HomeGrid Forum to Update COMPUTEX 2011 Attendees on Exciting G.hn Technology Advances and Facilitate Home Networking Demonstrations

BEAVERTON, OR--(Marketwire - May 19, 2011) - HomeGrid Forum today announced that it is co-hosting a seminar titled: "G.hn - Next Generation Home Networking and Z-Wave - Smart Home Control Forum" at COMPUTEX 2011 on June 2, 2011 in Taipei. The seminar is a joint effort of HomeGrid Forum, Z-Wave (an alliance promoting the world's first affordable wireless control technology for everyday life), and the Institute of Information Industry (III), the operations team of the Committee of Communications Industry Development, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan.

Attendees of COMPUTEX 2011 will have an unprecedented opportunity to hear from industry visionaries on the new wired home networking technology and see public technology demonstrations. Speakers from HomeGrid Forum, including representatives from Lantiq, Marvell, Metanoia and Sigma Designs, will discuss industry trends and the current status of G.hn and G.hnem. Other speakers and seminar delegates will include service providers, government officials, MSOs, system integrators and OEMs.

Of great public interest and as a major milestone for the organization, several HomeGrid Forum members including Sigma Designs, Lantiq and Metanoia, are planning to showcase G.hn products at this COMPUTEX seminar.

"This is the second year that HomeGrid Forum has been an active participant at COMPUTEX Taipei and this has proved to be an important showcase in Asia for us," commented Matt Theall, President of HomeGrid Forum. "The explosive growth in home networking applications in Asia, driven by increasing use of IPTV and HDTV in the region, means that Asia has enormous potential to benefit from the advantages that G.hn can bring."

The figures for IPTV are a compelling illustration of the importance of developing the right standards to support the demand. According to figures published by the Broadband Forum and based on statistics prepared by industry analyst Point Topic, Asia showed over 50% growth in IPTV subscribers during 2010 and is set to overtake Europe in 2011 as the largest IPTV subscriber base.

"We have come a long way in one year since the last COMPUTEX," said Mr. Theall. "At the 2010 event we announced a collaboration agreement with the Broadband Forum to progress G.hn. This year we can look back on first G.hn silicon, the appointment of a G.hn test house and the first interoperability plugfest."

Further, the G.hn standard has not stood still in the last year. The ITU, supported proactively by the HomeGrid Forum and its members, has continued to work towards additional enhancements to the standard, including energy management G.hnem and also a draft new standard called G.hn-mimo that adds state-of-the-art MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology to the G.hn standard for high-speed networking over existing home wiring. More information on G.hn can be found at www.homegridforum.org.

For more information and an invitation to attend the seminar, please visit: http://www.digitimes.com.tw/seminar/DGT_iii1000602.html.

About HomeGrid Forum
HomeGrid Forum is a global, non-profit trade group promoting the International Telecommunication Union's G.hn and G.hnem standardization efforts for next-generation home networking and SmartGrid Applications. HomeGrid Forum promotes adoption of G.hn and G.hnem through technical and marketing efforts, addresses certification and interoperability of G.hn and G.hnem-compliant products, and cooperates with complementary industry alliances. For more information on HomeGrid Forum, please visit www.homegridforum.org or follow us on http://twitter.com/homegrid_forum.