By Dr Len Dauphinee, HomeGrid Forum President
2018 has been another successful and progressive year for HomeGrid Forum – we have collaborated at many events, welcomed new members to join our growing membership base of industry leaders across the world, and have participated in leading conversations on G.hn and interoperable connectivity.
Over the past 12 months we have enjoyed attending many industry events where we showcased the power of G.hn technology. Envisioning a future of IoT technology, smart homes and smart cities, we discussed and shared how G.hn can play an important role in delivering a seamless, connected future.
Early in April 2018, we attended IoT Expo Global in London which was a great opportunity to discuss the role of G.hn in the future of Smart Cities and Smart Homes markets. IoT has the capability to improve our home life, industrial performance and our cities infrastructure where we can monitor and control any electronic device or sensor. To deliver this performance, we shared how G.hn is a reliable in-home technology system to ensure interoperability between devices and systems. HomeGrid Forum Marketing Chair, Livia Rosu represented the forum and spoke on the panel discussion ‘Scalability and Interoperability – what drives insights?’.
We attended the IoT Summit in San Francisco in mid-April and gave a presentation on “The Energy Efficient IoT Backbone of the Future is Already Here”. The ability of G.hn to provide connectivity over any existing wiring infrastructure as a universal IoT backbone was highlighted with an emphasis on the energy efficiency of G.hn solutions over competing wireless solutions.
In May, we attended the Connected Cities Summit in Chicago and presented “Smart Security Solutions for the Smart Homes and Cities of the Future”. This presentation highlighted one of our new G.hn technology profiles which enables wide bandwidth smart utility meters.
We were also pleased to welcome several new members this year, to collaborate and expand the presence of G.hn technology across the world. New members including China Unicom Research Institute, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), devolo and Liberty Global have brought new expertise and market opportunities to HomeGrid Forum.
As the demand for home networking devices in Asia continues to rise, we attended the June CES ASIA event in Shanghai where we displayed a complete range of G.hn devices being deployed by China Telecom. During the event, we welcomed two major research institutes in China to join the forum, China Unicom Research Institute and CAICT. Our new members signified the strengthening of the position of G.hn in China and contributing innovative developments in the smart home market.
Also in June, we were delighted to welcome devolo, a leading provider of powerline networking solutions in Europe, to join HomeGrid Forum. devolo, based in Germany, has been a leading market provider of HomePlug retail devices for the last 16 years and is transitioning next generation products to G.hn technology. During the 2nd half of 2018, devolo has already achieved HomeGrid certification with two G.hn devices and helped guide the migration to G.hn deployments for operators.
In early October Liberty Global, a leading international TV and broadband company, joined HomeGrid Forum to support the progress of G.hn technology and further improve the future of home networking for their customers. Liberty Global has previously partnered with Comtrend and MaxLinear to deploy a Wi-Fi extender solution that leverages G.hn technology and displayed their “Connect” Ecosystem complete portfolio, including G.hn powered Connect Wi-Fi Boosters, at the company’s Annual Tech Summit in Amsterdam.
It was a very busy end to the year with the forum securing four speaking opportunities at four different events in two months. In October, our Marketing Chair Livia spoke at Broadband World Forum in Berlin on aSmart Home panel and discussed: “Wi-Fi Mesh home networks powered by G.hn backhaul technology: Standards to support carrier-grade deployments”. Comtrend and devolo members of the forum participated in the panel to explain how G.hn extenders allow the Wi-Fi radio to use 100% of its air time to connect to endpoints effectively and ensure highest performance. In the same month, Livia attended Total Telecoms World Congress to deliver a similar presentation about Wi-Fi mesh home networks, in London. The presentation addressed the challenges of next generation home networking and connectivity with G.hn being able to extend connectivity further than any other technology on the market.
In November, we attended European Utility Week in Vienna where we delivered a presentation on how G.hn technology enables smart buildings connectivity and powers the Smart Grid Evolution. G.hn forms a smart home grid which intelligently controls energy use in the home from any networked device. Joined in the panel by European utilities and operators, Livia explained the importance of partnerships between all industry players, encouraging the unification of their development and deployment forces for providing the most reliable broadband connectivity for smart homes and future proof smart grid.
To finish the year, Livia went to IoThings Rome in Italy where she delivered a presentation – in Italian – about the challenges facing connected cities and participated in a panel with Italian operators looking for connectivity solutions.
The opportunity to collaborate and network at these events further highlighted the future needs and challenges of smart home connectivity. With the focus increasingly on innovative solutions to ensure unlimited, seamless connectivity, we strongly believe G.hn technology is a reliable solution for now and the future.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us this year including our members. Our successes and achievements in 2018 have been possible with your continued support. It’s been a very busy, but successful year for us and we’re looking forward to attending more key industry events in years to come.
I look forward to another progressive year in 2019 filled with more opportunities to expand the growth of G.hn and share the benefits it can offer around the world. Stay tune for our next announcements as the HomeGrid Forum will soon host the Enhanced Mesh Wi-Fi Operator Summit in Shanghai, China.