SAN RAMON, Calif., April 10, 2000 - Thirteen industry leaders spanning technology, silicon, software, hardware, retail and services today announced the formation of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, created to set a technology specification for home powerline networking and to promote its wide acceptance in the marketplace. The alliance's objective is to enable and promote rapid availability and adoption of cost effective, interoperable and specification-based home powerline networks and products enabling the connected home.

"By working together, we will strive to accelerate the establishment of a specification, the development of products and the adoption by consumers of home powerline networking," said Alberto Mantovani, president of HomePlug and division director, strategic programs, Conexant Systems, Inc. "HomePlug is leveraging the ubiquity of the home power outlet to network an ever increasing number of Internet devices, smart appliances, PCs and consumer electronics to distribute broadband and multimedia content."

Home networking via powerlines uses existing power outlets throughout the home. Powerline networking advantages include worldwide availability, cost effectiveness and ease of installation. The convenience of connecting any device through a power outlet will enable exciting new products with breakthrough levels of performance, delivering entertainment, information access and telephony services.

New multimedia and broadband capabilities, announced almost daily, have created increasing awareness and momentum in the consumer market for viable home networking solutions. "Consumers are seeking hassle free, reliable and cost-effective home networking solutions," said Jawad Khaki, Vice President of Windows Networking at Microsoft. "Microsoft applauds the HomePlug Powerline Alliance in its efforts to create standards that will help make the digital home a reality."

HomePlug Attracts Impressive Roster of Founding Members

"Powerline is the most ubiquitous medium for networking in the home around the world," said Mike Wolf, Manager of Residential and Enterprise Communications for Cahners In-Stat Group. "HomePlug is taking the necessary step of combining broad industry support with a unified specification for powerline networking. This combination will allow for the development of interoperable, lower cost products that will ultimately benefit the consumer."

To initiate and encourage industry discussion and consensus building for home powerline networking, the alliance has established an open forum, with participant and adopter levels of membership available. Working together with all its members, HomePlug is aggressively developing a specification to enable HomePlug compliant products by the end of 2000.

Additional Information about the Alliance is available at http://www.homeplug.org.