September 9, 2008 -- The HomeGrid Forum recently announced continued progress and cooperation towards advancement of the International Telecommunication Union's Standardization Sector (ITU-T) G.hn next generation home networking standard. From September 2-5, the group sponsored a specially-convened G.hn meeting in Chicago, IL.
In April 2008, Infineon Technologies, Intel, Panasonic and Texas Instruments announced the formation of HomeGrid Forum, with the objective to promote a next-generation, single MAC and PHY worldwide standard for networking over home wiring. Three work groups have been established: an ITU-T G.hn contribution work group; a compliance and interoperability work group to ensure that any product with a HomeGrid logo will work reliably in customer's homes; and a marketing work group to promote HomeGrid-certified products to the worldwide market.
ITU-T G.hn has the goal of developing a next generation wired home networking technology that enables transmission of video, audio and data over multiple wires in the home. The forum is a companion to ITU-T G.hn, supporting the interests of service providers, CE manufacturers, PC OEMs and other networking companies to create a single MAC and PHY protocol for transporting multimedia across a home's existing wiring to include coaxial cable, power lines and phone lines.
HomeGrid Forum will contribute to the standardization process in ITU-T G.hn, with a goal of quickly reaching industry consensus on an international standard. The forum says it will accelerate worldwide adoption of this standard with promotional marketing to the industry, and with a certification program that ensures products in the market work correctly.
"Our member companies are committed to making G.hn a reality in a timely fashion," comments Matthew Theall, president of HomeGrid Forum. "HomeGrid members contributed more than half of the technical papers at the past two ITU-T G.hn meetings, and are eager to continue our collaboration on this vital next generation home networking standard.
The goal of HomeGrid Forum is to support the development of a specification in ITU-T G.hn. To accomplish this goal, the forum will meet regularly to discuss requirements and technical issues, and develop proposals for G.hn. HomeGrid members hold weekly teleconferences to review technical papers for submission to G.hn. The review process enables member companies to receive input and feedback to assure submissions of the highest quality.
Proposals are submitted to G.hn as multi-party contributions from those members that support the proposal and are also ITU-T members. Representatives for HomeGrid hope the ITU-T G.hn will have a preliminary specification in 2008 with a final specification by September 2009. Individual manufacturers will decide when to introduce products based on this standard independently.
"We continue to be encouraged by HomeGrid members' commitment to collaboration, as demonstrated by the large number of jointly-supported technical submissions," remarks Richard L. Stuart, chair of the ITU group that is developing G.hn. "We believe that close cooperation between the ITU and HomeGrid Forum will accelerate completion of the G.hn Recommendation, enabling customers to deploy G.hn products much sooner."
The ITU Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is a permanent organ of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is responsible for studying technical and operating questions and issuing recommendations with a view to standardizing worldwide telecommunications.
More information about HomeGrid Forum can be found at www.homegridforum.org. A list of related FAQs is available www.homegridforum.org/about/faq/.