Last Oct 8, Nortel and Norweb in the UK made a big announcement about a breakthrough in putting data over the powerline at up to 1 megabit/sec. UFTO Notes on Oct 8 and 22 supplied information that was available at that time. (See the UFTO Database-do a search for “nortel” to get a copy of these two notes.) In mid December, another press release was issued on the test being run at a school in Manchester, England. The system is operational.

Understandably, UFTO’s initial query to Nortel back in October got lost in the chaos that followed their first announcement. Now with a recent follow up, we have new information and a unique opportunity to get involved at the front end of this remarkable development.

1. More details about the system now officially named “Digital Powerline” are available on Nortel’s website at:

http://www.nortel.com/broadband/reference/norweb.html

2. Nortel and Norweb will announce in the coming weeks how they intend to pursue worldwide commercial deployment of this product.

3. Nortel North America, headquartered in Atlanta, has a group that sells networking equipment and services to the electric utility industry. This group has lined up two US utilities for a preliminary study of their distribution system configurations, to be able to begin the process of understanding the best prospects for deployment — i.e. markets, locations, niches, and technical issues, etc.

The system serves as the communications link to the customer’s premises, and provides an “always on” internet connection. A small box next to the meter connects via coax cable to the customer’s computer. The ISP would connect to the utility’s backbone which connects via fiber or other dedicated high-bandwidth transport means. As the website explains, one big issue for N. America is the number of customers per distribution transformer (8-10, vs. 100 or more in the UK), and the possible need for some kind of bypass technology.

More technical details beyond what appears on the website can be made available only under a non-disclosure.

The Nortel group in Atlanta would welcome the opportunity to enter into discussions with UFTO utilities. Contact: Barbara Warren, 770-708-5117, bswarren@nortel.com