InTech Newsletter - June 1, 2003 Net Access Through Electric Outlet Germantown, Md.-There is a new frontier in Internet connectivity that may be as simple as plugging into your electric outlet. That is high-speed Internet access over the existing power lines. There is a market-and-technology trial underway by Germantown, Md.-based Current Technologies and Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco). The product offering has high-speed Internet, home networking, Internet radio, voice-over IP, Internet gaming, and video-on-demand services operating concurrently over a broadband connection that is maintained through the home's existing power lines. The Potomac trial is one of two that Current Technologies and its utility partners have underway. The other trial is taking place outside Cincinnati with Cinergy Corp. Current Technologies expects the service will be available commercially later this year. "By partnering with utility companies such as Pepco and Cinergy, we will provide broadband Internet access to virtually every outlet in customers' homes," said Jay Birnbaum, president of Current Technologies. As part of these trials, more than 100 households in Potomac and Cincinnati are now using Current Technologies' broadband over their power lines. The Current Technologies solution needs no truck roll to a home. It provides customers broadband access at symmetrical speeds that are better than DSL and cable modem through proprietary equipment that is attached to utility power lines. Customers connect to the service using a small, commercially available power line modem that connects to their computer and plugs into ordinary power outlets.