DS2, Mitsubishi, Schneider Electric, Sumitomo, Ascom, EdP and Corinex Align behind OPERA Powerline Standard

(Lisbon November/07/2005) – DS2, the leading supplier for Powerline communications chipsets, has announced its commitment to support standardised Powerline products based on the OPERA Specification to provide broadband subscriber services over electrical infrastructure. The DS2 migration path, presented at the 6th International Power line Communications Conference, showed how any Powerline product based on DS2’s 200 Mbps chips will comply with the OPERA specification. Marcel Graber, OPERA representative, announced the availability of the OPERA specification by the end of 2005. 

“I am proud that the technology being standardised under the OPERA project umbrella is being supported by such a large number of organisations, in Europe and outside Europe. I am proud that European vendors and their world class customers are hitting the market with 200 Mbps technologies ahead of anybody else”, said Augusto de Albuquerque, Head of Unit of the European Commission IST Programme (Information Society Technologies Programme).

According to Jorge Blasco, CEO of DS2, “As members of OPERA Steering Committee, we have been closely following the OPERA specification efforts, and adapting our technology to the evolving standardisation process, so we can help our customer base to benefit from standards available today. Everyone should really profit from our continued investment plans in this area. We shall also comply to the co-existence specifications being finalised by the UPA (Universal Powerline Association) and other associations, such as ETSI, which will guarantee a quick and synergetic growth of power line communications for broadband access and home networking”.

“OPERA represents a tremendous step forward, because it is fully open”, according to Weilin Liu, Head of Ascom Powerline Communications AG, “it means that we have all the benefits of working with the most advanced technology providers in the market like DS2, whilst having all the alternatives as more technology providers and second sources move towards the OPERA standard.”

The specification, fruit of a two year effort and an outlay in excess of 20M€ by the European Union backed consortium, will be the first open Powerline specification, opening the doors for technology providers to build interoperable products. The launch date of the specification, which is currently under development by the Open PLC European Research Alliance, was recently announced for December. “I am especially enthusiastic about the news,” said Alvaro de Oliveira, responsible for Access technologies in ONI. “It means that we can easily upgrade our already extensive broadband offering, to the evolving OPERA standard”.

“Standardisation is a critical element to moving the BPL industry to mass market” stated Brian Donnelly, Corinex Communications Director of Business Development. ”The commitment by DS2 to adhere to OPERA standards ensures that Corinex customers worldwide will be able deploy BPL technology now, in volume, and feel confident about being compliant with future standards” added Donnelly.

“OPERA is a real success”, stated Eric Morel, CEO of Schneider Electric Powerline Communications and President of the Universal Powerline Alliance (UPA), one of the industry bodies backing the OPERA Initiative. “The UPA has dedicated significant resources collaborating with OPERA to make sure that its specification represents a truly global solution, transcending the initial European scope of the project”. Kenichi Hirotsu of Sumitomo Electric Industries said “Our customers have been looking for a standardised approach to access PLC, and they need something which is much more than a beefed-up home networking technology. OPERA fits the bill perfectly”.

“We have extensive experience in PLC deployments worldwide”, asserted Masahiro Oya of Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V., “and OPERA is the only technology proposal which does the job everywhere, be it Europe, Asia, the States or Latin America.”

“A market leader in the North American Access BPL chipsets market, DS2 has greater exposure to Access Broadband technologies because of its extensive experience with many Access Broadband deployments. Their chipsets are now setting the standard for speeds with 200Mbps capability and have enhanced features”, according to J Subramanian, Research Analyst of Frost and Sullivan.

About DS2
DS2 Powerline chipsets offer the most compatible and highest performance solution for data, and digital audio and video transmission at 200Mb/s over power line, phone line or coax for home networking or broadband access. DS2 chipsets have been awarded the Best of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in the category of Software and Embedded Systems. DS2's award winning technology supports Access PLC, and is leading the market for IPTV home networking.

Additional information about the DS2 is available at www.ds2.es

DS2 Contact: Lance Watson, lance.watson@ds2.es +34 96 136 60 04

About the Universal Powerline Association
The Universal Powerline Association (UPA) is an International not-for-profit trade association representing the leading PLC companies. The UPA works to harmonize global standards and regulations in the fast developing powerline communications market. The UPA provides all PLC players the opportunity to respond to key customer expectations with open standards, based on interoperability, security, and coexistence and supported by exclusive and independent certification, the only global guarantee of quality and confidence for high-speed powerline technology available today. Members of the UPA include Ambient Corporation, Ascom, Corinex Communications, DS2,

EDF, Duke Energy, Itochu Corporation, Ilevo (Schneider Electric Powerline

Communications),PCN Technology, ST&T, Sumitomo Electric Industries,

Tecnocom, TOYO Network Systems and TM Research & Development.

Additional information about the UPA is available at www.upaplc.org.

UPA Chairman of the Board: Eric Morel, eric.morel@upaplc.org +33 (0) 6 08 71 99 48

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