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HomeGrid Forum – new drive for G.hn technology

The HomeGrid Forum supporting the G.hn (Gigabit Home Networking) standard technology has got a face-over.

A new organisational structure with five task forces, including one for the smart grid, is intended to support specific use cases and accelerate the deployment of network technologies in the home and other buildings.

G.hn, most widely deployed in North America and China, was developed as a home networking standard by the International Telecommunications Union, and is supported by the industry through the HomeGrid Forum.

“This is an exciting time for HomeGrid Forum with the creation of five dedicated task forces, as G.hn has become a critical component of a widening portfolio of devices and use cases,” says Forum president Livia Rosu.

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“As global connectivity demands continue to rise at an unprecedented pace, HomeGrid Forum’s task forces will be driving forward G.hn to support anywhere broadband for challenging topologies.”

While the smart grid has always featured as part of the Forum’s workflow, this is the first time it has gained a dedicated programme.

The task force will be led by Tomer Cohen, Product Manager at Silicon Valley headquartered Lumissil Microsystems, the analogue/mixed-signal product division of fabless semiconductor company ISSI.

Says Cohen: “Our work will drive forward the use of G.hn to ensure compliance and interoperability for applications across the smart grid sector and support the electric utilities engaged in smart cities deployments built on G.hn infrastructure.”

The other task forces are focussed on home networking, GiGaWire broadband access networking, LiFi light-based wireless communication and the Industrial IoT.

The chairs of the task forces have been tasked to drive the interoperability efforts for the key topologies and profiles identified by service providers, electric utilities and digital industries that are engaged in broadband deployments.

They will each publish a charter that defines connectivity goals and deployment milestones and will be responsible for championing G.hn as an interconnectivty backbone for the respective market segments.

The Home Networking task force is chaired by Edward Yu, Head of Product Planning at Comtrend, the GiGaWire task force by Paul Arola, Senior Design Specialist at Telus, the LiFi task force by Musa Unmehopa, Head of Ecosystems and Strategic Alliances at Trulifi by Signify, and the Industrial IoT task force by Alexandre Schäfer, Head of Sales, and Philipp Rietzsch, R&D Project Manager, at Teleconnect GmbH.