SUBSCRIBE TO TMCnet
TMCnet - World's Largest Communications and Technology Community

CHANNEL BY TOPICS


QUICK LINKS




Share
Next-Gen Service Provider: January 03, 2011 eNewsletter
January 03, 2011

Plaster Networks Plugs PLT's Biggest Problem for Service Providers

By Doug Mohney, Contributing Editor

Power line technology (PLT) is a very nice home networking technology that, I think, gets the short end of the stick in the United States. It's easy to use: You plug gizmo into wall, out comes Ethernet. Plug one gizmo next to the router, plug the Ethernet cable in, and it's done. True, there are those slightly awkward boxes that take up a power outlet, but there's also no need to fret about wireless security. 




Data travels more securely over your home wiring than broadcasting out so your neighbors can see your packets if you don't have encryption turned on, or allowing Bad Actors to poke away at your wireless network with the latest in cracking schemes to retrieve your passwords. With WiFi (News - Alert), you need to make sure you are running the very latest encryption scheme on all of your devices, make sure you have all devices synced to that encryption scheme, and then go around and type the password into all of those devices.

If you're really paranoid about someone snooping around on your home power wires, perhaps you're in an apartment or business, you can always turn on 128-AES encryption on your powerline adapters before plugging them in. I tend to think if you think someone is monitoring your home power lines for data, you might have larger problems of one sort or another.

But PLT's blessing has also been its curse. Up until recently, installing PLT for a home network has been a black box with no good basic network tools to measure performance between adapters in the home.   Worse yet, there's no visibility for an outside party, such as a service provider, to gauge and monitor.

Plaster Networks has a solution that is being embraced by service providers and will likely catch on with outside installers and the "prosumer" crowd.   Plaster installs one PLN3 Adapter, basically a PLT with a MIPS processor running Linux, onto the network to provide an intelligent window into a PLN network.

For $90 list price, a single PLN3 rolls in a bunch of features onto a PLT network, including remote management and troubleshooting, the ability to automatically update HomePlug (News - Alert) AV software on all network adapters for a more reliable performance, and a browser-based admin console so the end-user or an authorized user can get a detailed look into what's going on datawise with the house electrical copper.  Bonus points for a pair of Ethernet ports on the adapter.

I think the two most interesting features of the PLN3 are the ability to identify "noisy" connections between PLT adapters and TR-069 remote management, with an option to use SNMP.  The software and console operations allow you to look at a line graph of adapter performance and ID if a particular adapter is getting excess RF noise by something else going on in the network. One you can ID the adapter, you can look at what might be plugged in next to it, say an old vacuum cleaner, then use an isolator (basically a power strip with filter capability to dump out the RF noise) to get better performance.

With service-provider supplied wireless CPE, technical support can go to the router and "look around" as to what's going on in the network. Through the implementation of TR-069, the PLN3 provides the same capability for service providers to ID trouble spots a bit more effectively than having to do a truck roll or just leaving the problem sit with customers unhappy.

Plaster Networks provides a service, free for the first year, for more in-depth network monitoring. White-labeled Plaster Networks devices use the same tools for service provider monitoring. Plaster hinted at tiered categories of service (i.e. yearly pay features) in the future.

Having suffered through trying to benchmark and troubleshoot the performance of a set of Belkin Gigabit Powerline adapters, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the PLN3 in the near future.


Doug Mohney is a contributing editor for TMCnet and a 20-year veteran of the ICT space. To read more of his articles, please visit columnist page.

Edited by Jaclyn Allard

(source: http://communication-solutions.tmcnet.com/topics/carrier-ethernet/articles/131123-plaster-networks-plugs-plts-biggest-problem-service-providers.htm)








Technology Marketing Corporation

2 Trap Falls Road Suite 106, Shelton, CT 06484 USA
Ph: +1-203-852-6800, 800-243-6002

General comments: [email protected].
Comments about this site: [email protected].

STAY CURRENT YOUR WAY

© 2023 Technology Marketing Corporation. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy