Broadband over powerline expected to surge from $57.1 million to $4.95 billion in revenue !!!

Broadband over power lines revenue will skyrocket over next six years
Originally published June 24, 2007
By Joseph M. deLeon
News-Post Staff


Global revenue from broadband over power lines will climb from $57.1 million last year to $4.95 billion in revenue in 2013, according to a study released by market research company, Telecom Trends International Inc.
BPL is a way of using existing power lines inside a building to distribute data, such as Internet, voice and video, through any electric outlet. The emerging technology shows growing promise as an alternative to broadband Internet, a replacement for home or office networking, and as a tool to help electric companies manage infrastructure and power.

The technology has lagged because of rival standards, radio communication interference and competition from traditional Internet service providers.

"Over the past two years, commercial rollouts of BPL have picked up, giving the technology a lot of momentum," said Naqi Jaffery, president and chief analyst of Telecom Trends. "At the same time, technical solutions to BPL's interference potential have emerged."

According to the report "Broadband Powerline: The Third Wire," BPL standardization has picked up, which could mean wider use of BPL technology.

The OPERA consortium, Europe's 4-year BPL project, has standardized Access BPL. The HomePlug Powerline Alliance is working on an access standard of its own.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. has begun work that could bring a globally-accepted BPL standard by 2008.

read: The Frederick News-Post.com

The Utilities Telecom Council’s (UTC) new report, “Next Steps to the Next-Generation Utility,”

June 20, 2007 09:57 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Telecom, IT Will Enable “The Next-Generation Utility”


WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Good news for consumers – energy and water companies are embarking on a massive period of technology investment that will help make them more efficient, more responsive to consumers and “greener.” Utilities are already beginning to invest heavily in the advanced communications networks that will make the automated “Next-Generation Utility” possible.

The Utilities Telecom Council’s (UTC) new report, “Next Steps to the Next-Generation Utility,” discusses the trends, technologies, risks and opportunities that will shape utility technology investments, helping to guide utility managers, technology vendors, industry analysts, and regulators through the critical investment decisions that will dominate at least the next two decades.

“This study is an important look at the communications and information technologies that utilities will rely on to get them to the next generation,” says William R. Moroney, UTC’s president and CEO.

Some key findings from the “Next Steps to the Next-Generation Utility” report include:

Utilities will invest heavily in a variety of advanced communications technologies –fiber optics, Broadband over Power Line (BPL), meshed WiMax, and others – to build Internet Protocol (IP) -enabled networks that will carry critical data needed to automate operations.


The opportunity for utilities is great, but so are the risks. Utilities want technology that can be upgraded and expanded, and that will interoperate with other systems down the road.


Each utility is different and each must take those differences into account as they study the costs and benefits of automation. An example in this report shows how one utility can reduce labor costs, improve efficiency, and achieve increased profits from an “Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)” automation program.


For more information on the report, or for a copy of the Executive Summary, contact research@utc.org or call 202.872.0030.

News: Universal Powerline Association (UPA) and Europe`s OPERA Announce Joint Agreement on Global Broadband Powerline Access Specification/Standards

Universal Powerline Association (UPA) and OPERA Announce Joint Agreement on Powerline Access Specification

Global Access Specification submitted to IEEE P1901

June 20, 2007 - London, - Two leading organizations in Powerline communications, the Universal Powerline Association (UPA) and the Open European Research Alliance (OPERA), today announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that will ensure global compliance between the specifications developed by each organization for high-speed Powerline networking and Broadband over Powerline (BPL) markets.

Under the MoU, the UPA and OPERA developed an Access specification that was submitted jointly to the IEEE P1901 Powerline standards working group. Until the final standard is set, the parties will also continue to work together and with third parties to evolve the Access specification, with the UPA being the key administrator for all activities related to compatibility and coexistence. Work on developing a single international standard for Powerline technology is advancing in the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the European Telecommunications Institute (ETSI), the official worldwide standards setting bodies.

Eric Morel, President of UPA, stated that, "The time is now for Powerline organizations worldwide to forget the hype and consider the short and long term needs of customers in all markets. This Memorandum of Understanding and Access proposal is a stepping stone to harmonizing the market for Powerline technologies, products and applications and will further the development of a single standard for high-speed Powerline Communication applications."

Javier Arriola, Coordinator of the OPERA II consortium, added, "OPERA includes 26 partners from 11 different countries committed to the latest high-speed Powerline technology. One of our key targets is to catalyze and finalize the standardization process. For this reason we are delighted to be working with the UPA to deliver standardized technology and product to the market."

