Government Computer News
Networks power up
Digg
De.licio.us
Slashdot
Technorati
Image: Courtesy of Office of Naval Research
Networking at sea: The Navy’s Afloat Lab uses electrical wiring to connect computers.
How data moves over wires
Efficient, cost-effective networking, both within and between organizations, remains fertile ground for innovation. One still-emerging technology promises to bring the power of communication to the electrical lines that already serve homes, businesses and government facilities.
Connectivity over power lines is beginning to see its first real-world implementations both for in-building LANs and last-mile broadband Internet access. It’s a technology that’s been coming for a while, but a handful of companies have developed next-generation products that may start catching on.
“Our biggest challenge is from people who ask, ‘Does that really work?’ ” said Ronald W. Pickett, CEO of Tel- konet Inc. of Germantown, Md.
Some government agencies say it does.
Telkonet has been promoting its PlugPlus power line communications system in both the government and commercial marketplaces. The system has been used to provide Internet access in a number of hotels and apartment buildings. The Navy is testing it for use with the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet, and the company recently partnered with GTSI Corp. of Chantilly, Va., to help sell more solutions to government customers.
“The only place I’ve seen it working is in a couple of pilots we have going, and it works well,” said NMCI technical director Col. Robert Baker. “It saves you from having to wire a building.”
Outside of buildings, companies such as Communication Technologies Inc. of Chantilly, Va., are using city power lines to provide broadband Internet service in Manassas, Va. Com- tek received a 10-year franchise from Manassas last July.
Comtek CEO Joseph E. Fergus said the company had a waiting list of 1,300 customers ready to pay $28.95 per month for residential service and $39.95 for commercial service at speeds comparable to digital subscriber lines or cable modem.
Fergus called communities with 25,000 to 100,000 potential customers a “real sweet spot” for the technology, and said the company expects to make the service available to all 12,500 homes and 2,500 businesses in Manassas this year.
Will agencies plug in?
But the question is, beyond pilots and small-scale programs will the technology lure agencies? Experts’ opinions are mixed.
In-building networking over wires, and broadband power line Internet access are two different solutions to two different requirements—with varying prospects for success. The latter solution gets most of the attention. In an April 2004 speech, President Bush touted broadband over power lines as an important new technology, and a recent study by Washington’s New Millennium Research Council concluded that 2005 “could be the time the technology begins its emergence as a viable competitor in the broadband market.”
![1105 Government Information Group [valor]](/images/1105logo_website.gif "Government Computer News [valor]")
© 1996-2008 1105 Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
