Monday, April 28, 2008

Aboundi Ethernet data technology hits the phone jack

By Efrain Viscarolasaga

Broadband over power lines has always been an intriguing idea facing an uphill battle, competing with established delivery media such as DSL, cable and even wireless broadband.

But three-time entrepreneur Hong Yu, the founder and CEO of Nashua, N.H.-based Aboundi Inc., sees no reason for a power struggle. He has found an application for data transmission called Ethernet over power lines -- but perhaps it would be more accurate to call it "Ethernet over power cords."

Aboundi's technology uses a building's existing electricity infrastructure (as well as any extension cords that may be handy) to create a data network.

The firm has been developing the technology in secret for two years, and claims to be able to turn the power lines in an office, home, restaurant -- even a prison -- into Ethernet cables. Adding an Ethernet-capable device, such as a camera, computer or cash register, gets that device on the network. The system can reach 200 megabits per second, according to Yu, which is faster than a wi-fi connection.

Aboundi has already landed customers in both the video surveillance and retail point-of-sale applications.

Initially, the video surveillance market is the firm's main target, and it has sold systems to customers such as Ramada Hotels, Jiffy Lube and the city of Boston. As a vertical market, video security is expected to experience explosive growth over the next few years as the industry moves from analog to digital equipment and networks. In a report released last month, ABI Research projects the video-surveillance market to reach $46 billion by 2013, up from approximately $13.5 billion in 2006. ABI research director Stan Schatt has described the market as "a modern version of the California gold rush."

The technology is similar to that sold by local broadband-over-power-line (or BPL) vendors, such as Amperion Inc. in Tewksbury and Ambient Corp. in Newton. Both companies recently have integrated new technologies with BPL.

"The problem with the BPL model is that the ROI isn't there because it isn't as cheap as DSL and broadband services," said Yu. "Instead of looking at it from a municipal or smart-grid application standpoint, we're looking at it from a premises point of view."

Yu has several patents pending on Aboundi's technology, but acknowledges direct competitors in the Ethernet-over-broadband space. D-Link Corp. of California, for example, offers an Ethernet-over-power-line link for home networking, which it sells through retail outlets. Yu is more interested in attacking business applications, and as a result is selling through distributors and integrators in each industry.

Aboundi is generating revenue and now looking for its first round of private funding to move the three-employee company forward, said Yu, who also founded New Hampshire-based networking equipment makers Lancast Technologies Inc. (which later became Metrobility Optical Systems Inc.) and CASAT Technology Inc.

"We think Ethernet over power lines is going to be a major industry, not just a product," said Yu.