Euro group pushes broadband powerline standard

[Aerie10 at aol.com]

From Bill, NQ6Z
 
Euro group pushes broadband powerline  standard

_John Walko_ (mailto:jwalko at cmp-europe.com)    (10/18/2005 7:42 AM EST)
URL: _http://www.eetimes.eu/germany/172301830  _ 
(http://www.eetimes.eu/germany/172301830)     The Open PLC European  Research Alliance (OPERA), a European 
initiative to develop broadband over  powerline technologies and 
specifications, plans to release its  specification by the end of the year and propose it 
as a global standard.      MUNICH, Germany — The  Open PLC European Research 
Alliance (OPERA), a European initiative to  develop broadband over powerline 
technologies and specifications, plans to  release its specification by the end 
of the year and propose it as a  global standard.  
The specification will cover the PHY, MAC and equipment for broadband  PLC 
(or Powerline Communications, as the technology is better known in  Europe).  
The OPERA group links European universities and companies developing  chips 
and equipment for broadband and utilities. Its Euros 20 million  budget comes 
in part through the European Commission’s efforts to push the  use of broadband 
over powerlines on the continent.  
The group suggests its standard will be the only really open PLC system  that 
ensures full interoperability for broadband access and in-building  
distribution systems without recourse to proprietary technologies.  
The alliance has recently submitted its proposals to the European  
telecommunications standardization institute (ETSI).  
It says the final document is in "advanced status of development" at  the 
OPERA Specification Working Group, and plans to release the  specification by the 
end of December. The steering committee agreed during  its September meeting 
in Mannheim, Germany, to work closely with the  Universal Powerline 
Association (UPA) to ensure this standard fulfils the  requirements of all international 
markets and to promote it on a worldwide  basis.  
"I am very excited at the prospect of the availability of a public,  open, 
specification", said Laurent Feltin, of French utility EDF and  co-chairman of 
the working group. "This represents a significant step  forward in broadband 
access over power lines. Utilities and telcos will be  able to use Powerline 
infrastructure using standard solutions from  multiple manufacturers to extend 
broadband access to communities who would  never have had access to such 
services."  
Member companies such as Swiss group ASCOM, Spanish powerline chip  developer 
DS2, and Schneider Electric Powerline Communications say PLC  equipment based 
on the OPERA standard will be on the market very early in  2006.        All 
material on this site _Copyright © 2006 CMP  Media LLC_ 
(http://www.cmp.com/delivery/copyright.html)  , _EETimes EU  Copyright_ 
(http://www.cmp.com/delivery/copyright.html) . All rights reserved.
_Privacy Statement_ (http://www.cmpnet.com/delivery/privacy.html)  |  _Terms 
of Service_ (http://www.cmp.com/delivery/terms.html)   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://amrad.org/pipermail/tacos/attachments/20070102/466851eb/attachment.htm