DS2 (Design of Systems on Silicon SA) announced that it has developed technology that will allow next generation powerline products to operate at a peak data rate of 400Mbps. This milestone will enable the development of new HD-capable multimedia applications, such as multi-channel HD-IPTV delivery or multi-room PVR.
To be demonstrated in November, DS2 400Mbps technology will be available in next generation products from DS2 on time to satisfy what the company describes as the demands for extra bandwidth in the digital home and last mile applications that analysts predict will happen from 2009 onwards. Next generation multimedia applications including multi-room IPTV and HDTV networked entertainment services, networked PVRs (personal video recorders) and multiple video streams will require bandwidth sufficient to support 5 or more simultaneous video streams.
DS2’s 400 Mbps technology will be compatible with existing 200Mbps products from DS2, ensuring what the company describes as a seamless migration path for existing users and designs, and will comply with the evolving standards.
Jose Calero, CTO at DS2 stated, "Increased bandwidth requirements for multimedia networking applications is one of the key requirements that suppliers to the home networking, networked entertainment and last-mile BPL markets are looking for from future technology specifications. We are well on the way to developing our 3rd generation technology to ensure that suppliers will have the products available to meet the demand for multimedia applications in the future. These results are very exciting and demonstrate that we will be able to achieve the rates required to sustain the multimedia applications of the future over powerline or coax".
The new technology is said to build on the success of DS2’s 200 Mbps technology, already deployed and tested by leading operators that include Belgacom, British Telecom, Portugal Telecom, Telefonica, Telecom Italia and Telia Sonera; global electricity utilities such as Endesa, Electricite de France, and Iberdrola and vendors of networking products including Buffalo, D-Link, Comtrend, Corinex Communications and Netgear.
