week, one month, one year or one decade. We must build on our commitment over time, and have faith that our work will eventually achieve our highest aspirations.
--------
Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers energy to approximately 4 million U.S. customers. The company has approximately 37,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas, and natural gas distribution services in Ohio and Kentucky. In addition, Duke Energy has more than 4,000 megawatts of electric generation in Latin America, and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company.
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: www.duke-energy.com.
read: Duke to open commercial trial with Ambient gear
October 3, 2006
October 31, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS - The following are excerpts from a speech Duke Energy Chairman, President and CEO Jim Rogers gave today to the Economic Club of Indiana in Indianapolis.
To ensure a sustainable and secure energy future, I have two aspirations for this country – that we substantially decarbonize our energy supply in this century and that we become the world’s most energy-efficient economy.
Practically speaking, the way we can begin to achieve these aspirations is to take an entirely new path – and change the way we think about and use energy in this country.
In addition to being known as the nation’s highway hub – Indiana is positioning itself to become the Crossroads of America for energy as well.
An energy plan for Indiana
I applaud Governor Daniels’ “Homegrown Energy” plan – which puts that classic Midwestern quality of self-reliance at the heart of Indiana’s long-term energy vision.
But the governor’s plan doesn’t stop there. His vision is to turn Indiana’s homegrown natural resources into an economic engine. As Indiana’s largest electric supplier, Duke Energy looks forward to being part of that destiny, through our proposed Edwardsport coal-gasification plant and pursuit of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Just last week, Duke Energy issued bids for power from renewable energy sources – including sun, wind, water, organic matter and other sources. Earlier this year, we agreed to purchase energy from Indiana’s first commercial wind farm, in Benton County, beginning in the spring of 2008. We are also collaborating with Purdue University on wind-power research, and on the potential for using switch grass as a fuel combined with coal.
The low hanging fruit is energy efficiency, and it’s available now.
It will help meet growing energy demand – which in this country is expected to grow by 40 percent by the year 2030.
It is economical – even compared to the cost of building traditional generation.
It will help us address global climate change. If we can find ways to use less energy, that means fewer power plants will have to be built. It also means we can retire our older, higher-emitting power plants, sooner.
Utilities uniquely positioned to deliver energy efficiency
Duke Energy has an established relationship of mutual trust with our customers. Just as we provide them with the electricity they need – we are also in a position to provide them with universal access to energy-efficiency programs and services.
We’ve traditionally been rewarded for selling more of our product, not less. But if we can help meet customers’ energy needs with less electricity – at less cost and with less environmental impact – shouldn’t we be doing that as well?
We can provide the same or even greater value to our customers by helping them save energy as we do by supplying it.
We are working to change the regulatory model in the states we serve, so that companies like ours have the incentive to provide energy-efficiency products and services.
Earlier this month, we filed a request with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to increase by more than 10 times the energy savings we get from our efficiency programs for Indiana customers. We have filed similar proposals in North Carolina and South Carolina, and we plan to introduce them also in Ohio and Kentucky over the coming six months. If approved in all five states we serve, we project that we could avoid building more than 6,000 megawatts of generating capacity by the year 2017.
We will be paid only for the results we achieve – not for how much we spend on energy-efficiency programs. That has been the traditional approach. If we can demonstrate that we are successful in reducing demand, customers will pay approximately 10 percent less than the cost of building and operating new power plants to meet that same demand. And customers who take full advantage of energy efficiency programs will see their power bills go down.
Cathedral thinking
In the year 2000, the National Academy of Engineering chose the electrification of America and the developed world as the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century – ahead of air and space flight, television, the computer and the Internet. I believe that turning the electric grid into a digital-communications and energy-efficiency network could very well be one of the greatest achievements of the 21st century.
This is consistent with a philosophy I call “cathedral thinking.” The great cathedrals of Europe were built, not in a matter of months, or even years – but over many decades, in some cases centuries. Most of the craftsmen and laborers who painstakingly built them, stone by stone, did not live to see the end result. But that did not dampen their creativity, or their resolve to build lasting monuments to their beliefs. The vision of the architects, the stonemasons, the carpenters and the clergy who built them shared one purpose – to create a lasting legacy.
In addressing today’s energy challenges, we must take the same approach as those cathedral builders took centuries ago. We can’t change the world in one day, one week, one month, one year or one decade. We must build on our commitment over time, and have faith that our work will eventually achieve our highest aspirations.
