Tokyo — Sharp said here Monday that it plans begin selling this August in Japan “HomePlug” standard-based power line communications products that use household wall sockets to connect to the Internet.
Nikkei Business News reported the company will release to retail stores here on Aug. 24 two adapter models based on the HomePlug specification endorsed by the Home Power Line Alliance, whose members include Intel.
Sharp’s HN-VA40S, priced at around at about $194, is a set of two adapters that can configure as many as four computers into a network. The HN-VA10S, priced at $162, will be offered for a single computer.
The Nikkei report said Sharp will also market an adapter that can be added to expand the capacity of the sets. Sharp will use a chipset that conforms to AV1.1, which is the latest specification for HomePlug, and can accommodate maximum data transfers of 85Mbps, Nikkei reported.
Sharp’s U.S. executives told TWICE there is currenty no plan to bring the products to the U.S. market.
