News

Semitech Semi Addresses Smart Grid Market With PLC Solutions

August 11, 2010 by Jeff Shepard

Semitech Semiconductor, a provider of power line communications solutions that enable the transformation of the electricity grid into a smart grid, announced that it is preparing to broaden its market scope with new products, distribution and partnerships.

Although newly launched in Singapore, the technology behind Semitech was originally developed by a group based in Australia. For 10 years, the technology behind the company that is now Semitech has been quietly conquering communications challenges and being developed into a line of innovative semiconductors. In particular, the chips are specifically designed to operate in noisy power line environments – and have already been successfully trialed and installed in smart grid applications worldwide with a high degree of interoperability.

Due to harsh noise and variations in equipment and standards, communications over the power grid are difficult. Through a proprietary and flexible technology design, Semitech states that its chips are able to reliably operate in this challenging environment and successfully interoperate with previously installed equipment.

The company has enlisted an experienced team of industry veterans to make Semitech’s chips accessible to the market at large. Matt Rhodes, CEO for Semitech, previously led the creation and growth of a power line communications business as president of Conexant, a leading communications semiconductor company. Rhodes was seminal in the development of the HomePlug Alliance, which developed the standard for intra-home high bandwidth power line communications.

"We are taking Semitech’s industry proven power line communications solutions to the next level at an ideal time to meet the growth needs of the smart grid market," Rhodes noted. "With the recent proliferation of smart grid devices and move towards more efficient resource utilization in general – including water, electricity, industrial/building management, street light control, and power distribution – we feel that Semitech is perfectly positioned to connect all of these devices to more effectively manage the world’s resources."