In 2005, UPA and OPERA signed a similar joint agreement to promote compliance between the specifications then under development by both organizations. OPERA, a market driven organization with the support of all the major players in the access BPL market developed a global specification for access BPL applications. The specification has been publicly available since 2005. OPERA recently received funding of €9.06 million ($12.8M) from the European Commission to support extended field deployments designed to catalyze the deployment of BPL applications including:

Broadband Internet Access
E-learning
VoIP Telephony
Smart Home
Video over IP
Video on demand
Security
E-Health
This is by far the largest investment to promote standards based Powerline deployments. OPERA is widely supported by the BPL industry.

The UPA worked with OPERA to ensure that the Access BPL specification was global and covered all the different worldwide electric grid topologies and unique characteristics. With a worldwide membership base and uncontested market share dominance in the access BPL space, the UPA and its members have provided invaluable experience and information for developing the Access BPL specification, UPA Coexistence specification, and UPA Digital Home Standard specification. All 3 specifications will be available for download on the UPA website.

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

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

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

About OPERA
OPERA stands for the Open PLC Research Alliance, a consortium developed to catalyze the adoption a new generation of standards-based low cost, high performance broadband access Powerline Communications (PLC) applications. The current OPERA project (2007-2008) co -financed by the European Union includes 26 partners representing electricity utilities, OEM manufacturers, technology providers, universities, engineering and consultancy companies and telecom operators. OPERA receives EU 9.06 million under the European Union´s Sixth R&D Framework Program (FP6), and specifically addresses the theme "Broadband for all" which falls under the responsibility of the Information Society and Technologies Directorate General. www.ist-opera.org.

Open Power Line Communications European Research Alliance-2 First Period Review: EXCELLENT

June 15, 2007
Opera 2 First Period Review: EXCELLENT

OPERA2 First Period Review took place last Tuesday 17th May in Lisbon attended by EC Project Officer Mr. Jorge Carvalho plus four external reviewers.
The EC has rated Opera 2 for this Period as "Good to Excellent Project" which is the highest possible score. The results expected for this three-month period have been achieved and in some cases exceeded, according to the EC.

Apple TV Four Times Faster with DS2 Powerline Communications

Apple TV Four Times Faster with DS2 Powerline Communications
Chicago, US, 19 June 2007

Market Leader in Powerline Communications and Broadband over Powerline Demonstrates Technology and Capabilities at NXTComm 2007


Booth #2878, McCormick Place, Chicago Illinois, U.S.A - June 19-21, 2007
NXTComm, Chicago - June 19, 2007 - DS2, the world's leading powerline chipset supplier for multi-media communications, has recently completed tests demonstrating dramatically improved Apple TV performance through the use of DS2-powered, Universal Powerline Association (UPA) certified adapters. DS2 will demonstrate its tests at NXTComm (booth #2878), June 19-21, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

"Apple TV gives viewers the ability to watch their favorite downloaded shows and movies on their televisions rather than on their computer, and they can fully realise that potential through the use of DS2-enabled Powerline adapters," said Jorge Blasco, chief executive officer of DS2. "DS2's combination of unmatched speed, security and quality of service gives Apple TV customers immediate access to their programming, while freeing up their wireless connections for other applications."

Using the home's existing powerlines to turn each electrical outlet into a high-speed networking hub, DS2's UPA-certified adapters have demonstrated 10 Mb file transfers at less than 20 seconds; a four-fold increase over similar networking technologies.

DS2 chips power three retail-available Powerline adapters in the U.S., manufactured by Corinex Communications, D-Link and NETGEAR. Using DS2's first-to-market 200 Mbps chipsets, these adapters enable top-end performance from today's leading home networking applications.

Google Files Net Neutrality Pleas With FCC

Submitted by Jason Lee Miller on Mon, 06/18/2007 - 10:34

While the world seems to be waking up to a larger, more powerful Google than they anticipated, the company's heft can work to the consumer's advantage, especially in matters of government influence (da gov'ment does seem to prefer corporations over its citizens). On Friday, Google filed 47 pages worth of comments with the FCC about Net Neutrality.

This makes Google's position on Net Neutrality nice and solidly official; it wasn't long ago that the words of Senior Policy Counsel Andrew McLaughlin made us wonder how committed they actually were.

We note also that McLaughlin did not pen the post on Net Neutrality at Google's new Public Policy Blog. Google Washington Telecom and Media Counsel, Richard Witt, goes into detail there instead, highlighting some interesting technical distinctions in a more grounded (read: less technical an obtuse) way.

And that's good news, especially when clueless politicos have been relying primarily on the spun wool of the telecommunications industry, both parties with vested interest in a non-neutral Internet.

