HomePlug Alliance adds new members, including UL

At the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas, the HomePlug Alliance, the industry consortium for powerline communications networking technology, announced the addition of several new member companies.

HomePlug’s new members include: BMW Technology Corporation; Hisense; Texas Instruments; China Academy of Telecommunication Research (CATR); Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Verification Services, Inc.; and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Institute (ASTRI). The consortium says the new members underscore the global reach of HomePlug technology and the increased opportunity presented by expanding applications.

“During the last few years, we extended our scope to include Gigabit-class powerline networking, smart home/IoT [Internet of Things] applications, hybrid home networking, and meter- to-grid narrowband applications, by way of HomePlug AV2, HomePlug Green PHY, Netricity and our investment in the nVoy technology program,” comments Rob Ranck, HomePlug’s president. “We are happy to see such a broad set of new companies join in support of the Alliance as we expand the capabilities of, and market for, HomePlug-certified products.”

Comments from the new members include the following:

-- “BMW has joined other major automakers supporting the HomePlug Green PHY specification for electric vehicle charging technology,” said Cliff Fietzek, Manager of BMW Connected eMobility. “As the market for Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) continues to grow, the need for standardized communications between PEVs and charging stations becomes increasingly important. We are happy to add our support of the HomePlug Alliance by becoming a member.”

-- “Hisense was the first company to embed HomePlug technology directly into TVs and air conditioning units, bringing high-speed wired connections to devices without the need for adapters,” said Dr. Yangyang Li, Technical Director, Digital Home, Hisense. “We are happy to bring our expertise regarding the embedded PLC market to HomePlug Alliance as the industry moves toward new phase of growth.”

-- “Texas Instruments (TI) is pleased to join The HomePlug Alliance as it experiences a major surge in activity with the Netricity certification program for outside-the-home smart metering and distribution automation applications,” said Markus Staeblein, General Manager, Smart Grid Solutions, TI. “We are committed to working with HomePlug on the Netricity certification program to improve smart metering, grid infrastructure and industrial control applications.”

-- CATR participated in HomePlug’s Connected Home Summits in November, and HomePlug announced that CATR would be providing nVoy certifications in China for hybrid home networking products implementing the IEEE 1905.1 standard. Mr. Xiao Li, Deputy Director, CATR stated, “CATR is eager to start certifying HomePlug, MoCA, and Wi-Fi products implementing nVoy technology. We are invested in the future of hybrid home networking and are eager to help bring these products to market in China, where the potential growth for home networking technologies is enormous.”

-- Mike Kuo, General Manager, UL Verification Services, Inc. stated, ”We look forward to providing our testing and verification services for products implementing Smart Energy Profile 2 (SEP 2). As HomePlug continues their work with the Consortium for SEP 2 Interoperability (CSEP), we are excited to be involved on the ground level in developing the testing processes for certifying SEP 2 interoperability.”

Visit the HomePlug Alliance website for more information.