ABI: ITU's G.hn Home Networking Standard Has Significant Potential
June 26, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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According to ABI Research, many in the industry have been wondering where a new standard would fit in an already crowded market.
Electronics & Telecom Standards Collections IEC Standards News Electronics & Telecom Standards The success of Wi-Fi for consumer-installable networks and the recent momentum for HomePlug Alliance (HPA) and Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) in service provider networks raises the question: Why add another specification, as well as an industry alliance such as HomeGrid, to the mix?
"G.hn - which has been under development for nearly two years - is intended to create a unifying standard for the different home network technologies, aimed at distributing next-generation service-provider offerings in the home," said ABI Research director Michael Wolf.
He said there are several applications, such as multi-room high-definition (HD) video, that would ultimately benefit from the move toward a single media access control (MAC)/physical interface transceiver (PHY) for multiple media in the home.
Where would ITU's G.hn fit into the home network? Analysts said the infrastructure and technology requirements for service provider, whole-home media are unique. Successful service provider deployments of MoCA and HomePNA 3.1 in North America, and HPA and Universal Powerline Association (UPA) worldwide, suggest that carrier-oriented media networking technologies can assist in rolling out new services.
The effort to build a higher-speed single specification for the three primary in-home wiring types (powerline, coax and phone line) will provide a roadmap for next-generation service provider deployments, analysts said.
"While it is still early, ABI Research sees promise in the efforts by ITU G.hn," said Wolf. "Ultimately, if G.hn sees integration into carrier devices by 2010, we expect that in 2013, some 42 million G.hn-compliant nodes will ship into the market in devices such as set-top boxes [STBs], residential gateways and other service provider CPE [customer premises equipment] hardware."
Source: ABI Research.