Whitt points to a rather salient and resonant aspect of broadband access: Nearly 100% of Americans with broadband connections subscribe via telephone or cable company, a clear duopoly. While these same two industries mention emerging competition – broadband over power lines, satellite, etc.-- Whitt notes that in reality these options cannot offer the speeds of DSL or cable.

And just wait until the country runs on fiber – there'll be no contest in terms of speed, and the same companies running the DSL and cable world will be running the fiber world as well. Yet, they [big telecom and cable] still say that there's no incentive to invest without the right to discriminate.

Whitt summarizes what was in the FCC filing by outlining, in as simple terms as you'll find on this subject, what Google feels is okay for these incumbents to do and what is not okay.

Google's Okay List:

Prioritizing all applications of a certain general type, such as streaming video;

Managing their networks to, for example, block certain traffic based on IP address in order to prevent harmful denial of service (DOS) attacks, viruses or worms;

Employing certain upgrades, such as the use of local caching or private network backbone links;

Providing managed IP services and proprietary content (like IPTV); and

Charging consumers extra to receive higher speed or performance capacity broadband service.

Google's Isn't-Okay List

Levying surcharges on content providers that are not their retail customers;

Prioritizing data packet delivery based on the ownership or affiliation (the who) of the content, or the source or destination (the what) of the content; or

Building a new "fast lane" online that consigns Internet content and applications to a relatively slow, bandwidth-starved portion of the broadband connection.

Among other things, Google recommends courses of action, which include a ban on most forms of packet discrimination and an "effective enforcement regime." We know from experience that may or may not be the FCC, especially with W's and the telco's handpicked pencil-neck Kevin Martin in charge, who, in general, has lots of bad ideas and isn't the biggest fan of the First Amendment.

Does that mean Congress is the "enforcement regime?" Well, time will tell. There are bills at work, but the legislative body (which hardly anybody's happy with anymore) has a dismal record when it comes to keeping the telecom giants in check.

Duke Energy`s Broadband over Power Line deployments hit promised milestones: 6,500 homes passed !!!!!

June 12, 2007

Greenville, NC to get Ambient BPL gear

BPL auditioning for role in 5-state footprint

New technologies including BPL are what Duke Energy calls the "enabler" for its plan to become the "Utility of the Future."

The big IOU coined that phrase to help crystallize a vision that would make the Charlotte, NC firm the nation's leader in efficiency, reliability and the technology needed to make the smart grid/smart utility a reality.

We reported recently that CEO James Rogers is counting on his CTO David Mohler to make that happen (BT, 5/29).

So what's the plan?

For details on the North Carolina part of the plan, one can peruse the firm's energy efficiency program as submitted to the North Carolina Utilities Commission (link below).

But wait -- the firm sent us a breakdown of the technologies it's using or planning to use in Charlotte and Greenville, NC plus Bloomington, Ind and Cincinnati.

We report those details later in this story but first we turned to Mohler for his update on the BPL deployments and his take on technology's role in the firm's future.


Ambient pilot installed


As promised last year, Duke Energy has completed rolling out Ambient brand BPL to pass 6,000+ utility customers in Charlotte, NC, Mohler told us last week.

Duke yesterday confirmed its about 6,500.

The firm announced plans to reach that milestone last year at the UPLC's conference in Charlotte (BT, 10/3).

It also said EarthLink would be selling broadband as part of the deal but that idea has been dropped or put on the back burner.
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Previous article:
Ambient Advances to Expanded Deployment
This Phase to Pass 6000 Homes in Charlotte, NC
September 26, 2006 08:30 AM

Power line communications are the future: DS2

2007/6/7
By Erika Wang
The China Post

The future of home technology is power line communications, said the co-founder of Design of Systems on Silicon S.A. (DS2) during yesterday's Computex Taipei forum on next-generation networks CompuForum-NGN.
DS2 is the world's leading supplier of silicon and software for Power line Communications (PLC) and Universal Powerline Alliance (UPA) compliant 200 Mbps power line technology that enables home networking and broadband access over power line, coaxial cable, and telephone wires.

With the new concept of the multimedia home, customers now want to use services, applications, and content basically everywhere in their homes, said Victor Dominguez Richards, DS2 director of Strategy & Standards and of Business Development.

This includes sharing Internet access and the same printer with other computers as well as being able to watch video on demand and computer-stored photos on every television set in the house, he added.

PLC technology uses the existing electricity cable infrastructure to carry voice and data signals for Internet, telephony, video transport and other applications.

"Just plug in the device and suddenly you have a multimedia network everywhere you go in your home. That's the beauty of power line," said Dominguez.

The technology works by transmitting high-frequency data signals through the same power cable network in a way that allows the cables to carry electrical power and high-speed data simultaneously.

According to Dominguez, power line technology's market drivers are video on demand, high-speed gaming, downloaded music and photo viewing.

