HomeGrid Forum

DS2 Demos First G.hn Prototypes, Delivers Dramatic Performance at CES 2010

The CES video buzz continues this morning with a headline in the SF Chronicle "Videoconferencing for the masses."  These are not the video conference calls of yesteryear with highly pixelated, choppy low resolution images. No, these are high definition video calls.  Cisco, Panasonic and a number of other companies demonstrated the technology this week. Still others showcased 3D television. And Gartner analyst Van Baker rightly points out, "It's a very compelling experience but it takes a whole lot of bandwidth."

The next-generation wired networking technology G.hn created some buzz of its own at CES, demonstrating how it can solve the bandwidth problem created by the continuing evolution of interactive and IP-based video. Courtesy of HomeGrid Forum and DS2, the first G.hn semiconductors capable of delivering the performance and quality of service necessary for high-definition video and video conferencing were demonstrated. 

These prototypes provided throughput of 4X to 5X over current generations of wired networking technologies over all media -- phoneline, powerline and coax cable. The improvements over existing products were nothing short of dramatic. Reactions from service providers, PC manufacturers and others were also dramatic. Comments ranged from "this is exactly what we're looking for, we're tired of multiple approaches for home networking" to "how quickly can we get products."

This demonstration marks another milestone towards production silicon later this year.

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. 

Linley Group: "battle of proprietary home-networking tech nears end"

Joseph Byrne, Senior Analyst at Linley Group (one of the leading research firms for semiconductors), has written an in-depth post ("Fruitless battle of proprietary home-networking tech nears end") on the current situation of the wired home networking industry and the potential of G.hn to solve the fragmentation problem:

There are two efforts abreast to change the situation. The most promising of the two is the G.hn spec being developed under the auspices of the ITU. The developers of this spec made two sage decisions.

Parks: Connected CE sales to exceed 100 million units annually by 2013

Parks Associates has recently published a report on "Home Networks for Consumer Electronics", that predicts that "Consumer demand for digital media and online content will push worldwide annual sales of connected CE to more than 100 million units by 2013".

In-Stat Teams Up with HomeGrid on New Webinar

In-Stat analyst Joyce Putscher knows her stuff. She has 25 years experience in the electronics field and market research, and currently covers home networks, automation, multimedia and more.

Putscher recently teamed up with HomeGrid Forum and produced a very insightful webinar regarding the state of the home networking market. She outlines how the market is evolving to accommodate growing multimedia content and how networks are converging to connect broadcast media and computing services. To view the webinar, visit the HomeGrid Forum's Resource Library.

Trends in the Home Media Server Market (or why we need to plan for 1 Gbit/s)

Most people today use their home network simply for sharing a DSL/cable Internet connection between multiple computers. A small (but rapidly growing) percentage of consumers use their home networks for more bandwidth-intensive applications like music and video sharing, or performing backups of their home computers to a central Network Attached Storage device.

One of the reasons why the number of people using these bandwidth-intensive applications has been relatively small is that in general setting up these applications is not always simple. This is changing, as multiple vendors try to address this market with solutions that are easier to install and maintain for the average consumer.

Flash coming to HDTVs - another reason for G.hn

Adobe this week announced plans to bring their extremely popular Flash format to HDTVs and Set-Top Boxes from multiple manufacturers. This is another sign of the PC/CE convergence trend that will drive demand for technologies that, like G.hn, provide high-speed connectivity between Consumer Electronics devices (TVs, PVRs, STBs) and Broadband services.

New Whitepaper on Coexistence

One of the questions commonly asked about G.hn technology is: "How will this new generation technology interact with existing first-gen products already in the market?"  This new whitepaper from HomeGrid Forum answers that question.  In short:

When G.hn technologies are deployed onto home wiring that already supports previously installed home networking technologies, they should, as a part of a migration path toward a fully compliant G.hn solution, be able to coexist with these existing technologies to provide an acceptable user experience.

This paper covers the details around coexistence and interoperability, especially with technologies that use powerline and coax cable.  You can download this document and others from the HomeGrid Forum Resource Library.   

Why do we need a unified standard at all?

One of the most common questions that I hear when I talk about what G.hn and HomeGrid Forum are trying to do is "Why do we need a unified standard at all? What is the problem with having a standard that works over powerlines, another that works over phone lines, and so on?"

My response is always the same: even if each of the existing "medium-specific" standards and industry specification available today do a good job at solving specific problems for specific markets, many players in the industry would benefit enormously from having a single unified standard that can work over different physical media.

