G.hn Gains Momentum with Marvell Silicon
by Ganesh T S on September 27, 2011 3:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Powerline Adapters
- G.hn
- HomePlug
While we dealt with coexistence in the previous section, interoperability is a more interesting. This is where Sigma Designs scores big. In addition to being one of the first vendors to demonstrate working G.hn silicon, they also add the icing on the cake by indicating interoperability with both HomePlug and HomePNA devices. This means that any G.hn device made with Sigma Designs's CG 5110 (demonstrated at CES 2011) will be able to exchange data with HomePlug AV and HomePNA devices.
Sigma Designs is not putting all its eggs in one basket either. Earlier this month, they introduced their second generation HomePlug AV silicon (CG 2210) compliant with the IEEE P1901 specifications. Despite having only a 200 Mbps PHY like the CG 2110, it includes a number of architectural improvements and reduced power consumption (being fabricated in the 55nm process, compared to the 90nm process used in the CG2110).
Final Words
G.hn is gaining momentum with silicon from multiple vendors. Marvell is the latest entrant to the game and it appears likely that they will win over all the UPA adopters with their G.hn offering. In the big picture, however, G.hn is up against HomePlug's huge install base. Irrespective of which standard wins out in the end, coexistence is an absoute necessity and interoperability would be nice to have. In this respect, Sigma Designs has covered all the bases with silicon for both HomePlug AV and G.hn. With today's silicon introduction, Marvell is betting big on G.hn winning. Will Marvell need to change its stance? Only time will tell.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
11 Comments
View All Comments
glad2meetu - Thursday, September 29, 2011 - link
The G.hn solution offered by Marvell and other vendors will perform better in real life than most wireless N solutions. My neighbors all around me also have wireless N and G routers in their homes that results in interference. Most people have this problem unless they live in the countryside, in which case they likely will have issues just having access to a high speed ISP provider. The level of wireless interference is high in the 2.4GHz range. And 5GHz suffers from lower coverage, which is why it has always been a niche for wireless. The G.hn solution is much better for streaming applications to TVs and other home entertainment services. After all, every flat screen TV needs a plug for power and this plug or the coax that runs through most houses is quite suitable for heavy streaming video applications and does not need to be compressed. Telephone wires are similar, since DSL modems are nearly as common as cable modems. Full uncompressed 1080P and higher future video standards should be possible with G.hn. That is not feasible with wireless. The only pitfall for G.hn is wireless is nice for laptops and other stuff since you do not have a cord, which is good if you are just browsing the internet or running relatively light streaming applications.I expect we will start seeing people using both wireless and G.hn for their networking needs. Minimizing packet loss is something many people are willing to pay for with streaming applications, whether it is video or lan parties/online gaming. I predict there will be a significant market for this technology in the US. I expect G.hn may become one of the next new features in high end TVs after 3D. In many ways it reminds me of when SSD drives came out over the last couple of years relative to HDD drives in computer storage. Both SSD and HDD drives coexist in more computing systems these days. G.hn will coexist with wireless.
G.hn is simply more versatile than 1905.1. Nobody wants to have multiple different types of phy/macs and have to add network processors if you are a system provider since it adds to the cost to products. And 1905.1 is like the wireless B standard. Ultimately I don't see it as competitive with G.hn in terms of performance and reliability.