--------
Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers energy to approximately 4 million U.S. customers. The company has approximately 37,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas, and natural gas distribution services in Ohio and Kentucky. In addition, Duke Energy has more than 4,000 megawatts of electric generation in Latin America, and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company.
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: www.duke-energy.com.
read: Duke to open commercial trial with Ambient gear
October 3, 2006
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Utilities Fail to Meet NY Standards
Wednesday November 7, 6:42 pm ET
By Valerie Bauman, Associated Press Writer
New York: Utilities Ordered to Pay for Failing Service Requirements
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Con Edison has been ordered to set aside $18 million in shareholder money to benefit customers after the state Public Service Commission found the company failed to meet service standards in 2006.
Separately, Niagara Mohawk, which is owned by National Grid, was ordered to set aside $8.8 million in shareholder money as a penalty for having too many service interruptions.
But customers shouldn't start looking for rebate checks in the mail. It's unclear how the companies will be required to distribute the funds.
Spokesman James Denn said the commission will decide how the money is distributed. He said it could be used to offset future rate increases.
Steve Brady, a spokesman for National Grid, said the company, when faced with a similar penalty last year, gave customers one-time rebates, and it could do so again.
The commission found that Con Ed failed to meet reliability targets when it came to the frequency of interruptions, which are defined as outages of five minutes or more. It had, with a total of 15,862 interruptions in 2006.
The company also surpassed the duration target for outages, which was an average interruption time of 3.7 hours for customers who experience a sustained interruption in a given year. On average, affected Con Ed customers were without power for 12.31 hours in 2006.
Those outages affected 733,204 Con Ed customers.
"Today's fine is a pittance compared to the damage Con Ed has caused by its unreliable service," said Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, of Westchester County. "At a time when the company is reporting record profits, we are not satisfied with receiving only a small fraction of the scrutiny that we have requested."
Brodsky, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions, said the lengthy outages in 2006 in Long Island City and Westchester County demonstrated how much Con Ed has deteriorated.
"We have learned many lessons from the outage in Long Island City as well as from the Westchester County storms," Con Ed spokesman Joseph Petta said in a written statement. "Those lessons already are being applied to our policies and procedures to help prevent outages and ensure more rapid restoration when they occur."
The commission also eliminated the maximum level of reimbursement that Con Ed would owe customers who lost perishable medications during extended outages. Reimbursements for perishable food are capped at $450.
National Grid was ordered to double how much shareholders pay because the company failed to meet the same standard three years in a row. The company failed to limit the ratio of customers who had interruptions compared to the number of customers served.
In 2006, the company had a total of 13,665 interruptions of service, affecting approximately 1.6 million customers, Denn said. The target for the number of customers affected was about 1.4 million or fewer.
Officials at National Grid said they would invest $1.47 billion in the next five years to evaluate and improve their infrastructure.
"We have acknowledged for some time that we know we have reliability issues and infrastructure issues that need to be addressed," Spokesman Steve Brady said.
By Valerie Bauman, Associated Press Writer
New York: Utilities Ordered to Pay for Failing Service Requirements
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Con Edison has been ordered to set aside $18 million in shareholder money to benefit customers after the state Public Service Commission found the company failed to meet service standards in 2006.
Separately, Niagara Mohawk, which is owned by National Grid, was ordered to set aside $8.8 million in shareholder money as a penalty for having too many service interruptions.
But customers shouldn't start looking for rebate checks in the mail. It's unclear how the companies will be required to distribute the funds.
Spokesman James Denn said the commission will decide how the money is distributed. He said it could be used to offset future rate increases.
Steve Brady, a spokesman for National Grid, said the company, when faced with a similar penalty last year, gave customers one-time rebates, and it could do so again.
The commission found that Con Ed failed to meet reliability targets when it came to the frequency of interruptions, which are defined as outages of five minutes or more. It had, with a total of 15,862 interruptions in 2006.
The company also surpassed the duration target for outages, which was an average interruption time of 3.7 hours for customers who experience a sustained interruption in a given year. On average, affected Con Ed customers were without power for 12.31 hours in 2006.
Those outages affected 733,204 Con Ed customers.
