Lack of interoperability stunts powerline networking

The lack of interoperability in powerline networking products used in homes is dramatically slowing down potential growth, industry leaders said during a panel discussion at the International Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday.

"If we had interoperability, the market would be a lot larger than it is," said Kartik Gada, product manager for Netgear. Even though Netgear has a dominant position at least on the retail end of powerline networking, the company would prefer if all powerline networking products interoperated, he said. "We'd rather have 30 percent of a larger pie than 90 percent of a smaller one," he said.

Powerline networking allows users to plug adapters into regular power outlets in order to send data and video over existing power lines.

Around 7 million powerline chips that comply with one of the standards, HomePlug, have shipped, estimates Andy Melder, senior vice president of sales, marketing and business development for Intellon, a powerline chip maker. "That's a trickle compared to Wi-Fi," he noted.

Wi-Fi also initially had multiple groups vying to create a standard but the current implementation quickly won out. "Wi-Fi didn't take off until there was awareness and it became a standard capability in laptops," said Mark Nietubye, global marketing director for Siemens Home and Office Communications Devices, a subsidiary of Siemens.

Universal Powerline Association (UPA) is another powerline specification that isn't compatible with HomePlug.

The lack of interoperability of powerline networking products is closing the door to one important potential distributor of products: operators. IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service providers are offering powerline adapters to customers but they're doing so cautiously. "If service providers aren't satisfied that there's interoperability they won't be comfortable deploying powerline distribution systems," Nietubye said. Operators are worried that customers will go to retail outlets to buy additional powerline adapters that don't work with those distributed by the operator and then require customer service help from the operator.

The panelists were clearly frustrated with the interoperability issues, but they don't see a way forward. While several international standards organizations are working on powerline projects, such groups are notorious for spending many years working through the process. "As time ticks, other technologies aren't going to stand still," said Nietubye.

Some companies are also involved in the Consumer Electronics Powerline Communication Alliance, a group working on ways to ensure that HomePlug and UPA can co-exist. "Coexistence is better than clashing," said Victor Dominguez, director of strategy and standardization for Design of Systems on Silicon SA (DS2), a powerline chip maker. Without a plan for coexistence, some products just won't work at all when paired with non-compatible products. But the downside to the coexistence idea is that it degrades performance, said Melder.

Interoperability isn't the only thing holding back the growth of powerline networking. Price and quality of service issues are also barriers to growth, said Robert Stead, vice president of marketing for SiConnect. A pair of powerline networking adaptors costs far more than most Wi-Fi products and about the same as Wi-Fi products based on 802.11n, the most recent and fastest standard.