The Future of Home Entertainment Networking is G.hn and the Future of G.hn is Sigma's Technology.

What is G.hn?

G.hn is an international standard of next generation home networking solutions over all existing wires in the home: power lines, coaxial cables and phonelines. This G.hn standard was defined and approved by the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union).

G.hn Recommendation is composed of three core components:

• ITU Recommendation G.9960 - Physical Layer
• Recommendation G.9961 - Data Link Layer
• Recommendation G.9972 - Coexistence Protocol

How are G.hn based products being certified

The HomeGrid Forum and the Broadband Forum collaborate to deliver the market with a complete compliance and interoperability testing program for products using G.hn technology toward availability of G.hn products in 2011. This program includes validation of G.hn products, their conformance and interoperability.

How will G.hn handle existing standards in the market today such as HomePNA?

Sigma Designs (CopperGate's parent company) G.hn chipset (CG5110) is backward compatibile with HomePNA and HPAV/IEEE P1901. Every service provider who uses G.hn will have a smooth and seamless migration from legacy standards to the next generation G.hn.

How is G.hn better than P1901?

G.hn is a true next generation standard that takes the best available technology and delivers it over three different media. P1901 is two incompatible technologies (HomePlug AV and HD-PLC) and pretends they are one interoperable standard. Moreover, P1901 is only authorized to work over powerline. The IEEE does not endorse any devices in P1901 over other media so compatibility testing is not ensured.

When will G.hn chips become available?

G.hn chip samples are expected in late 2010 with production chips in 2011.

When will devices with G.hn chips become broadly available?

G.hn-based devices should be ready in 2011.

What will a G.hn architecture look like?

Every power outlet, coaxial outlet and phone jack in the home becomes a network connectivity point on the same mesh network.

G.hn Chipset

• Learn how Sigma's CG5110 Chipset makes designing solutions fast and easy