Novensys in Mass Media
Internet from plug
19.02.2008
Seen at first as a solution for bringing internet in the rural environment, the technology that uses electric cables for digital data transfer could have more spectacular applications.
In a small location from Mures county, named Band village, the digital gap between rural and urban environment is sensible smaller than in other places.
Two years ago, an experimental project initiated by the Communication and Information Technology Ministry introduced an exotic technology anywhere in the world, through which the electricity network is used as a communication channel for internet acces. We are talking about Power Line Communications (PLC).
Practically, the electronic communication services are provided through this system, having as signal transmision support the electricity networks of low and mediun power.
The principle is real simple. The cables that transport electric energy transmit low frequence signals - between 5- and 60 Hz-, but can transmit also high frequence signal, bigger than 1 MHz. While low frequencies are used to bring electricity, the high`s one can be used for data transmissions.
In Band village case, the transfer rate is of 128 kbps, but this type of technology allows reaching a maximum of over 200 Mbps. Band project should have been a pilot one, followed by the extension of the system to other places from rural environment. But after two years from launching, Band`s inhabitants were still the only one from Romania using this technology.
Untill this month when was launched a pilot project in Henry Coanda district from Bucharest, and five dwellings were connected to internet using electric infrastructure. The company that has implementated it, Novensys has connected its own five floors headquarter to this type of technology.
"The company reprezentatives say they have planned a similar project with one initiated by MCTI, but the utility and extension possibilities are way far from that one. „In Romtelecom areas, where there already exists an infrastructure it would be probably more difficult for someone to bring any other device. But, in areas where the dispersion is much bigger, in new populated areas, in oldest areas where one is not allowed to dig and bring cables, in museums, libraries, hospitals where radio waves are not allowed ....", says Daniel Boangiu, Business Development Manager, speaking about places where internet acces would be assured.
The equipments used are manufactured by the american company Current Technologies, and the minimum price for using the electric network as an internet transmiting channel for a building is 1000 euro. An equipment that transmit the signal from the internet provider to the electric infrastructure is needed and at list one modem which connects to any plug from the house.
„Usually, the price for cabling one single flat for the providers as UPC or RDS is 50 euro, and cabling the entire building can reache at 10.000 euro with all the equipments needed. With our technology, the prices decline with 50%." shows Daniel Boangiu one of the market segments they could enter, partnerships with telecom providers.
Dinu Malacopol, Business Director UPC, has other opinion. „This technology does not represent any interest for us, because the local backbone (the electric network from a building) is Electrica property and only inside the apartment the client is owner; in other words, we should pay a rent to Electrica for this local backbone, and added with other investments, the profit would clearly go down", explains UPC official.
In this first launch phase there are taking into consideration personal dwellings from those buildings where cabling investments weren`t made and would avoid unpleasent situations caused by this process. The maximum speed of data transfer assured by the equipments that pump in the signal in the electricity cables is 204 Mbps. It divides equally at the number of modems used in that building - for example, during a test at Novensys building, the transfer speed was 15 Mbps.
For the next step, Novensys wants to experiment in that area where MCTI project got stock two years ago: rural enviroment and the areas where exists a big geographical dispersion of the dwellings from a main side-walk.
Actually, Band experiment, with Mitsubishi Electric equipments, is analogous to the one from Henry Coanda district. In here, few villas have internet acces trough Current Technologies equipments. The next step would be made next month, meaning offering some equipments and special services for the utility companies.
„Utility companies are spending a lot of money with reading the electric meters, maintaining networks, and all these could be resolved by PLC", said the Development Director from Novensys, specifying that from these area of utility companies, are expected the highest incomes.
Novensys, information management solutions provider, had in 2006 a turnover of 9.3 millions euro, and in 2007 they estimated a 12-13 millions euro. One of the reasons of choosing Current Technologies, a company among the shareholders we can nominate Google, Blackwater Capital and Goldman Sachs, represents the partnerships the company had established with the biggest europeane utility companies, part of them present in Romania.