"Today's fine is a pittance compared to the damage Con Ed has caused by its unreliable service," said Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, of Westchester County. "At a time when the company is reporting record profits, we are not satisfied with receiving only a small fraction of the scrutiny that we have requested."
Brodsky, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions, said the lengthy outages in 2006 in Long Island City and Westchester County demonstrated how much Con Ed has deteriorated.
"We have learned many lessons from the outage in Long Island City as well as from the Westchester County storms," Con Ed spokesman Joseph Petta said in a written statement. "Those lessons already are being applied to our policies and procedures to help prevent outages and ensure more rapid restoration when they occur."
The commission also eliminated the maximum level of reimbursement that Con Ed would owe customers who lost perishable medications during extended outages. Reimbursements for perishable food are capped at $450.
National Grid was ordered to double how much shareholders pay because the company failed to meet the same standard three years in a row. The company failed to limit the ratio of customers who had interruptions compared to the number of customers served.
In 2006, the company had a total of 13,665 interruptions of service, affecting approximately 1.6 million customers, Denn said. The target for the number of customers affected was about 1.4 million or fewer.
Officials at National Grid said they would invest $1.47 billion in the next five years to evaluate and improve their infrastructure.
"We have acknowledged for some time that we know we have reliability issues and infrastructure issues that need to be addressed," Spokesman Steve Brady said.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
DCI Supplies BPL Management Systems for Broad-Band Commercial Services in Michigan
Tuesday November 6, 8:46 am ET
-- Full Automated Support for Powerline Communications Deployment
VALENCIA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Spanish company Dynamic Consulting International (www.dci.es) with headquarters in Madrid (Spain) and the North American company utility.net with its main office in Los Angeles, California (USA) have signed an agreement for which DCI will provide comprehensive BPL management and monitoring software (OMS-PLC) to operate the BPL networks that utility.net will deploy in the USA. This network will offer broadband services to potentially millions of customers in largely rural areas.
The deployment will begin in the state of Michigan, with a network that will provide service to 10.000 homes in and around Grand Ledge, to the west of Lansing, the state’s capital. This initial deployment will be completed in early 2008, and the electric company Consumers Energy, with 1.8 million customers in the State, will assign new areas of service in blocks of 100.000, with the intention of reaching hundreds of thousands of customers in the next 2½ years. The BPL system can also be used by Consumers Energy as an enabler for smart-grid applications such us automatic meter reading (AMR) applications, power line outage notification and distribution network advanced management.
Jorge Blasco, President and CEO of DS2, the powerline chipset provider selected by utility.net stated "this partnership between DS2 and utility.net not only bridges the digital divide in Michigan, it also serves as a model for other regions under served by broadband technologies through out the world. The same BPL technology is used in another commercial service run by IBEC in Alabama and in other US regions. It is initiatives like this one from DCI and utility.net that are changing the history of telecommunications to bring millions of global citizens into the 21st century with a secure and reliable broadband service. By adding BPL management systems to the service the local utility now also has the option to develop smart grid applications, an option that allows for greener more efficient management of electricity and broadband distribution".
BPL networks may consist of millions of devices to be monitored, operated and upgraded. This large number of devices represents a real challenge for a centralized management solution. DCI responded to the challenged by offering its IAP (Intelligent Agent Platform) to monitor the BPL network by inserting an intermediate layer that minimizes the messages between the network element and the OMS-PLC central management system. This is achieved by creating a reduced version of the IAP agent called nano-agent which is embedded in Linux / miniITX cards and deployed at every power substation (more than 200 in the Michigan deployment plan).
In addition, OMS-PLC will provide full automated support to field deployment, including real time reception of the devices identification information and their specific configuration, as well as the service provisioning under the requests of those ISP’s contracting utility.net's access network.
utility.net is a Broadband over Power Line (BPL) turn-key solutions partner committed to bringing high-speed Internet access for data, voice and video-on-demand to homes and offices in unserved and underserved areas in association with their utility and value-added partners. The company also offers its partner utilities BPL-specific services that assist in improving the reliability and safety of the grid, as well as other smart grid applications. (www.utility.net)
Dynamic Consulting International Telecommunications Spain is a specialist in delivering comprehensive, flexible and affordable network management solutions. The use of IAP platform reduces significantly the development time and increase the quality of the delivered solutions (www.dci.es).
