The HomePNA Alliance announced its next-generation home networking standard in May 2005. Dubbed “HomePNA 3.0”, it succeeds the six-year-old HomePNA 2.0 standard. The latest phoneline-based networking standard boasts a data rate above 100 Mbps, guaranteed QoS and the ability to operate over existing phonelines and coaxial cables.

HomePNA 3.0 enables consumers with multiple PCs to use a single, high-speed Internet connection to simultaneously check e-mail, browse the Web, and share peripherals while streaming audio and video content to consumer electronics devices and PCs--without interfering with standard telephone services. The 100-Mbps data rates are said to support multiple channels of HDTV as well as networked digital video recorder features.

HomePNA 3.0 also supports the Voice-over-HomePNA protocol, which allows eight simultaneous voice streams within the home. VoIP is a double-edged sword for telcos, who can benefit from offering customers multiple voice streams as an alternative to traditional telephone service. On the other side, cable providers and upstart Internet service providers such as Vonage have been exploiting VoIP technology to pluck customers from the telephone companies’ traditional base.

Telcos are now reaching for a piece of the video pie for their survival, and HomePNA 3.0 is an integral component of their strategy to enter the world of Internet Protocol Television, or IPTV. IPTV uses a two-way digital broadcast signal that’s sent through a switched telephone or cable network by way of a broadband connection. A programmed set-top box, similar to a cable box, handles viewer requests to access available media sources. The set-top box is the gateway to an IP video switching system which allows viewers to access broadcast network channels, subscription services, and movies on-demand. The IPTV gateway can also support VoIP.

Set-top boxes and gateways incorporating HomePNA 3.0 have been in testing for more than a year and are now in field trials by service providers. Alliance members come from the networking, telecommunications, hardware, software and consumer electronics industries.