Two U.K. firms, Cyan Technology and Amino Communications, are working on a new AC power home networking system that will cost less than $3 to implement on each appliance.
This contrasts, the firms say, with the $20 per chipset/system cost of existing home networking systems.
Cyan, a semiconductor specialist, has licensed Amino's IntAct AtHome networking protocol for use in a low-cost chipset planned for release to home appliance vendors in 12 months' time.
The chipset, the company says, will allow vendors to "network up" their devices across regular AC power connections.
The technology is still at an early stage in its development, but Cyan's specifications on the chipset are almost finished.
David Griffiths, the firm's CEO, told Newsbytes that the aim of the technology is to hook a wide variety of home appliances together using the humble power socket on the wall.
Unlike existing Internet-over-power-line systems, which support high-speed access to the Internet at speeds of 500 kilobits per second (Kbps), the Cyan/Amino technology putts along at just one Kbps.
The reason for this, Griffiths said, is that the higher speeds that some power companies are seeking on their AC networks require a lot of electronics to filter out the interference on a typical power circuit.
"The problem with a home AC circuit is that there is a lot of electronic noise. If you move data at high speeds, it takes of work to filter out all the electronic rubbish," he said.
"At 1 kbps, there isn't the need for that kind of filtering, which is why our chipset will come in at a price that refrigerators, heating systems, air conditioning and security equipment can feature without adding appreciably to the end user price," he said.
Despite its expected sub-$3 price point, Cyan says that its chipset will include power line modem and transceiver circuitry, allowing it to be included as standard on a typical AC appliance transformer.
Cyan/Amino technology would operate in a client-server-style configuration, with the server being replaced by a master node that acts a residential gateway.
Amino is at http://www.aminocom.com .
Cyan is at http://www.cyantechnology.com .
Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com .
14:10 CST
(20010716/Press Contact: Sarah Keefe, Amino Communications +44-1954- 784526; David Griffiths, Cyan Technology +44-1954-207070 /WIRES ONLINE, BUSINESS/)
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