-- Full Automated Support for Powerline Communications Deployment
VALENCIA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Spanish company Dynamic Consulting International (www.dci.es) with headquarters in Madrid (Spain) and the North American company utility.net with its main office in Los Angeles, California (USA) have signed an agreement for which DCI will provide comprehensive BPL management and monitoring software (OMS-PLC) to operate the BPL networks that utility.net will deploy in the USA. This network will offer broadband services to potentially millions of customers in largely rural areas.
The deployment will begin in the state of Michigan, with a network that will provide service to 10.000 homes in and around Grand Ledge, to the west of Lansing, the state’s capital. This initial deployment will be completed in early 2008, and the electric company Consumers Energy, with 1.8 million customers in the State, will assign new areas of service in blocks of 100.000, with the intention of reaching hundreds of thousands of customers in the next 2½ years. The BPL system can also be used by Consumers Energy as an enabler for smart-grid applications such us automatic meter reading (AMR) applications, power line outage notification and distribution network advanced management.
Jorge Blasco, President and CEO of DS2, the powerline chipset provider selected by utility.net stated "this partnership between DS2 and utility.net not only bridges the digital divide in Michigan, it also serves as a model for other regions under served by broadband technologies through out the world. The same BPL technology is used in another commercial service run by IBEC in Alabama and in other US regions. It is initiatives like this one from DCI and utility.net that are changing the history of telecommunications to bring millions of global citizens into the 21st century with a secure and reliable broadband service. By adding BPL management systems to the service the local utility now also has the option to develop smart grid applications, an option that allows for greener more efficient management of electricity and broadband distribution".
BPL networks may consist of millions of devices to be monitored, operated and upgraded. This large number of devices represents a real challenge for a centralized management solution. DCI responded to the challenged by offering its IAP (Intelligent Agent Platform) to monitor the BPL network by inserting an intermediate layer that minimizes the messages between the network element and the OMS-PLC central management system. This is achieved by creating a reduced version of the IAP agent called nano-agent which is embedded in Linux / miniITX cards and deployed at every power substation (more than 200 in the Michigan deployment plan).
In addition, OMS-PLC will provide full automated support to field deployment, including real time reception of the devices identification information and their specific configuration, as well as the service provisioning under the requests of those ISP’s contracting utility.net's access network.
utility.net is a Broadband over Power Line (BPL) turn-key solutions partner committed to bringing high-speed Internet access for data, voice and video-on-demand to homes and offices in unserved and underserved areas in association with their utility and value-added partners. The company also offers its partner utilities BPL-specific services that assist in improving the reliability and safety of the grid, as well as other smart grid applications. (www.utility.net)
Dynamic Consulting International Telecommunications Spain is a specialist in delivering comprehensive, flexible and affordable network management solutions. The use of IAP platform reduces significantly the development time and increase the quality of the delivered solutions (www.dci.es).
Friday, November 02, 2007
Ambient Closes $2.5 Million Private Placement. Company Remains Focused on Enabling Smart Grid Efficiencies
AmbientCloses $2.5 Million Private Placement
Friday November 2, 8:30 am ET
Company Remains Focused on Enabling Smart Grid Efficiencies
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ambient Corporation (OTCBB: ABTG - News), a leader in Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) solutions, today announced that it has closed on an additional private placement of $2.5 million in principal amount of its newly issued 8% Senior Secured three-year Convertible Note from an institutional investor involved in Ambient’s previous close, increasing the total 2007 investment into Ambient to $10MM.
The investor in this round, Vicis Capital Master Fund (Vicis), was issued the Note scheduled to mature in October of 2010, and which requires no repayment of principal until the maturity date. Interest on the Note does not begin accruing until July 2008; with first quarterly interest payment due in September 2008.
Commenting on the raise, John J. Joyce, President and CEO of Ambient, stated, “Ambient is pleased to have the backing of an institutional investor who shares, and supports, Ambient’s long-term commercial vision. This additional infusion of capital allows Ambient to continue with our initiatives, and reach important milestones that are intended to mark the next phase of Ambient’s growth.”
Ambient is focused on enabling energy efficiency using proprietary BPL technology, which offers electric utilities a unique real-time view of the electrical grid distribution system and enables energy saving utility applications.
