Powerline Home Networking 2007 Update: Gaining Power in the Global Market

SUMMARY

Broadband powerline (BPL) networking, or powerline communications (PLC), offers a solution with some advantages over coax and twisted-pair, especially in homes and regions with few coax or phone jacks. But, high-speed powerline solutions are also increasingly being used over coax. Surpassing the inflection point in 2006, worldwide equipment sales based on HomePlug, CEPCA and UPA powerline reached 5.4 million. Although MoCA and HomePNA are winning some deployments, especially in North America, we expect powerline will win the alternative wired networking medium race on a worldwide scale. With no new cabling needed, powerline networking is emerging as a winner in the residential networking race on a worldwide basis for multimedia home networking. Although broadband has gained most of the attention, the HomePlug Command and Control (HPCC) low-speed, narrowband powerline specification has recently been approved, with market emergence expected next year. Worldwide market acceptance is expected to be strong, especially in light of many regional mandates for energy savings. This report provides service providers, equipment and semiconductor vendors valuable guidance on market trends and expected progress, opportunities, segmentations, and market sizing. Worldwide forecasts include unit segmentation by geographic region, product categories, technology, bandwidth, PHY/MAC chipset ASP, retail vs. service provider channel, and in-home networking vs. access and utility use.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Executive Summary
• Overview: Networking Over Powerline
  • Why Powerline?
  • Avoiding New Cabling
    • Advantages
    • Disadvantages
  • Technical Challenges & Benefits
  • Some PCB Designs Affect 200Mbps Performance
• Competing No-New Wires Technologies
  • Twisted Pair/Copper (Telephone Wiring)
  • Coax
    • HomePlug AV Over Coax
• Regulatory
  • Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
  • Japan
  • European Standardization Organizations(ESOs)
    • CENELEC
    • ETSI
• Alliances, Standards, & Competing Technologies over Powerline
  • IEEE 1901
  • HomePlug Powerline Alliance
    • HomePlug AV-Certified Products
    • HomePlug-Enabled Service Providers
    • HomePlug 1.0
    • HomePlug Command & Control (HPCC)
    • HomePlug Turbo
    • HomePlug AV
    • HomePlug BPL for Access
• Universal Powerline Association (UPA)
• Consumer Electronic Powerline Communications Alliance (CEPCA)
• United Power Line Council (UPLC)
  • Deployments & Trials
• Open PLC European Research Alliance (OPERA)
  • Cost Expectations for PLC/BPL Access Infrastructure
• Applications for Powerline Networking
  • Broadband Access over Powerline
    • Utility Company Use
    • Customer Services
    • BPL Business Models
    • Three Primary Infrastructure Components
    • BPL Deployment Costs
    • Costs of Broadband Access via Powerline
    • Economic Viability for Rural Communities
  • In-Home Broadband over Powerline
    • Muilti-Play Services
    • Home Networking
    • Home Automation & Security Systems/Services
• Consumer Perspectives
• Selected Players
  • Actiontec
  • Arkados
  • Asoka USA
  • Belkin
  • Buffalo Technologies
  • Communication Technologies (COMTek)
  • Conexant
  • Corinex
  • Corporate Systems Engineering
  • D-Link
  • devolo AG
  • Design of Systems on Silicon (DS2)
  • Duke Energy
  • EchoStar
  • Gigafast
  • Gigle Semiconductor
  • Intel
  • I-O Data
  • Intellon
  • Linksys
  • MainNet Communications
  • Microsoft
  • Netgear
  • Panasonic/Matsushita
  • Qwest Communications
  • Radio Shack
  • Russound
  • Sharp
  • SPiDCOM
  • Yitran Communications
  • ZyXEL Communications
• Worldwide Market Shares
  • HomePlug
  • Non-HomePlug
• Worldwide Forecasts
  • Worldwide Broadband Powerline Networking Equipment: In-Home, Access, & Utility
  • Opportunities for Broadband Powerline Equipment Geographically
  • Forecast by Retail vs. Service Provider
  • Forecast by Bandwidth
  • Forecast by Product Segmentation
  • Forecast by Technology
  • Forecast for PHY/MAC Chipset ASP by Bandwidth
  • Forecast for HomePlug Command & Control Narrowband Powerline
• Methodology
• Related In-Stat Reports

List of Tables

• Table 1. Excluded Frequency Bands by the FCC
• Table 2. HomePlug 1.0 Maximum Throughput at Various Layers Using DQPSK 3/4 Modulation
• Table 3. Comparison of HomePlug 1.0 with Other Wireline Technologies
• Table 4. Yitran Command & Control Chip Specifications
• Table 5. Worldwide 2006 HomePlug Equipment Market Shares (Units in Thousands)
• Table 6. Worldwide 2006 Non-HomePlug Broadband Powerline Equipment Market Shares (Units in Thousands)
• Table 7. Worldwide Broadband Powerline Equipment, In-Home Networking vs. Access & Utility, Annual Shipments, 2005- 2011 (Units)
• Table 8. Worldwide Broadband Powerline Equipment by Region, 2005- 2011 (Units)
• Table 9. Worldwide Broadband Powerline Equipment by Sales Channel, 2005- 2011 (Units)
• Table 10. Worldwide Broadband Powerline Equipment by Bandwidth, 2005- 2011 (Units)
• Table 11. Worldwide Broadband Powerline Equipment by Product Segment, 2005- 2011 (Units)
• Table 12. Worldwide Broadband Powerline Equipment by Technology, HomePlug vs. Non-HomePlug, 2005- 2011 (Units)
• Table 13. Worldwide Broadband Powerline PHY/MAC Chipset ASP by Bandwidth, 2005- 2011 (US$)
• Table 14. Worldwide HPCC Narrowband Powerline Chipsets, 2007- 2011 (Units)

List of Figures

• Figure 1. HomePlug/Panasonic Proposal Framework
• Figure 2. HomePlug-Enabled Service Providers
• Figure 3. BPL US Deployment Map
• Figure 4. OPERA General Architecture of a Powerline Communications Access System
• Figure 5. Home Network User Familiarity of Broadband Powerline Networking, HomePNA, and MoCA Technologies