Atheros Merges Home Wi-Fi, Powerline Networks

From PC World: Chipmaker Atheros Communications tried to simplify home networks on Monday with reference designs for combined Wi-Fi and powerline networks, even as the technologies in this field remain complex and potentially confusing for consumers.

Atheros, a major Wi-Fi silicon supplier that recently acquired powerline networking vendor Intellon, announced general availability of the first reference designs to come out of that relationship. Equipment makers can use them to design gear that bridges wireless and electrical-wiring networks.

Many consumers have already networked their homes with Wi-Fi, typically for sharing a broadband Internet connection to browse the Web. But the high-definition TV and video streams that carriers and cable operators are now delivering often require something more than wireless if members of a household want to enjoy that content in different rooms. There is already a variety of systems that use the phone lines, coaxial cable or electrical wiring inside walls.

Atheros has designed a Wi-Fi router that can send packets onto a home's electrical grid through the power cord that plugs it into the wall. To go with that router, the company has developed an adapter that can be plugged into a power socket elsewhere in the house and provide Wi-Fi in that room, linking back to the router through the powerline network. In this way, the consumer doesn't have to rely entirely on Wi-Fi to send multimedia streams throughout the house. Atheros is also introducing two powerline-to-Ethernet adapters -- a one-port and a four-port model -- for connecting some fixed gear such as DVD players with the powerline network.

View: Article @ Source Site