400Mbit/s powerline networking ready to go

 

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Posted on 8 Jan 2009 at 19:47

DS2 has demonstrated its 400Mbit/s powerline networking kit. This gives it technology that's, on paper, twice as fast as its main rival HomePlug AV. DS2's technology is also backwards compatible with its earlier kit: 100Mbit/s and 200Mbit/s network adaptors.

This means that a home network will happily coexist will all versions of DS2's technology talking to each other at their native speed: 400Mbit/s adaptors will run at 100Mbit/s with 100Mbit/s adaptors, and at 400Mbit/s with 400Mbit/s adaptors. This gives the company a massive advantage over HomePlug, where different standards are unable to talk to each other.

The demonstration we saw used pre-production kit, but still managed to run at around 210Mbit/s, although this was over a short distance. Current speed statistics for the 200Mbit/s product are encouraging, though. DS2 currently quotes that 95 per cent of power sockets in an average home should get a minimum of 35Mbit/s when using the powerline networking kit, and between 40 and 50 per cent of power sockets should get up to 200Mbit/s. If these kinds of figures are translated to the new products, the 400Mbit/s network should be quick.

The speed of the 400Mbit/s products will also depend on the final products and the networking port that they use. If manufacturers launch adaptors with 100Mbit/s Ethernet ports, the technology will be limited to around 90Mbit/s download (180Mbit/s duplex); with Gigabit Ethernet they'll be able to run at full speed. Not having Gigabit Ethernet doesn't necessarily have to be a problem, though, as the underlying network will still run at 400Mbit/s, so you'd be able to run more computers without eating the bandwidth up.

No 400Mbit/s network adaptors have been announced yet, but it's likely the first products in the UK will come from DS2's big partners, Netgear and D-Link, by the end of the year.

"We're aiming at an early Q4 launch this year," said Victor Dominguez Richards, VP of sales at DS2,"but we're ready now if the market demands it."

It could be a big year for powerline networking technology, as faster broadband speeds, such as Virgin Media's 50Mbit/s service, mean that users look for quicker and more reliable networking technologies.

"In buildings with overlapping networks, wireless doesn't have it: it's unstable and you'll get varying speeds," said Dominguez Richards. "Powerline is stable."

Author: David Ludlow in Las Vegas