G.Hn Hits Major Milesone Towards Completion

BEAVERTON, OR--(Marketwire - May 27, 2009) - HomeGrid Forum, a global, non-profit trade group promoting the United Nations' ITU-T G.hn standardization efforts for next-generation wired home networking, has announced that the ITU-T has achieved yet another milestone in the progress of G.hn -- the unified standard that supports home networking over multiple wires (power lines, phone lines, and coaxial cables).

This month, the ITU-T progressed the new draft for G.hn and adopted as "Baseline Text" significant portions of the Data Link Layer (DLL). Having the key elements of the DLL as Baseline Text also means that the G.hn group is on track to meet its goal of achieving Consent for the complete G.hn standard during 2009. Stable Baseline Text for the DLL -- coupled with the December 2008 Consented Network Architecture and Physical Layer for G.hn -- further enables silicon vendors to progress their product development. To date, three silicon vendors and one silicon intellectual property vendor have announced their intention to develop products for the new G.hn standard.

Key elements of the G.hn DLL that reached Baseline Text within the ITU-T are:

--  A Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) Media Access Control (MAC), which
    provides guaranteed bandwidth and low latency for applications that have
    strict Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, such as IPTV. G.hn's MAC also
    includes support for multiple priority levels, to ensure that an
    application, such as peer-to-peer file transfers, do not impact the
    performance of higher-priority applications like IPTV, VoIP, or online
    gaming.
    
--  A Logical Link Control (LLC) sub-layer that ensures delivery of data over
    home electrical wiring. G.hn's LLC employs an advanced selective ARQ
    (Automatic Retransmission Request) protocol that automatically re-transmits
    data affected by noise and provides error-free end-to-end Ethernet services
    to any G.hn device on the network connected to power lines, phone lines, or
    coaxial cables.
    
--  A procedure for efficient aggregation of multiple Ethernet messages over
    a single MAC Protocol Data Unit (MPDU). This significantly increases
    network throughput to support applications such as High-Definition IPTV
    that have large bandwidth requirements. G.hn specifies line data rates up
    to 1 Gbit/s, significantly higher than current generation wired networking
    technologies.
    
--  State-of-the-art security based on AES (Advanced Encryption Standard -
    FIPS-PUB-197) and CCM (Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code -
    NIST-SP-900-38C).
    

The functional areas of the DLL that are now adopted as Baseline Text ensure that G.hn can support applications with strict QoS requirements (such as high-definition video), and that G.hn can be used in products for the service provider, consumer electronics, and PC markets.

"The United Nations' ITU-T continues to make rapid progress towards a single unified standard for delivering multimedia content around the home," said Matthew Theall, president of the HomeGrid Forum. "Additionally, this next-generation standard has been actively driven by some of the world's leading service providers, consumer electronics manufacturers and PC companies."

HomeGrid Forum is actively promoting and developing compliance and interoperability test programs for the G.hn standard. These programs will simplify the development, purchase, installation, and use of HomeGrid Forum-Certified products through the entire ecosystem of silicon providers, services providers, consumer electronics companies, personal computer companies, and retailers. The group continues to seek new members that can help drive the success of G.hn.

About HomeGrid Forum

HomeGrid Forum is a global, non-profit trade group promoting the International Telecommunication Union's G.hn standardization efforts for next-generation home networking. HomeGrid Forum promotes adoption of G.hn through technical and marketing efforts, addresses certification and interoperability of G.hn-compliant products, and cooperates with complementary industry alliances. For more information about Homegrid Forum or the G.hn standard, please visit www.homegridforum.org.

Contact Information: CONTACT: Layla McHale McHale Communications for HomeGrid Forum (408) 981-6394