Frankenstein standards in the powerline market".

Chano Gomez, DS2

"At the moment there is a lot of talk about standards specifications in the broadband powerline market but some proponents are still working with separate layers and separate modems in a single chip. Two or three separate PHY and MAC layers and two or three modems in a single chip does not meet the market requirement for an open standard and will certainly not supply interoperability".

"At best it will produce coexistence--and is immensely short-term. It's a 'fudge' with all the cost implications that this entails. It's the worst of all worlds--it's a Frankenstein standard.

"What we must not do as responsible developers in our industry is 'fudge' our way into some sort of agreement which does not meet the clear needs of the market for open standards and interoperbility. If IEEE proposals that fail to merge these layers continue, then all they will have achieved is to give the market more of what they are offering--incompatibility". "CEPCA, HP, UPA and other key players have all made submissions to help achieve a single unified standard and it is true that such a standard is likely to imply new silicon for all supporters of any of today's technologies (CEPCA, HP, UPA). Because of this it is important that organisations in the market ensure their current and future technology strategies give them maximum freedom to move to a future unified standard with the minimum of disruption". "DS2 intends to be the fast vendor in the broadband powerline market to offer IEEE P1901 compatible silicon--always provided that an open standard is achieved that guarantees true interoperability."

www.ds2.es