By Elizabeth Millard
With a recent investment by Google and a new initiative announced by
IBM, broadband-over-power-line technology has leapt back into the
spotlight. Have companies finally found a way to profit from the
promise of broadband in every home with an electrical outlet?
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Using a low-cost adapter, BPL (broadband over power line) customers can
get high-speed Internet service using the wiring that already exists in
their homes or offices.

The technology has been touted as having a number of benefits for users
as well as for utility companies. Not only can it deliver broadband to
areas that lack DSL or cable service, advocates say, but it also can
boost power service reliability and track outage information more
accurately by using network tracking capability.

Although utilities and technology companies have been tinkering with
using power lines to carry data for nearly 20 years, within the past
five years there has been increasing interest in commercialization.


Those who are betting that BPL's time has come include some technology
heavyweights, which could ensure a level of success. On July 7, BPL
provider Current Communications Group noted that it had received major
investment from Google Inc., the Hearst Corp. and Goldman Sachs.

Current Communications went after the high-profile investors because
the company believes that many of the technical hurdles have been
addressed, driving BPL toward a more cost-effective model, said Kevin
Kushman, vice president of corporate development at Current.






http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1836390,00.asp