HomeGrid Forum

G.hn is Running Flawlessly after Review

AT&T is an early adopter of G.hn technology.

Here is what Vernon Reed, Lead Technical Staff at AT&T Labs has to say:

By Vernon Reed
I am fortunate to be one of the “early adopter” test homes for emerging G.hn products, and I’m thrilled to report that I have been up and running a full G.hn-enabled home network using only powerline connectivity for all my video in my AT&T Uverse for 2 weeks now….. and running flawlessly I might add.

I have long been involved with AT&T’s analysis of home network technologies, and have evaluated all revs of HomePlug and HomePlugAV over the last 5-6 years. And using these technologies I have observed in every case that certain device locations where HPAV either could not sustain network connectivity, or the bandwidth capacity it could muster up was inadequate to deliver video in the home. (i.e., no link, or less than 3 Mbps of thruput).

This was certainly not the case with G.hn. At device locations where HomePlugAV delivered only 1-2 Mbps, G.hn delivers a thruput capacity well in excess of 100 Mbps. And that is EXACTLY what we are looking for in a“Plug and Play” network solution.

Bottom line: 3 cheers are in order.

HomeGrid Forum at CES 2012

The HomeGrid Forum was recently at CES 2012. HomeGrid Silicon members highlighted multiple vendor interoperability with HD IPTV across power and coax. Vendors included Lantiq, Marvell, Metanoia, and Sigma Designs.

There is a lot of momentum around G.hn! The HomeGrid Forum announced Motorola as a new member at CES.

Here is a video of Matt Theall, HomeGrid Forum President at the CES HomeGrid booth.

HomeGrid Forum is ramping up for CES and we would love to see you. If you are looking for an update on the organization, the specifications, or anything related to G.hn - stop by to see us. We will be in the Meeting Place in the South Hall - MP 25222. Or, if you want to schedule an appointment - send an email to Kimberly.s.lewis@intel.com

Broadband Forum and HomeGrid Forum Reach Definitive Collaboration Agreement

Last week, more than 190 countries approved G.hn as the universal technology for delivering content across all wires. This week,HomeGrid Forum announced today the signing of an agreement with Broadband Forum, the consortium of approximately 200 leading telecommunications service providers, network equipment manufacturers, and software companies driving broadband wireline solutions around the world. As part of this agreement, the two organizations will collaborate to deliver to the market, later this year, a global compliance and interoperability testing program for products using G.hn technology – ITU-T’s unified wired home networking standard.

“The Broadband Forum has 15 years of interoperability experience, and our work spans from the core to the user. In our Connected Home Initiative, work has always supported various LAN technologies, and this collaboration is a natural outgrowth of our focus on supporting industry standards that allow for seamless networking of content throughout the home,” said Robin Mersh, COO of the Broadband Forum.

There's significant momentum behind G.hn.  And the Broadband Forum's support further validates the potential of G.hn products.

Great Material from IPTV World Forum

At IPTV World Forum in London, HomeGrid Forum hosted a seminar on G.hn and orchestrated a series of presentations and panel discussions covering the technology and its impact. A great deal of interesting information was presented. Below is a rundown:

• Industry's perspective panel discussion: representatives from leading service providers BT and Eircom, ITU-T, and top manufacturers Sigma Designs, DS2, and Ikanos joined together to discuss how G.hn will unify the networking of content and devices over any wire -- coaxial cable, phone lines, and power lines. Download audio.
• HomeGrid Forum overview: Matt Theall, president of HomeGrid Forum and technology strategist at Intel Corporation, provided a current and detailed overview of the ITU-T’s G.hn wired networking technology standard and applications for use with service providers, consumer electronics providers, PC manufacturers, and on the smart grid. Download presentation.
• G.hn Technology overview: covered the technical aspects of G.hn technology; the need for a new standard;  deployment scenarios; legacy technologies and coexistence; and technical aspects of the PHY and MAC layers of G.hn. Presented by Rami Verbin, chief technology officer of Sigma Designs. Download presentation. 
• C&I overview: outlined the major components and goals of the upcoming C&I program for G.hn, which includes silicon and IP testing compliance, system level testing for interoperability, and the logo and assurance program. Presented by Matt Keowen, senior director of corporate marketing at Ikanos. Download presentation.

Look for more of the same at a seminar coming up in Taiwan on June 4 co-hosted by HomeGrid Forum and Institute for Information Industry (III).

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.

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. 

Why G.hn is the best option for multi-wire networking

There is growing interest among Telco/Cable Service Providers in deploying networks that can take advantage of all the existing wires available in the home (power lines, phone lines and coaxial cables).

Until recently, there was a number a proprietary technologies for wired networking, but each one of them was designed for one single medium (ie, one technology for powerline only, another for coaxial cable only, and so on).

Each of these technologies is fundamentally different from each other, so networking chips have to be specialized: For example, a chip designed to operate over coaxial cable cannot work over powerlines.

Why are the chips different? In many cases, the reason is simply that they were designed in separate groups, inside closed organizations, which took different decisions when choosing technical elements such modulation type, Forward Error Correction, QoS architecture, Security architecture, etc.

Continue reading "G.hn: reducing chip count by 50%"

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. 

G.hn security overview

This blog post ("An introduction to G.hn security"), provides an overview of the security architecture of G.hn.

The post includes detailed information on the encryption, authentication and key distribution functionality of G.hn.

Click here to read the complete post at "An introduction to G.hn security".

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.