HomeGrid Forum

Service Providers are Embracing G.hn

Key Service Providers are realizing the benefits of G.hn. HomeGrid Forum members include Chunghwa Telecom, British Telecom, AT&T, Telefonica and more.

Here is a recent quote from analyst Jeff Heynen of Infonetics:

“HomeGrid Certified G.hn was built from the ground up with Service Provider contributions around manageability, robustness, quality, and coverage in the home. All these issues are being addressed with G.hn. It offers whole home coverage for multiple HD IPTV streaming and no new wires need to be installed in the home. It could be a real game changer for Service Providers.”
Jeff Heynen
Directing Analyst, Broadband and Video, Infonetics Research

G.hn: What's it all mean?

 A lot has happened in the last few weeks for G.hn. The PHY was Approved, the coexistence mechanisms achieved Consent and the DLL was deemed stable. The first semiconductor products were announced.  New IP has been made available for licensing.  And much more.  Find out what it all means by downloading the latest webinar from HomeGrid Forum entitled Wired Networking Inflection Point. 

Major Progress in Geneva, First Product Announcements

Last week, the ITU-T made significant progress on the G.hn standard -- Approving the PHY and architecture, advancing the DLL and providing Consent to the complementary coexistence Recommendation G.9972 (aka G.cx).  These moves were supported by service providers, consumer electronics manufacturers, semiconductor companies and countries from around the world, and set the stage for G.hn to emerge as the single unified wired home networking standard.

Following the announcement of the ITU-T's accomplishments, several HomeGrid member companies publicized their support and first G.hn products.  DS2, for instance, confirmed its plan to launch its G.hn-compliant DSS9960 chipset next year.  Ikanos announced its support for the technology. And there will be many more announcements in the coming weeks. 

AT&T Speaks Out on G.hn

AT&T Labs' Tom Starr has been involved in the development of G.hn almost from the beginning.  And he has a unique insight into this next-generation standard.  He knows how the technology landscape for service providers around the world is changing.  He also knows how new multi-play and managed services are straining the current generation of technology. 

Find out what Tom knows, by downloading this new webinar.  

Update on G.hn from HomePNA

The HomePNA Alliance, which in February announced its plan to work with HomeGrid Forum and other organizations to promote the G.hn standard, has posted an update on G.hn on their blog:

In case you were wondering, G.hn is continuing to astound standards watchers by making good progress. Work at the April meeting, held the week before last, focused on two areas – resolving the remaining comments on the “foundation” document and new submissions on the G.hn MAC.

(You can read the rest at the HomePNA blog).

Ethernet AV and G.hn

Only a few weeks after G.hn received consent, it looks like other standards are starting to take into consideration interoperability with G.hn. This story on EE Times on Ethernet AVB (802.1BA - Audio Video Bridging (AVB) Systems) already mentions G.hn/G.9960 as one of the Layer-2 technologies that will be supported by 802.1BA:

Calling Ethernet AVB "Layer 2 technology-agnostic," he said, "This is not all about Ethernet. We've developed this to guarantee time-sensitive services regardless of which Layer 2 (L2) technology is used, as long as the particular L2 net implements the AVB interfaces."

In sum, the Ethernet AVB task group hopes to bring common traffic-shaping and reservation protocol features into both WiFi (i.e. 802.11e) and non-802.11 devices (such as Multimedia over Coax Alliance -- MoCA, and ITU-T G.9960) expected to be used in multiple standards-based home networks.

Only a few weeks after G.hn received consent, it looks like other standards are starting to take into consideration interoperability with G.hn. This story on EE Times on Ethernet AVB (802.1BA - Audio Video Bridging (AVB) Systems) already mentions G.hn/G.9960 as one of the Layer-2 technologies that will be supported by 802.1BA:

Calling Ethernet AVB "Layer 2 technology-agnostic," he said, "This is not all about Ethernet. We've developed this to guarantee time-sensitive services regardless of which Layer 2 (L2) technology is used, as long as the particular L2 net implements the AVB interfaces."

In sum, the Ethernet AVB task group hopes to bring common traffic-shaping and reservation protocol features into both WiFi (i.e. 802.11e) and non-802.11 devices (such as Multimedia over Coax Alliance -- MoCA, and ITU-T G.9960) expected to be used in multiple standards-based home networks.

G.hn Consent

Recommendation G.hn (now also known as G.9960) received consent on Dec 12th 2008. Below you can find links to stories about this important milestone:

• ITU-T's press release: New global standard for fully networked home
  
  “There’s a clear market need for a unified networking approach,” said Malcolm Johnson, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. “With G.hn, every wire in every home around the world can become part of a home entertainment network. This will enable seamless communication between computers, HDTVs and telephones over existing wires. I expect that this exciting new technology will also foster innovations such as energy efficient smart appliances, home automation and telemedicine devices.”
  
  
• HomeGrid Forum's press release: ITU-T G.hn Specification Achieves Key Milestone with Successful Consent at Geneva ITU-T Meeting
  
  

  “We applaud ITU’s success in achieving this major milestone,” said Matthew Theall, president of HomeGrid Forum. “This achievement allows chipset providers to begin design of silicon which will be used to create new products that will form the foundation for next-generation whole-home networking. HomeGrid Forum continues to be committed to driving the rapid and broad adoption of G.hn technology in the consumer electronics, PC, and service provider markets.”

• EE Times's article by Rick Merritt: G.hn hits milestone toward unified home nets; ITU approves physical layer spec, sparking chip work
  
  

  The ITU released a key part of its pending G.hn standard. The spec aims to create unified home networking chips able drive throughput rates ranging from 50 to more than 700 Mbits/second over coax, phone or power lines.
  
  The ITU-T G.9960 specification issued Friday (Dec. 12) defines a physical layer needed to start development of such chips. A companion spec for a media access controller that could be implemented in firmware is expected to be complete as early as September 2009.

• Giga Om's article: Coming Soon: Ultrafast Home Networks For Everyone
  
  

  A fast new home networking standard was ratified on Friday by the ITU. With the unsexy name G.hn and some quibbles about what the consumer friendly marketing name will be (HomeGrid backed by Intel and Texas Instruments seems likely), writing a headline is hard. But think of this as the five things you need to know about G.hn: [...]

A number of vendors also expressed their support for the new G.hn standard:

Ikanos Communications Announces Support for International Telecommunications Union G.hn Consent
CopperGate Communications Commits to G.hn
DS2 welcomes new ITU-T G.hn standard for high-speed networking
Aware Applauds the ITU's Consent of a Revolutionary New Home Networking Technology