home phoneline networking alliance

1 definition found

home phoneline networking alliance - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  Home Phoneline Networking Alliance
  HomePNA
  
     <communications, networking, protocol, standard> (HomePNA) A
     non-profit association of more than 100 technology companies
     working together to ensure adoption of a phone line
     networking standard which should provide high-speed,
     affordable home networking.
  
     The Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA) was founded
     in June 1998 by 3Com, AMD, AT&T Wireless Services,
     Compaq, Conexant, Epigram, Hewlett-Packard, IBM,
     Intel, Lucent Technologies, Rockwell Semiconductor
     Systems, and Tut Systems.  The membership now spans the
     networking, telecommunications, hardware, software, and
     consumer electronics industries.
  
     The alliance was originally formed because of the increasing
     demand for home networking caused by the growing number of
     homes with multiple PCs (and other devices) to connect
     together to provide facilities such as shared Internet
     access, networked gaming, and sharing of peripherals,
     files and applications.
  
     The member companies aimed to develop open standards to
     ensure compatibility between different manufacturers'
     products.  They also decided that this should be done using
     the phone wiring that already existed in people's homes.  The
     concept of "no new wires" networking meant installation was
     simpler.
  
     HomePNA's original specifications could be used to create a 1
     Mbps (megabits per second) Ethernet-compatible LAN with
     no hubs, routers, splitters or terminations.  Adapters
     would allow any computer (or other device) with an Ethernet
     port to be linked to the home network.  Up to 25 PCs,
     peripherals and network devices can be connected to such a
     network.
  
     On 1999-12-01, the HomePNA announced a new release of its
     networking technology specification, called Home PNA 2.0.
     Like the first specification, it uses existing phone lines,
     but it can operate at speeds up to 10 Mbps.  The new version
     is backwardly compatible with the original 1 Mbps HomePNA
     technology, and is designed to provide faster networks
     suitable for future voice, video and data applications.
  
     HomePNA.org (http://homepna.org/).  HomePNA.Com (http://HomePNA.com/)
     .
  
     (2000-03-24)