HomePlug AV2 gets MIMO

HomePlug announced that their next gen powerline specification, so called HomePlug AV2, will have MIMO (Multiple-Inputs Multiple-Outputs) which "offers significant increases in link throughput and range without requiring additional spectrum or transmit power."

HAN Fan likes the idea of better coverage for powerline based home networks, so HomePlug MIMO is a win.

HAN Fan thinks it might be a big win for HomePlug member and HomePlug AV contributor, Sigma Designs. They announced MIMO for their HomePlug AV chip in June 2010. Surely HomePlug AV2's MIMO is based on Sigma's?

Anonymous says Marvell has bought DS2

An anonymous coward has posted a comment on HAN Fan today claiming Marvel has bought DS2.

From the post:

Well well The nightmare is over, Marvell have finally reach the end of negotiation with DS2, They have made 40 employees redundant. It was a very curios selection of redundant list.

All the Manage and their friends and family stay on, They have dissolved the Workers comite, and they have lay out members of the comite that belong to Union.

I don't see the company doing well if the top are not remove...

Remember that DS2 have not come out with a new product since the change of R+D Coordinators (Gigle Boys) over 5 years now... 

HAN Fan thinks this is likely to be true, but there is no official press release so far.

Update 29 July 2010: According to new comments, it seems that "Marvell has not bought DS2. They have bought the IP and contracted 2/3 of the staff rather than buying the company".
So, don't wait-up all night for a press release from DS2 that says: "Assets stripped, debt still due, but we are still in business". HAN Fan is pleased that most of the staff has jobs.

We don't need no stinking wires--at least Comtrend don't

Coming off the tremendous success of their IPTV video distribution over powerline products with BT in the UK, Comtrend had decided to switch tactics.

Comtrend has launched a new wireless video adapter for whole-home HD IPTV targeting North American service providers."Powered by the new Celeno CL1820 802.11n high performance chipset which can provide up to 120Mbps video throughput with zero packet error rate"--which what you need.


HAN Fan does wonder why Comtrend has taken this route as coax is king North American service providers and WiFi is subject to interference by over use by every random ipad, iphone, laptop, microwave oven in the house.

DS2 Bankrupt since November 2009

While HAN Fan sources expect that somebody to buy DS2 this week, she was very much surprised that they have been bankrupt since November 2009.

This was announced in a press  release March 5th 2010. But according to the Valencia Commercial Court document dated the 30th of November 2009 DS2 was officially made bankrupt. This document was only published March 4th 2010, hence the March 5th press release.

HAN Fan thinks 8 months is a long time to wind-up a company, but at least it seems to be done.

UPA makes a press release about bankrupted DS2

Very strange that the UPA, the DS2 fan club created by DS2, has issued a press release about DS2's 2010 business results.

HAN Fan thinks it could be because:

• DS2's bankruptcy judge won't  let DS2 spend any money they don't have
• DS2's bankruptcy judge won't  let DS2 make stuff up

HAN Fan sincerely hopes that the press release will not discourage the buy out of  DS2 next week.

UPA's press release claims that DS2 had record sells in Q1 2010, "86% growth on the previous year". If so, HAN Fan thinks that 2009 must have been a annus horribilis for DS2.

HAN Fan hope that all this noise does not delay the G.hn chip promised by DS2 for 2009.

DS2 under new management next week

UPA and G.hn Promoter,  DS2 (aka Diseño de Sistemas en Silicio),  will emerge from its chapter 11 bankruptcy procedure early next week, according to HAN Fan's sources in Spain. HAN Fan was told that while DS2's assets were looked at by some of biggest global semiconductor vendors, it is likely that the buyers will be an European investment fund or funds.

Comcast 'AnyRoom DVR' deploying MoCA--gave up waiting on G.hn

According to Lightreading, North America's largest service provider, Comcast, is deploying massively their "AnyRoom DVR" solution. Mostly this is to be able to keep-up with the Jones (i.e. DirecTV, Verizon, and even AT&T).

Entropic got a big lift as it is their "MoCA chips that power the boxes the MSO's using for the multi-room DVR offering".

HAN Fan thinks that many observers were surprised Comcast did not go with G.hn, the United Nations' me-to  standard. Maybe it was the MoCA trash talk that scared Comcast away from G.hn. Or maybe while Comcast was politely waiting since 2008 for a G.hn chip they just gave up waiting in 2010.