DS2 powerline networking goes up against WirelessHD for components

DS2 is one of dozens of vendors showing products at this year's CES for powerline home networking over standard electrical wiring. Some of DS2's competitors are now collaborating together on a new IEEE powerline industry standard. But powerline isn't nearly as quick as WirelessHD, an emerging wireless home networking technology.

Beyond its previous introductions of support for Microsoft Vista and 400 megabits-per-second (Mbps) home networking, DS2 is using the international forum of CES to roll out more features and solutions -- for use in both consumers' residences and on service providers' networks -- that run over standard electronical wiring.

As previously reported in BetaNews, last week, Spanish-based DS2 announced that its powerline chips -- available in North America mainly through NetGear's home networking products -- now support network mapping capabilities in Vista, to help consumers troubleshoot home networking connectivity problems.

During pre-CES festivities in New York City last fall, DS2 promised to show 400 Mbps technology that is twice as fast as its previous 200 Mbps technology.

True to its word, on the CES show floor, DS2 is today demoing those 400 Mbps chips, along with its 200 Mbps and 100 Mbps technologies, new Vista support, and a capability called TR069 for remote management of large networks over electrical cabling.

Also on hand at CES are dozens of other powerline vendors whose equipment does not interoperate with DS2's, but who are working together to forge interoperability among multiple companies' products.

These include members of the HomePlug Power Alliance and vendors supporting the HomePlug AV protocol -- two previously warring factions who recently decided to collaborate on a new IEEE industry standard for powerline.

Meanwhile, another group -- the WirelessHD Alliance -- is working on home networking technology designed to work wirelessly at the much more rapid rate of 4 gigabits-per-second (Gbps).