"The Power Line Communications Technology (PLC) has become a great opportunity for Power Distributor Companies.” The chairman, CEO and founder of PLANET Technology, Jack Chen, said in a recent interview conducted by a famous financial newspaper ESTRATEGIA in Chile.
During Jack’s recent visit to Chile, he indicated that the accomplished advances will now allow the massive diffusion of the PLC system.

• ESTRATEGIA: What is this new technology that is being promoted by your company?
Chen: During the next days in Taiwan and then in other places of the world, we will launch a new version of the Power Line Communications Technology (PLC) that, as we know, provides connectivity through the electric network system. However, the most important is that the new solution allows much more higher speeds than the existing PLCs, which only reach to 14 Mbps.

• ESTRATEGIA: What speed are we talking about?
Chen: The new solutions will provide connectivity at a speed of 85 Mbps, and very soon, at 200Mbps. This will generate a strong competition with the current Wi-Fi solutions that only allow minor speeds between 11Mbps and 54Mbps. Besides, the Power Line Communications Technology is more reliable, since it is a cabling solution. Instead, the wireless solutions, each day require greater and more secure encrypting algorithms such as WEP, which is easily vulnerable, and WPA that is a little more secure.
The speed had been one of the restrictions to the massive diffusion of the PLC technology all over the world. This new PLC version becomes a great business opportunity for the Power Distributor Companies, when developing into ISP (Internet Service Providers), because they already have the most expensive investment that is the cabling system.

• ESTRATEGIA: What are the invasion expectations of this new technology and which technologies will be relegated?
Chen: In Chile, considering the high increasing rate in the sales of computers that was a 30% during 2004–it is a much larger figure than the previous years, that was an average of 20% per year – and the strong invasion of Broadband Internet that was incremented 37% during 2004 in comparison to 2003; the business opportunities are certainly interesting.
Our scope is to reach the small and medium size companies, which is the growing market area and also the area with the business opportunities.
On the other side, since each time it is requested a higher speed and an enhanced service quality–due to the new multimedia applications in the Net as IP Telephony and Security Cameras–Planet will incorporate new solutions in the traditional networks. We mean the Broad Band Administrators.

• ESTRATEGIA: What features of the Internet Chilean market have impressed you?
Chen: The strong invasion rate and the adoption of the technology. Besides, Chile has a solid technological knowledge and of networks infrastructure.
The invasion of the modem cable with respect to the ADSL cable, is a very particular case in Chile regarding the worldwide tendency, which makes it a very attractive market. Additionally, the economical and the political stability in Chile, has developed this market into the most secure and solid of Latin America, with a sustained growing PIB over 5% per year.

• ESTRATEGIA: What growing tendency have you observed in the TI?
Chen: The total connectivity, in any place, at any time and at a high speed. An example of that is the strong demand for wireless solutions, video applications and fiber optic connectivity.