The effort to fix on one technology will bolster the role the power line plays in the emerging field of home networks, said Kurt Scherf, an analyst for home networks at Parks Associates, a Dallas-based market research and consulting firm.

Scherf said that before the advent of HomePlug Alliance, he was "pessimistic" about power-line-based networking technologies because "the market was fragmented and each of the 15 to 20 companies involved pushed their own proprietary solution."

In addition, the technology is tricky. The power line was not designed as a medium to transmit data—it is noisy, said Scherf, and there's a chance of interference between adjacent homes.

With all that weighing against the technology, Scherf said he projected power-line-based links would represent only about 15 percent of all home networks by 2004. That is small compared to the 50 percent share he projected for phone-line home nets and the 20 to 30 percent share estimated for RF-based technology.

The advent of the HomePlug Alliance in April and the group's endorsement of a technology has changed that outlook. Scherf said he intends to boost his forecast for power-line-based home networks beyond the 32 million nodes projected for 2004.

But the issue of standardization is essential for this technology, he said.

They went for too long without creating a committee, and each of the companies [developing power-line-based technology] had too much time to spread hype," Scherf said.

From the EDTN Network, cited from the EE Times article "HomePlug Alliance plugs Intellon, irritates EIA," by Margaret Quan.

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