Intellon Corporation (Intellon), a US-based fabless semiconductor company, said that Guillemot Corporation (Guillemot) has selected INT6400 HomePlug AV integrated circuits (ICs) for its powerline products in expanding Hercules-branded powerline adapters. These Hercules powerline adapters will operate to the HomePlug AV standard (200 Mbps PHY-rate) and deliver fast networking speeds with lower power consumption.
Guillemot has introduced Hercules-branded wireless networking products four years ago and has built a reputation for providing simple, consumer-friendly products. At present, it is applying its expertise to bring Intellon HomePlug-based powerline networking products to its markets. The company’s new HomePlug AV units continue Hercules’ traditional brand strengths such as strong security, less power consumption and ultra-simple user interfaces.
“We are seeing accelerating adoption of the INT6400 and this is another example where a well-respected company is bringing the value of lower operating power, increased performance and additional features to their markets by quickly implementing our newest chip in a new adapter design,” said Rick Furtney, president and COO of Intellon. “We believe that the new Hercules ePlug 200 will be the first INT6400-based adapter available in the European retail market space.”
It was a natural move for the Hercules brand to use its expertise and logic to create ultra-simple devices in another area of home networking solutions, such as Powerline Communications, states Bertrand Gasnier, development manager for Hercules. “For this new range, we also sought to include high-performance and reliable technologies, which are indispensable in the field of data transfers; and to this end, we chose Intellon’s industry-leading technology.
Hercules-branded products are simple and fast to set-up. Users simply connect one end of an Ethernet cable to the first ePlug and the other to a switch or router or directly into the home gateway. The ePlug unit is then plugged into a power outlet. Other ePlugs plug into other outlets throughout the home, instantly creating a network for access to the home network or the WAN and Internet. Computers, game stations, set-top boxes and other devices can connect through ePlug units in any room.
The Hercules ePlug powerline adaptor portfolio also includes powerline adapters using Intellon’s HomePlug 1.0 with Turbo IC, the INT5500.