7:18pm EDT, Thu Sep 2

CopperGate’s Weissman

By: The Online Reporter
Publish Date: July 24, 2009

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Underscoring its emphatic support for the next-generation home network technology G.hn, the chipmaker CopperGate next week will announce it’s been elected to the board of directors of HomeGrid Forum, the Intel-backed association. The forum will develop and certify G.hn standards, promote the product worldwide and authorize certified products to carry its logo on their equipment and marketing materials. The United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU-T) is overseeing the development of G.hn specifications. HomeGrid is to G.hn what Wi-Fi is to 802.11, a marketing brand. The intent is for G.hn to work over any of a home’s wiring: coax, electrical and telephone. CopperGate has been active in the ITU group’s efforts to develop specifications and get them ratified. It’s no mean feat considering the many conflicting vested interests the participating companies have. The company was involved in developing the HomePNA home network standard. It’s the leading producer of HomePNA chips that go into home network gear that many telcos, including AT&T, install in homes. Michael Weissman, CopperGate’s VP of North American marketing, will represent the company on the board. He said G.hn will deliver the best performance over electrical lines, coaxial cable and phone lines. He expects G.hn technology will be integrated into low-cost chipsets. CopperGate has consistently said it is determined to be the first to ship G.hn-certified chips. Intel’s Matthew Theall, who is chairman and president of the HomeGrid Forum, said CopperGate is expected to be one of the first with G.hn chips. The ‘M’ Words: Market and MoCA The market for wired home network gear and the chips they use has become enormous because pay-TV companies overwhelmingly prefer wired networks to wireless because they deliver flicker-free HD video and can be secured against piracy. Weissman said G.hn is the industry’s “best hope for a unified wireline standard.” Home network chips will be used in almost all consumer electronic devices, such as TVs, set-top boxes, video download equipment (digital media players like Roku and Vudu), network media storage devices, gaming consoles, PCs and dedicated home networking equipment such as routers, wireless access points, Internet gateways, Optical Terminal Networks (ONTs) and iNIDs. There is probably more MoCA-based home network gear installed than any other standard. MoCA works only over coax. Many consider coax as the best existing wiring in the home for carrying high-def video in a copy-free manner. For example, CopperGate’s biggest telco deployer, AT&T, uses its HomePNA network gear mostly over coax, not the telephone copper wires on which HomePNA also works. Verizon uses MoCA gear exclusively. Most of the US cablecos are expected (heck, have been expected) to announce standardization on MoCA as their choice. The Telco Factor Several factors are working in favor of G.hn long term: - The telcos AT&T, Verizon, France Telecom, BT, Telenor, Qwest and others have been involved in developing G.hn specs. - Telcos tend to favor ITU specs. - There are more telcos than there are cablecos. The Powerline standard is split into three incompatible “standards.” G.hn is expected to serve as a unifying force for the three. MoCA is already DLNA-compliant. G.hn needs DLNA certification to enable consumer and computing devices to physically communicate with each other. In addition to CopperGate and Intel, the other HomeGrid directors come from the retailer Best Buy; BT; the chipmaker Infineon Technologies; Panasonic, which makes one of the three Powerline chips and lots of consumer and computer gear; and set-top box chipmaker Sigma Designs. Weissman is co-author of the Amazon business bestseller “The Paradox of Excellence,” which appeared in Harvard Business Review and Fast Company Magazine.