Shad Stastney, a partner with Vicis Capital, LLC, the investment manager for Vicis Capital Master Fund, said of the investment, “This latest investment in Ambient by Vicis further demonstrates our belief in the management of Ambient and the future for Ambient’s technology. Our overall interest in Ambient and BPL technology is the potential it has to dramatically improve the efficiency with which utilities serve their customers and reduce their environmental footprint. We believe that Ambient is in a strong position to help with implementing solid solutions to every day issues faced by utilities.”
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Forbes.com: CenterPoint Energy`s Smart Grid project will cost $550 million !!!
Juicing the System
Daniel Fisher
11.12.07, 12:00 AM ET
With a flood of renewable-energy supplies coming online, it's time for the electricity grid to get smart.
In a yearlong trial run that ended in the spring, 200 or so homes on Washington's Olympic Peninsula engaged in a daily bidding war for electricity. It was a sort of robotic Ebay auction in which the thermostat in one house, say, bid against the clothes dryer in another for scarce electrons. The loser would turn off and wait for prices to drop before jumping back onto the grid. Engineers at the federally funded Pacific Northwest National Laboratory showed that by equipping appliances and thermostats with a few cheap microchips and Internet connections, they could cut peak demand by as much as 50%. That's a big number, because 8% to 12% of peak demand for power capacity comes during the busiest 1% of hours. Most of the extra supply comes from inefficient gas-turbine generators.
Such an experiment would have been sci-fi a few years ago. But ubiquitous silicon and broadband have suddenly made such second-by-second tinkering with demand possible, and the idea of upgrading the century-old electric grid to make it more efficient isn't so crazy anymore.
CenterPoint Energy (nyse: CNP - news - people ) of Houston, for example, plans to install 2 million Internet-capable electric meters over the next five years. The utility likes the $120 devices: They eliminate the need for meter readers and contain wireless chips that communicate with Internet-enabled appliances in the home, letting consumers use a simple Web-based program, say, to raise the air-conditioning thermostat when electricity prices rise or turn on the dishwasher in the middle of the night when prices are low. "We're on the threshold of being able to digitize the system," says Thomas Standish, the head of regulated operations at CenterPoint. The grid "is one of the last things that can be completely transformed by this technology."
That won't happen overnight. One of the biggest and oldest networks around, the U.S. electric grid seems hopelessly stuck between the 19th and 21st centuries. It's broken up for historical and regulatory reasons into 8 regional transmission systems and some 130 smaller "control areas." While many systems are computerized, grid operators at the higher levels still communicate largely by phone and fax. Hundreds of thousands of switches and circuit breakers must be operated manually, and the main transmission lines have little instrumentation to monitor the second-by-second flow of electricity from unpredictable new sources like windmills. "If Thomas Edison came back to life, he'd recognize our electric utility system immediately--and that's not a good thing," says Jesse Berst, publisher of Smartgridnews.com, in Redmond, Wash.
Each year U.S. electric utilities waste tens of billions of cubic feet of natural gas on "spinning reserves," for example, generators that are running below top efficiency so they can supply electricity on a moment's notice. From 5% to 20% of capacity is in reserve at any given time.
The problem of matching supply and demand will worsen as utilities increase the supply of green energy under mandates like California's, which requires 20% renewable electricity by 2010. Windmills, for instance, are unpredictable and must be paired with gas turbines that can be throttled up when gusts die down. Utilities need as much as 1 megawatt of spinning reserves for every 2 megawatts of wind power, says Douglas Houseman with CapGemini, a Paris consultancy. To supply the extra juice, utilities turn on inefficient single-cycle gas turbines, which turn 25% of the fuel's energy into electricity, as opposed to 45% for combined-cycle plants that use turbine exhaust to make steam to run a second generator.
The ideal solution is to counter fluctuations in wind power by changing demand, as in the Washington experiment, but it's a big job. Houseman estimates the average home uses about 3 kilowatts of electricity at peak hours; General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people )'s most popular windmills generate 3 megawatts. "You've got to pick 1,000 homes to turn everything off in--or 10,000 homes to turn something off in--to counter one windmill," he says.
As the industry shifts from large central plants to a diverse collection of windmills and biogas generators, managing the complex balance of supply and demand will require fat communications pipes and complex calculations. Luckily, the utility industry needs to upgrade large portions of its transmission system. CapGemini estimates that North American utilities will spend $500 billion over the next 15 years replacing aging wires, transformers, electric meters and poles. It's an ideal time to add compact instruments, Internet links and automated switches to control the flow of electricity. "The longer we wait, the more we're going to spend," says Houseman, who worked his way up from lineman to chief operating officer of a small utility.
