400MPS on Powerlines? Demo yesterday says yes!

DS2, the leading producer of BPL chip sets ran a successful demo of 400MPS broadband over power lines transmission using their new generation of silicon / reference design. This represents a potentially disruptive technology on 2 fronts. First, 400MBPS is 4 times as fast as the average wired or wireless network, and the cable plant for use is already in place anywhere an electrical outlet can be found. Secondly, if the electric utilities can ever get a handle on delpoying the technology and overcoming the mariad of local regulations (the FCC has already blessed BPL as a legit service on the national level), then we’ll have a big third pipe. It’s also worth noting that electric utilies have a traditional mindset of being a pipe, not a content provider.

Yesterday, DS2, a leading provider of chipsets for powerline networking devices, hosted a demonstration of its next-generation equipment for the press and financial analysts. The hardware was impressive, handling data at sustained rates of well over 400Mbps while maintaining backwards compatibility with earlier generations of the company’s hardware. But, while powerline networking is a promising solution for a number of problems, there are some substantial challenges to its adoption by the broader market. (from ARS Technica)