January 5, 2010

MoCA and HomePlug Powerline Alliance Sign Formal Liaison

The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA®) and the HomePlug® Powerline Alliance have entered into a formal liaison agreement to facilitate communications and information sharing between both organizations. The two organizations will be coordinating efforts in educational and informational programs and activities that promote new multimedia applications and the benefits of home networking.

“By establishing a formal relationship, HomePlug and MoCA will be able to work more closely together to create the best possible user experience for consumers and operators,” said Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. “Our two alliances are the only organizations in the wired home networking industry whose next-generation specifications will be backward compatible and interoperable with MoCA 1.0/1.1 and HomePlug AV. For home networking to become truly pervasive, multiple coexisting wired and wireless technologies are essential, and this agreement moves the industry a step closer to that goal.”

“This agreement is meant as a signal to all stakeholders in the industry—from operator to end consumer-- that two very prominent home networking alliances are willing to work together to demonstrate technological and market coexistence,” said Charles Cerino, president of MoCA.

“A closer alignment between these two alliances gives service providers greater confidence to develop home networking solutions using either or both technology standards,” said Brian Whitton, executive director, access technologies, Verizon Communications.

Each organization is currently developing its own next generation specification, respectively designated as MoCA 2.0 and HomePlug AV2, to offer Gigabit class service with full backward interoperability to their widely deployed technology bases.

Furthermore, HomePlug is developing its new Green PHY spec for Smart Grid applications. All specs are slated for completion in 2010. MoCA, leveraging its existing installed base of coax in the home, is also pursuing incorporation into the Smart Grid Interoperability Guidelines.

The liaison between MoCA and HomePlug is effective immediately.

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