Intro
Bob Crabtree sits down with Powerline chip-maker DS2 to learn about its vision of fuss-free, high-speed, around-the-home networking over household mains cables
In the ideal digital home, there would be high-speed Ethernet cables buried in the walls and multiple network outlets in every room.
But the world isn't ideal and so the question often arises, and will arise ever more frequently in future, "Just how does my family get access around the house to broadband, internet gaming, TV-over-internet and our digital media - and all at the same time?".
Wireless technology presents one solution but it's far from ideal. Anyone who's tried and failed to set up a wireless network - or even tried and eventually succeeded - knows that the words "compatibility", "interoperability" and "wireless" have no place together in the same sentence.
Anyway, wireless simply won't cut the mustard - it doesn't have sufficient bandwidth.
Try feeding multiple streams of relatively low-res video or a single stream of high-def video over the fastest of today's home wireless networks. The dropped frames that result - even if nothing much else is happening on the network - will make you quickly realise that a technology with a lot more bandwidth is required.
Trouble is, the same is likely to remain true even if the long-awaited 802.11n wireless standard, with its increased throughput, does ever get ratified.
Of course, you could always do the job properly and lay Ethernet cables throughout.
The only things stopping you are the time it takes and the ugly mess that's likely to result unless you pay professionals to dig out channels, drill holes, lift up carpets and floorboards and then re-decorate and make everything good again afterwards.
All that's by way of an introduction to the vision of an alternative - and fuss-free - high-speed, around-the-home network that was laid out this morning by Victor Dominguez Richards of chipmaker DS2...
