Duke Energy Joins HomePlug® Powerline Alliance Board of Directors

Major Utility Upgrades HomePlug Membership to Sponsor Level to Support Smart Grid and HAN Ecosystem Efforts

Portland, Ore. – March 10, 2010 – The HomePlug® Powerline Alliance, the global driving force for powerline network technology, today announced that Duke Energy has joined the Alliance’s board of directors. Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the United States delivering energy to approximately four million U.S. customers, has upgraded their membership to sponsor level, enabling them to join the Alliance’s board of directors.

“Powerline networking will play a key role in connecting home appliances and systems to the Smart Grid enabling intelligent management and monitoring for energy savings and efficiency,” said David Mohler, VP and chief technology officer, Duke Energy. “HomePlug, as a base specification within the IEEE 1901 Standard, offers an interoperable standards based technology roadmap from low cost to high-bandwidth and next-generation solutions that will meet the needs of the robust home network that is necessary for the smart grid. We look forward to increasing our involvement with the Alliance.”

“The Smart Grid has been a key focus for HomePlug, with HomePlug’s Green PHY (GP) specification at the center of our smart grid efforts,” said Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. “Utility companies are key players in the roll out of the Smart Grid, and having a major utility like Duke Energy join our board of directors is a very exciting development for the HomePlug Alliance. We see them playing an integral role in shaping the future of the Smart Grid connectivity.”

Last month, HomePlug announced the expected finalization of the HomePlug GP specification for the first quarter of 2010. HomePlug GP is a low power, cost-optimized powerline networking specification targeting Smart Grid applications such as HVAC, smart meters, home appliances and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles (PEHV). Major utility companies gave direct input into HomePlug GP technology, optimizing the specification for real world deployments. HomePlug GP is fully interoperable with HomePlug AV and the new IEEE 1901 Draft Powerline Standard.

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance is committed to working with the industry in support of Smart Grid interoperability initiatives. HomePlug worked with the ZigBee Alliance to enable application-layer interoperability between ZigBee wireless and HomePlug powerline devices. The ZigBee/HomePlug Smart Energy Profile has been named in the United States National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Smart Grid interoperability standards roadmap.

[an error occurred while processing this directive] HomePlug devices account for 75 percent of the world's broadband powerline communications market, and over 40 million devices have shipped to date. The Alliance works with key stakeholders to ensure all of its specifications are designed to meet the requirement for interoperability stated by service providers, utilities, equipment and appliance manufacturers, consumer electronics and other important stakeholders. The Alliance operates the powerline networking industry's largest Compliance and Interoperability Certification Program to ensure true multi-vendor co-existence and interoperability. The program has certified more than 190 products and will also begin certifying IEEE 1901 products in 2010.

Please visit www.HomePlug.org for more information on the HomePlug Powerline Alliance.

About the HomePlug® Powerline Alliance
Founded in 2000, the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, Inc. is an industry-led initiative with more than 70 member companies that creates specifications and certification logo programs for using the powerlines for reliable home networking and Smart Grid applications. The Alliance accelerates worldwide adoption for HomePlug technology by collaborating with international standards organizations such as the IEEE and through market development and user education programs. Sponsor members include Atheros Communications (ATHR); Cisco (CSCO); Comcast (CMCSK); Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK); GE Energy, an affiliate of General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE); Gigle Networks; Motorola, Inc. (MOT); NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723); and SPiDCOM Technologies. Contributor members include Arkados (OTCBB: AKDS); Corporate Systems Engineering; Renesas Technology Corp., Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE:TXN) and Yitran Communications Ltd.

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