Home networking forum developed to bring compatibility to devices

Credit: TMCnet.com

Infineon Technologies, Intel Corporation, Panasonic and Texas Instruments are going to try and create a single, global standard for connecting virtually all in-home devices handling digital content, such as movies, music and pictures, using home wiring

The forum is a companion to the International Telecommunication Union's ITU-T G.hn working group, which is working 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. From a chip level perspective, the advantages of a single global standard are obvious: it provides the scale required to create a big business.

"The forum will promote HomeGrid-certified products and ensure interoperability," says Matthew Theall, president of HomeGrid Forum. HomeGrid Forum has 11 founding members including Infineon, Intel, Panasonic and Texas Instruments, Aware Inc., DS2, Gigle Semiconductor and Pulse~LINK, Ikanos Communications, Inc., Sigma Designs and Westell.