IEEE P1901 Working Group Takes Significant Steps Toward Completion of Powerline Communications Standard

Certified, Interoperable IEEE 1901 Products Expected in 2010
PORTLAND, Ore.--(Business Wire)--
The HomePlug Powerline Alliance today announced that the IEEE P1901 Working
Group has made outstanding progress and garnered overwhelming support in
streamlining and preparing the Draft Standard for the final approval stage. The
Draft Standard is based on the technology contributed by HomePlug members and
all the key stakeholders in the powerline communications industry. A placeholder
for a potential third physical layer (PHY) has been removed, and the final IEEE
1901 standard will include only two PHYs (FFT and Wavelet). This means that
products based on IEEE 1901 FFT standard will be fully interoperable with the
existing installed base of millions of HomePlug AV products. For mixed FFT and
Wavelet technology environments, the IEEE 1901 standard requires that all
products coexist.

Following up after the recent letter ballot, the Working Group addressed and
resolved over 50 percent of the comments and removed components that were not
likely to be ready in time for the final sponsor balloting. Given the current
pace of progress, the comment resolution process is expected to be completed in
the next few months. The next Working Group meeting is in Tel Aviv, Israel in
December. Additional details on the IEEE 1901 standard are available at
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1901/.

"The IEEE 1901 Draft Standard has achieved the level of maturity and stability
that makes it ready for the market and enables HomePlug to move forward with our
certification plans," said Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Powerline
Alliance. "Consumer electronics companies, energy companies, service providers,
equipment companies, chip vendors, academic institutions and organizations
involved in the IEEE P1901 process are focused on getting this technology out to
the masses, and we expect to see IEEE 1901 interoperable products carrying
HomePlug certification logo in 2010."

The IEEE 1901 standard is the only Powerline Communications standard that
addresses the needs of the Smart Grid, and it was developed to meet the
requirements developed with the input of Energy companies and Smart Grid
operators.

This news follows on the heels of the October 6th announcement that chipset
vendors will collaborate with interoperability and certification testing for the
HomePlug AV standard and feature testing for the upcoming IEEE 1901 standard,
taking place this week. Additionally, HomePlug announced new attributes for its
powerline networking certification logo program that will indicate compliance
with IEEE 1901 features as well as certification to HomePlug`s forthcoming
"Green PHY" standard. Certified IEEE 1901 compliant products are expected to
become available in 2010.

Additional information on the HomePlug Powerline Alliance can be found at
www.HomePlug.org.

About the HomePlug Powerline Alliance

Founded in 2000, the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, Inc. is an industry-led
initiative with more than 70 member companies that creates specifications and
certification logo programs for using the powerlines for reliable home
networking and smart grid applications. The Alliance accelerates worldwide
adoption for HomePlug technology by collaborating with international standards
organizations such as the IEEE and through market development and user education
programs. Sponsor members include Cisco (CSCO); Comcast (CMCSK); GE Energy, an
affiliate of General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE); Gigle Semiconductor; Intellon
Corporation (ITLN); Motorola, Inc. (MOT); NEC Electronics Corporation
(TSE:6723); and SPiDCOM Technologies. Contributor members include Arkados
(OTCBB:AKDS); Corporate Systems Engineering; Renesas Technology Corp., Texas
Instruments Incorporated (NYSE:TXN) and Yitran Communications Ltd.

The Ardell Group for HomePlug
Megan Novak Shockney, 858-442-3492
megan@ardellgroup.com

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