Houston may set an example for other U.S. utilities as it rolls out one of the most ambitious upgrades yet. CenterPoint's network was engineered by ibm and runs on open-source software, meaning anybody can access the underlying code to develop new products to ride on the communications system CenterPoint is building.
Going to open source was a big step for Itron (nasdaq: ITRI - news - people ) of Liberty Lake, Wash., which controls approximately 60% of the electric meter market and until four years ago was committed to protecting itself with proprietary technology. The change came as Itron's research group in Paris realized it could exploit inexpensive new wireless chips and open-source software to create a so-called mesh network of electric meters that passed information among themselves, like firemen in a bucket brigade, instead of relying on expensive and less reliable individual connections to the Internet.
The meters CenterPoint is installing store billing information and upload it three times a day to nearby radio receivers that are connected to computers via broadband over power lines. They also have wireless chips that will use the ZigBee standard, a sort of longer-range version of Bluetooth, to communicate with a future generation of wireless appliances and thermostats. Meantime, ibm executive Allan Schurr expects retailers like Home Depot (nyse: HD - news - people ) eventually to stock simple ZigBee devices that look like lamp timers and can turn energy-hogging appliances on and off according to commands that consumers send over the Web.
CenterPoint figures the project will cost $550 million or so, which it will recover from customers if regulators approve a charge of $2.50 a month over the next 12 years. Consumers could save several times that much if the system cuts peak energy demand, however, since prices at peak hours are set by the least efficient, most expensive generators on the grid. As communications networks become more widespread, utilities will be able to balance flow by harnessing everything from solar panels to back-yard generators in order to supply electricity when and where it's needed. This country has an estimated 220 gigawatts of what you might call amateur power: emergency generators, industrial fuel cells and other user-owned power plants, compared with 1,000 or so gigawatts of central station capacity. Only 1% of the amateur power is connected to the grid now, but Portland General Electric (nyse: POR - news - people ) in Oregon has hooked up 21 large customers with 43 megawatts of generating power that can be turned on electronically and supplied to the grid.
Factoring in the software and systems to control all those units, utilities would spend $75 to $150 per kilowatt of generating capacity, says Steve W. Pullins, an analyst with consultants Horizon Energy Group in Maryville, Tenn., versus $1,000 or more for peaker plants that can be turned on rapidly to supply peak loads. "But instead of 25 generating assets in your portfolio, now you're looking at 25,000," Pullins says. "Our traditional, older control systems aren't capable of handling it."
There are other barriers to transforming the grid across America. GE, which supplies the National Grid operator in the U.K., would dearly love to outfit the U.S. network with control software and thousands of sensors to report voltage and other information on a second-by-second basis. That way grid operators could, say, automatically lower the cost of transmitting power from a region with excess to capacity to one with a shortage, instead of letting the problem fester until the peaker plants turn on and phone calls and faxes fly. But utilities and regulators alike protect their markets and are unlikely to support any such national electricity authority.
Another big problem is safety. Networks are riddled with circuit breakers that prevent electricity from flowing backward to the substation when voltage drops--the moment when utilities need solar cells and basement battery packs to support the grid. Those systems are designed to protect utility workers when they're fixing supposedly dead lines, but will vastly complicate the job of achieving distributed generation.
And programs to cut household demand almost certainly require price changes by the hour, if not the minute. That could spark a political backlash as consumers see that a kilowatt at 6 p.m. costs five or ten times as much as one at 4 a.m. A colorful Web-based program showing them exactly how much they're saving by running their dishwasher at night would make the change more appealing.
ARRL's name calling, inept video evidence fall flat in federal court
ARRL's name calling, inept video evidence fall flat in federal court
In a seesaw of oral arguments, the ARRL and the FCC were heard October 23 by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in appeal of the FCC's BPL technical rules . . . (to read the remainder of this article, see BPLTODAY.COM)
In a seesaw of oral arguments, the ARRL and the FCC were heard October 23 by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in appeal of the FCC's BPL technical rules . . . (to read the remainder of this article, see BPLTODAY.COM)
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