Power lines are designed to fill a very specific and growing niche of "multimedia, video-specific, full-home coverage," he acknowledged.

When compared to wireless technology, for example, Dominguez said that while wireless technology provides great mobility, it lacks the guarantee of coverage and quality that power lines provide.

DS2's vision is a compromise. "We see a world ... where you have power lines as a backbone in a home ... for full home coverage high-speed quality, and then you have islands of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or ultra-wide band ... around to give you mobility," said Dominguez.

Power lines' advantages over telephone lines are also considerable, especially when utilized as an indoors communication solution. "The huge advantage of power lines is that you have sockets and plugs everywhere in your home and that is the same everywhere in the world," he explained.

"I have never seen a house without at least an electricity outlet...so it's ubiquitous, easy to access, and that's not the case with telephone plugs, where normally you have one or two in your home," he added.

Founded in 1998, DS2 pioneered in the industry with the introduction of its 200 Mbps chipsets, creating the fastest and highest performance solution for simultaneous data, digital, audio and high-definition video transmission. Headquartered in Valencia, Spain, the company also has offices in California, Japan and Taiwan.

Two industry groups, the Universal Powerline Association (UPA) and the European Union consortium OPERA (Open PLC European Research Alliance) have adopted DS2 technology in support of multi-vendor inter-operable, certified product.

Remember Northeast Blackout of 2003: Losses estimated at $6 billion USD !!!!

2003 New York City blackout !!!!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Northeast Blackout of 2003 was a massive power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern United States and Ontario on Thursday, August 14, 2003. Although not affecting as many people as the later 2003 Italy blackout, it was the largest blackout in North American history. It affected an estimated 10 million people in the province of Ontario (about one-third of the population of Canada), and 40 million people in eight U.S. states (about one-seventh of the population of the U.S.). Outage-related financial losses were estimated at $6 billion USD ($6.8 billion CDN).

Vicis Capital Advances $4 Million to Ambient Corporation

Monday June 4, 9:35 am ET
Proceeds to Pay Down Senior Secured Debt


BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ambient Corporation (OTCBB: ABTG - News), a leader in Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) solutions, today announced that it has closed on a non-secured bridge loan of $4 million from the Vicis Capital Master Fund.

Ambient will use a significant portion of the proceeds to reduce the remaining balance of the approximately $4.6 million in principal remaining outstanding under its 8% Senior Secured Convertible Debentures issued in May 2006. Following the retirement of a significant portion of the senior debt, the security interest in favor of the holders of the May 2006 debentures in certain assets of Ambient, as well as certain anti-dilution and other protective provisions contained in the 2006 debenture documents will terminate. The termination of the security interest and the protective provisions is expected to enhance Ambient's flexibility in securing long-term funding.

Pursuant to the terms of the 2006 debentures, Ambient has been repaying on a monthly basis principal and accrued interest outstanding on the debentures in registered shares of its common stock. The anticipated retirement of a significant portion of the remaining outstanding senior secured debt is expected to significantly reduce issuance of Ambient shares in the future for this purpose, and the accompanying dilution.

Commenting on the transaction, John J. Joyce, President and CEO of Ambient stated, "This is the first necessary step towards securing a stable capital structure which will attract long-term institutional investors. As I stated recently at our Annual Meeting of Stockholders, our focus is on four main goals and objectives: stabilizing the capital structure, increasing revenues, enhancing our technology, while protecting our intellectual property and fostering the creation of industry standards. While this is just the initial step towards stabilizing the capital structure, we feel this is a significant step in the right direction for the Company's future growth."

"Additionally, we along with our utility customers, recognize the need to create next-generation smart distribution networks, increasing efficiency and reducing utilities environmental footprint. We look forward to advancing our projects based on this shared vision, further meeting our goals and objectives for the year," continued Mr. Joyce.

Shad Stastney, a partner with Vicis Capital, LLC, the investment manager for Vicis Capital Master Fund, said of the investment, "Given the predicted growth of U.S. electricity demand and the large scale infrastructure improvements needed by utility companies to implement advanced metering (also known as AMI) and the Smart Grid, we believe Ambient is in a very good position. Vicis looks for potential high-growth companies like Ambient, particularly in light of their already-strong relationships with large investor-owned utilities."

The remaining funds will be used to continue Ambient's present operations, which include BPL deployments with major utility companies throughout the United States. Ambient's deployments include Consolidated Edison of New York (NYSE: ED - News), Duke Energy in the Carolinas (NYSE: DUK - News) and San Diego Gas & Electric of California, a unit of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE - News).

Additional information relating to the loan will be included in Ambient's Current Report on Form 8-K, which Ambient is preparing to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.