Although 802.11 wireless technology is the most popular choice for consumers that simply need to share a broadband connection, the vast majority of IPTV service providers are using wired networks (powerline, phonelines or coaxial cable) as a home networking solution for SD and HD video delivery. The reason is that wired solutions in general provide better performance, reliability and security than wireless options.

The problem today is that each market has chosen a different solution: while European IPTV service providers in general are using powerline-based solutions (because coaxial and phoneline connections are scarce in European homes), North American service providers are mostly using a variety of coaxial and phoneline solutions for home networking. Both markets are very attractive, so silicon vendors are interested in addressing both without having to develop different products for each market.

At the same time, equipment manufacturers (vendors of Set-Top-Boxes and Residential Gateways) that want to sell in all these markets today are being forced to develop three or more versions of their products, each one with a different physical interface. This represents a huge problem in terms of extra development cost, more complex product planning and supply forecast, etc.

Even Service Providers that may have standardized on a single physical medium can benefit from deploying a technology that can work well in any media. If a service provider normally uses powerlines, it can still benefit from using a coaxial connection if one is available in a specific location. Also, if a service provider normally uses coaxial connections, it can use powerlines to provide solutions to those customers that don't have a suitable coaxial cable in one of the rooms where they want to install their TV.

Having a unified standard will increase competition and decrease costs:

• Silicon vendors can address two or three markets different simultaneously, with a single chip. NRE costs are reduced, unit volume is increased and per-unit cost is reduced thanks to economies of scale.
• Silicon vendors that used to supply to different, isolated markets (to the powerline market only, or to the phoneline market only) will now compete with each other for the single unified powerline+phoneline+coaxial market, accelerating innovation and driving prices further down.

Once we take all these factors into account, it's clear why having a unified standard across different physical media is the best way to ensure that the wired home networking industry can develop its true potential.

One of the most common questions that I hear when I talk about what G.hn and HomeGrid Forum are trying to do is "Why do we need a unified standard at all? What is the problem with having a standard that works over powerlines, another that works over phone lines, and so on?"

My response is always the same: even if each of the existing "medium-specific" standards and industry specification available today do a good job at solving specific problems for specific markets, many players in the industry would benefit enormously from having a single unified standard that can work over different physical media.

Although 802.11 wireless technology is the most popular choice for consumers that simply need to share a broadband connection, the vast majority of IPTV service providers are using wired networks (powerline, phonelines or coaxial cable) as a home networking solution for SD and HD video delivery. The reason is that wired solutions in general provide better performance, reliability and security than wireless options.

The problem today is that each market has chosen a different solution: while European IPTV service providers in general are using powerline-based solutions (because coaxial and phoneline connections are scarce in European homes), North American service providers are mostly using a variety of coaxial and phoneline solutions for home networking. Both markets are very attractive, so silicon vendors are interested in addressing both without having to develop different products for each market.

At the same time, equipment manufacturers (vendors of Set-Top-Boxes and Residential Gateways) that want to sell in all these markets today are being forced to develop three or more versions of their products, each one with a different physical interface. This represents a huge problem in terms of extra development cost, more complex product planning and supply forecast, etc.

Even Service Providers that may have standardized on a single physical medium can benefit from deploying a technology that can work well in any media. If a service provider normally uses powerlines, it can still benefit from using a coaxial connection if one is available in a specific location. Also, if a service provider normally uses coaxial connections, it can use powerlines to provide solutions to those customers that don't have a suitable coaxial cable in one of the rooms where they want to install their TV.

Having a unified standard will increase competition and decrease costs:

• Silicon vendors can address two or three markets different simultaneously, with a single chip. NRE costs are reduced, unit volume is increased and per-unit cost is reduced thanks to economies of scale.
• Silicon vendors that used to supply to different, isolated markets (to the powerline market only, or to the phoneline market only) will now compete with each other for the single unified powerline+phoneline+coaxial market, accelerating innovation and driving prices further down.

Once we take all these factors into account, it's clear why having a unified standard across different physical media is the best way to ensure that the wired home networking industry can develop its true potential.

The Obligatory First Post

A number of HomeGrid members have been talking about a forum for discussion of next generation home networking issues, particularly relating to the ITU-T's G.hn spec. The goal of this blog is to be broad and inclusive--to that end, anyone can comment. In the interest of stimulating discussion, I've chosen to use the Intense Debate commenting platform. We'd like to get folks talking, debating, even arguing, about topics and issues of concern for the next gen home network, so away we go...