{"id":1228,"date":"2009-09-26T12:20:20","date_gmt":"2009-09-26T16:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbach.net\/blog\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2022-12-30T12:17:45","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T17:17:45","slug":"big-blue-props-up-broadband-over-powerline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/big-blue-props-up-broadband-over-powerline\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Blue Props Up Broadband over Powerline"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BigBig Blue continues to support Broadband over Powerline<\/a> (BPL) as a way to close the broadband divide in rural areas. According to an IBM Global Financing press release<\/a> the division has established a financing agreement with DS2<\/span>, a supplier of integrated chip technology for powerline vendor International Broadband Electric Communications’ Broadband over Powerline Regenerating Unit (BRU) smart boxes. The BRU’s are attached to an\u00a0electric utility pole to provide high-speed Internet signals to\u00a0residential customers via the electrical drop.\u00a0IBEC<\/a> is working with rural electric utility cooperatives to extend broadband access to \u2018unserved’ customers mainly in the South, East, and Midwest.<\/p>\n

T\"\"<\/a>his is not Big Blue’s first major BPL investment. Even as many industry pundits were\u00a0reading BPL its last rites, IBEC signed<\/a> a $9.6 million agreement with IBM to deploy BPL networks in Eastern U.S. electric cooperatives. The investment was heralded by the Utilities Telecom Commission (UTC<\/a>) as a “major step forward in bringing broadband services to the residents of rural America.” At that time, IBM and IBEC said they were working with the Midwest Energy Cooperative<\/a> to deliver broadband over powerline to area residents and businesses throughout the seven counties the utility serves.<\/p>\n

rb-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sounds to me like they are propping up their SmartGrid ecosystem in the upcoming battle with Cisco<\/a> over the estimated $20 Billion a year electrical grid modernization market.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ralph Bach<\/a>\u00a0has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his\u00a0Bach Seat<\/a> about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>. Email the Bach Seat\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IBM spending cash to prop up Broadband over Powerline for smart grid ecosystem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3216,20,13,78,247,487,2784,43,15],"class_list":["post-1228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadband","tag-3216","tag-bpl","tag-broadband","tag-broadband-over-powerline","tag-cisco","tag-csco","tag-ds2","tag-ibm","tag-networking"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t