[SEDXC] BPL still alive??

[BLamboley at aol.com]

Utilities turn to IBM for BPL solutions (25 February,  2009) 
Just when it appeared broadband-over-powerline (BPL) technology was going to  
die off, IBM and rural Internet service provider (ISP) International 
Broadband  Electric Communications—with help from a $9.6-million cash infusion from 
IBM and  $70 million in government loans—are deploying BPL networks for almost 
200,000  rural customers served by seven electrical cooperatives in Alabama, 
Indiana,  Michigan and Virginia.  
The move comes months after two of BPL’s highest profile deployments died out 
 and as many BPL vendors have begun focusing on smart electrical networks 
rather  than consumer broadband delivery. The technology, which modifies radio 
signals  to transmit voice and Internet data over electric utility power lines, 
was  extremely hyped early this decade, when it was billed as a way for power  
companies to become the third alternative in the broadband market, competing  
against cable and DSL operators in urban areas.  
But the technology has been slow to take off, as technical limitations and  
interference problems with ham radios and local emergency radios kept it from  
being adopted widespread. Moreover, power companies realized they just couldn’
t  compete with cable and high-speed telco offerings in urban areas.  
BPL now has improved from a technical standpoint and, according to Ray Blair, 
 advanced networking executive with IBM’s Global Technology Services. BPL has 
 found its niche in the rural market, where access customers have no wireline 
 broadband alternatives.  
Another important niche has to do with the need for utilities to incorporate  
intelligent-grid capabilities, such as smart metering and energy-outage  
monitoring.  
“The intelligent grid, by nature, is filled by a lot of devices that need to  
communicate with each other back to a centralized location, and that drives a 
 lot of bandwidth—a lot more than what utilities can handle today,” Blair 
said.  
I, for one, will be waiting to see how IBEC and IBM can make BPL a profitable 
 technology. Last May, DirecTV and Current Communications sold a flagship BPL 
 deployment in Dallas to the local utility after they couldn’t make a go of 
it.  The utility is using the network for smart-grid monitoring only. In this 
case,  the combination of using the technology as a broadband offering and for 
the  electric cooperatives’ smart grids increases the chances of success.  
Still, Blair concedes that the cost of such networks vary from situation to  
situation. BPL deployments typically cost half of wireless network 
deployments,  but the ongoing costs might not be advantageous. “It’s more than just the 
cost  of the network. Operational expenditure is the key piece to understand. 
In some  cases, BPL looks good paper, but on the opex side, it might not be so 
good, and  wireless might look better.”  
So, the business case for BPL isn’t straightforward, and it appears companies 
 looking to utilize the technology must do some significant vetting and 
perhaps  look outside the box to find more ways to recoup their investments. 
According to  Blair, that might include striking a deal with the local municipality 
to  backhaul surveillance cameras or read water  meters.
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