Panasonic's goal: Networked appliances

"Panasonic intends to lead the industry as the first major company to focus on the transition to networked home and consumer devices capable of high-speed, interactive communications," said Charles C. Wu, managing director of the Panasonic Digital Concepts Center -- the subsidiary that made the investment -- in a statement.

A "fabless" company, Epigram does not make chips, but sells technologies. Epigram's InsideLine technology permits high-speed, 10Mbps home network connectivity without requiring that new wiring be installed. The company is part of the newly formed Home Phoneline Networking Alliance, and will be sponsoring Matsushita's application to the group.

Easy to use
"We are the conduit throughout the home that requires no new wires," said Adam P. Stein, spokesman for Epigram. "You want to be able to share devices in different rooms, our technology can do that." For example, he added, a cable set-top box in the living room could send video to a home networked TV in the bedroom.

While that may not seem all that exciting, Stein assures that there is more to come.

"In reality, we don't know everything that this technology could be used for," he said. "When Metcalfe created Ethernet 25 years ago, I'm sure he didn't know that he would be setting the bar for networking. We hope we can do the same."

The PC industry has been most excited about home networking. With kids and couples with multiple PCs clamoring for access to a single printer or Internet connection, a network that doesn't require stringing wires throughout the hallways seems a safe bet.

Raising the bar
Stein says that they will be raising the bar as well. By the end of this year, Epigram hopes to deliver 100Mbps-over-phoneline technology to its customers.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed except that the amount was several millions. Epigram has already raised $13 million in two rounds of financing with four venture firms.