(Preface: I am usually the last person to disbelieve and write off a dramatic breakthrough story, but this one has me shaking my head. If any of you have made contact, heard the pitch directly, and especially if you’ve signed their nondisclosure and seen some details, I’ll be very interested to hear what you think of it.)

Media Fusion is a mysterious small company in Dallas TX that is making amazing claims for their “PAN”, or Powerline Area Network. Here are some words from their website:
( http://mediafusioncorp.net )

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“Media Fusion’s technology is a proprietary method and system (pat. pend.) that uses the magnetic field and electric power lines.

In simple terms, Media Fusion’s Advanced Sub-Carrier Modulation™ process writes data within the electrical magnetic wave surrounding the power line, utilizing proprietary software and hardware. This then enables the electrical power grid to carry telephone, radio, video, Internet and satellite data to any destination at near light-speed.

Each home or business subscriber is provided with an easy-to-install communications package that will include a controller and several outlet connectors that can hook up phones, computers, TVs and any other communicating appliance to the network. Each connector has a unique identity that is characterized by the system.”
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One of our UFTO colleagues has heard the company’s in-person presentation, and came away with no better understanding of how this is supposed to work than he had before. When I asked the company for a copy of their standard presentation vugraphs, they refused. The website provides absolutely not a clue about how the technology is supposed to work. In conversations, they say 30-40 companies have signed an NDA. They say this is the only way they’ll open up about the technology, whose patents are pending. They also say companies are lining up to give them money, and that technology demonstrations are imminent.

Meanwhile, the claims border on the fantastic. Ultra high bandwidths. Indefinitely long range. A completely new and different concept, involving the injection of data onto the magnetic field that emanates from the power system and can be felt anywhere and everywhere. This from a conversation with Luke Stewart, inventor of the technology, who utters a bizarre array of high tech buzzwords, but little that could be related to any familiar concepts of power systems or telecommunications. He is reported to be “self-educated” and a genius, someone who worked directly with Bill Gates, who’s reported to think him the smartest guy Gates had ever encountered. I could find no patents issued to him, or anything else about him.

There has been some bigtime press coverage. The company’s website has copies of articles that appeared in Interactive Week, and on CNET.
http://www.news.com/SpecialFeatures/0,5,37215,00.html

The author of the CNET piece told me he’d not been able to learn anything more about the technology, and that he took a chance on the story, based on the support the company has from some Congressmen and retired high ranking military people.

The company did provide me with a 10-page document called “Powerline Communications Industry Update”, which has a pretty good summary of power line communications technology all over the world – and why they all have problems — maybe the best thing to come out of it. I’ll send a copy on request.