The Homeplug Powerline Alliance is introducing a new way of delivering high bandwidth and enhanced security internet contents to our home. They will be showing their new products in this coming Cebit 2007 – the leading business event for the digital world in Hannover, Germany on 15-21, March 2007.

This concept is based on power outlets availability in every room and is utilizing these existing power outlets to provide both power and connectivity to your multimedia system. Just imagine, you can just plug your laptop to any existing power outlet, without the need of running Ethernet cable up and down the stairs. There is no “new wire” or wall drilling needed for the installation. The original Homeplug 1.0 standard supports normal home network via electrical power outlets at 14Mbps. It eventually evolved to Homeplug AV standard that allow higher multimedia transfer rate of up to 200 Mbps. The throughput, which is even higher than current 802.11 b/g wireless technology, is more than sufficient to support few high definition media contents streaming in parallel. A single high definition media streaming may consume less than 10 Mbps. Furthermore, its performance is not affected by noise interference, which is common for wireless technology especially in rooms that are separated by thick wall.

The setup is simple plug and play – probably with some simple setup required as similar to when setting up your wireless router for the first time.

The only drawback for this new technology is its compatible device is not so popular and the price could be expensive for consumers. From time to time, we should expect to see more Homeplug certified products on store shelves at affordable price.