Simplified ‘Enablement’ Means Lower Cost, Quicker Time to Market For Green Plug™ Functionality
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Green Plug (www.greenplug.us), the first developer of digital technology enabling collaboration between electronic devices and their power sources, has announced that its new agreement with Imagination Technologies PLC (www.imgtec.com) will potentially deliver both a zero increase in bill-of-materials costs and dramatically reduce time-to-market for Green Plug-enabled devices.
Imagination, a leading provider of System-on-Chip (SoC) intellectual property (IP), is the first manufacturer to make Green Plug’s Greentalk™ digital power protocol and Greenwire™ multi-function physical layer available in its core products.
At the same time, PURE (www.pure.com), a world leader in digital radio and an Imagination customer, has announced plans to enable Green Plug functionality in select radio products and is poised to introduce a smart power adapter accessory. At 2010 International CES in Las Vegas in January, PURE has been hosting Green Plug in its booth.
The initial step in transforming from dumb power adapters into smart power solutions is to enable electronic products to communicate over the power connector. While thousands of consumers voiced their preference for more convenient, reusable power adapters on www.iwantmygreenplug.com, the perception that doing so would entail added cost in what was a difficult year for CE product vendors proved an impediment to rapid adoption. Now, with the simpler “enablement” process that the Green Plug/Imagination agreement makes possible, for many products this impediment has been removed.
Using the new technology, any device can communicate with Green Plug-enabled power supplies directly over the power cable and connector on the device, in many cases without adding any extra components.
“Look to 2010 for Green Plug to become native within power management and other controller chips, making it even easier for CE product vendors to turn-on Green Plug in their products,” said Frank Paniagua, Jr., Green Plug CEO.
"We're delighted to welcome Green Plug as a valued smart energy partner and licensee of Imagination's META processor technology, which will be at the heart of both Green Plug's chip offering as well as an IP block to be offered widely,” said Tony King-Smith, VP Marketing, Imagination Technologies. “ PURE , a leading manufacturer of digital radios and connected audio products and a division of Imagination Technologies, will also be incorporating Green Plug technology in some of its future products - a great example of how Imagination's Technology Division utilizes PURE as an advanced technology showcase. We look forward to working closely with Green Plug in the deployment of their smart energy solutions globally."
Consumers will have the option of using the free, vendor-provided power adapter or of purchasing a power accessory that will work with all Green Plug-enabled CE products and can be configured to simultaneously power 2, 4, 8 or more products, each with unique power requirements.
Green Plug is the first green technology company to apply two-way digital communication to convert a universal power source to a device’s specific power requirements. The Greentalk digital protocol enables devices to collaborate with power supplies to dynamically monitor, control and optimize power delivery for changing conditions. Highly efficient, stylish DC power hubs enabled with Green Plug’s GPP chip are able to simultaneously power multiple devices, each with its own specific voltage and power requirements. Green Plug technology minimizes solid waste by allowing consumers to keep their chargers for use with future devices after their current devices have become obsolete.
Green Plug is the first developer of digital technology enabling collaboration between electronic devices and their power sources. The company’s innovative green power components allow manufacturers to standardize on one universal power connector, exceed all current US and European governmental efficiency regulations, and eliminate environmental waste. Consumer electronics, residential and commercial builders, power tools and power supply manufacturers license Green Plug’s embeddable power supply technology to provide universal and safe connections, promote environmentally friendly reuse, make their products more affordable, and generate customer loyalty.
This product – and we have had reports about it already from time to time – really sounds the answer to all those chargers and power supplies, none of which, generally, can be interchanged. It is an interchangeability that we need as regards to power supplies and chargers, be they for laptops and netbooks or for cell phones and other such devices.
Needing only one kind of supply could also make getting a replacement cheaper but I doubt that manufacturers and vendors will like that idea.
© 2010
