June 18, 2008 -- At NXTcomm, Comtrend is exhibiting two products designed to allow telecoms to deliver high-speed services using existing residential infrastructure with reduced costs. The PowerGrid 902 is a Universal Powerline Association (UPA)-compliant Powerline Ethernet adapter. The CT-5363 Wireless ADSL2+ router can be used as either an ADSL2+ router or as a high-powered home router for use with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployments.
Comtrend says the products address the need among telcos to quickly move forward with next-generation services including IPTV and home networking. "Increasingly the question isn't when the right infrastructure will be in place, but rather how to leverage the conduits that are available today," notes Andrew Morton, the company's general manager.
The PowerGrid 902 Powerline Ethernet adapter is billed as a telco-grade product that plugs into any wall outlet, allowing homeowners to extend a local area network using their existing home electrical grid, eliminating extra wiring and supporting speeds up to 200 Mbit/sec inside the home, with Quality of Service fully capable of IPTV. The adapter is deployed as a self install kit; the user plugs a router into the outlet-mounted adapter to convert an entire house for broadband use, with no configuration required by the telco. Advanced encryption algorithms safeguard data on the home network; adapters can be moved from room to room as needed. The Powergrid 902 ships in pairs and single packs so that extra units can be added to the home to take advantage of an advanced repeater function. The adapters include one RJ-45 Ethernet connection, as well as an extra power socket on top so no power outlets are sacrificed. An integrated filter prevents line interference and noise from degrading the signal.
The Comtrend CT-5363 is an ADSL2+ residential gateway with five Ethernet ports and WiFi 802.11g capability. It can also be used as an Ethernet router to successfully deploy broadband to a residence from a fiber connection. Telcos can use the same residential gateway for all parts of their broadband deployments, saving on inventory and support costs while being able to support such services as IPTV. The CT-5363 ADSL2+ router offers advanced security and routing features such as QoS and VLANs. The TR-069 compliant residential gateway offers telcos a remotely manageable device that requires service providers to only support a single platform for either DSL or FTTH.