AT&T Joins HomeGrid Forum Board of Directors to Support G.hn Wired Home Networking Development

North American Service Provider Signs on as Promoter Member, Tom Starr Joins Board of Directors


BEAVERTON, OR--(Marketwire - Jun 2, 2011) - HomeGrid Forum today announced that AT&T joined the organization as a Promoter Member and was appointed to the HomeGrid Forum board of directors. Tom Starr, lead member of the Technical Staff at AT&T and a telecom industry expert, will serve as the AT&T representative on the board.

According to Matt Theall, President of HomeGrid Forum, AT&T is an ideal board member.

"AT&T U-verse® is a strong product offering, and with an always-evolving market, G.hn offers the potential to support and help continue expanding their services," Theall said. "We are happy to have AT&T as a voice within our organization and look forward to their valuable contributions."

AT&T is the latest in a line of high-profile, industry-leading organizations to collaborate on G.hn, a fully approved and complete wired home networking standard developed by the ITU-T. HomeGrid Forum brings together leading global service providers, consumer electronics manufacturers, OEM/ODMs, chipset vendors, and others interested in wired home networking who want to offer the best solution for their customers. Other board members include Marvell, Best Buy, BT, Intel, Lantiq, Sigma Designs, and Telefonica.

As a lead member of the technical staff at AT&T Labs, Starr is responsible for the development and standardization of new local access technologies for AT&T's network. Named one of the 2010 Global Telecoms Business Power 100 most powerful people, he is a well-known telecom figure who holds several dozen industry patents, is the chair of ITU-T working groups, and is chairman of the Broadband Forum.

In addition to Starr, Vernon Reed will serve as an alternate board member. Reed works as a Lead Member of Technical Staff of AT&T Labs in Austin, Texas, serving since 2004 as a Technical Lead in developing and testing AT&T's all-IP U-verse TV service. He is a recognized authority in end-to-end content delivery using broadband access systems, computing technologies, and home network technologies applicable to the IPTV space.

About HomeGrid Forum
HomeGrid Forum is a global, non-profit trade group promoting the International Telecommunication Union's G.hn and G.hnem standardization efforts for next-generation home networking and SmartGrid Applications. HomeGrid Forum promotes adoption of G.hn and G.hnem through technical and marketing efforts, addresses certification and interoperability of G.hn and G.hnem-compliant products, and cooperates with complementary industry alliances. For more information on HomeGrid Forum, please visit www.homegridforum.org or follow us on http://twitter.com/homegrid_forum.

Contact Information:

For more information please contact:

Brian Dolby
+44 7899 914168
Sheila Lashford
+44 7986 514240
email pr@homegridforum.org