The HomeGrid Forum said Dr. Leonard “Len” Dauphinee has been appointed president of the group, which is focused no G.hn, a speedy home networking technology for that can run on coax, copper pairs, powerline, and plastic optical fiber.

Dauphinee, the VP and CTO of MaxLinear’s Broadband Group, succeeds Donna Yasay, who stepped down as the Forum’s president last month.

Dauphinee’s appointment comes about six months after MaxLinear acquired Marvell’s G.hn business for $21 million, a move that complemented the chipmaker’s linkages to products that use Multimedia over Coax Alliance technology. Dauphinee is also a member of the MoCA board. 

RELATED: MaxLinear Puts Up $21M for Marvell’s G.hn Business

G.hn is based on standards developed by the International Telecommunications Union, and includes promoter members such as AT&T, BT, KT Telecom and Chunghwa Teleco. Arris is using G.hn for a new line of “RipCurrent” routers and extenderssold at retail that use powerline technology in tandem with WiFi.

“G.hn has gained momentum within the service provider and retail markets over the last few years. It has proven its capabilities as the in-home networking technology of choice, but we still have work to do,”  Dauphinee said in a statement. “A few years ago, we were talking about G.hn being the 4K TV enabler; now the industry has moved forward to explore the potential of 8K, and HomeGrid Forum is meeting this new challenge.”

Prior to joining MaxLinear, Dauphinee worked at Broadcom, leading broadband RF IC design for MoCA, satellite TV, cable modem, cable set-top, terrestrial TV, and microwave backhaul products.

Arris expanded its retail strategy with last week’s debut of a new line of ‘SURFboard’-branded routers and extenders that aim to deliver whole-home coverage with equipment that pairs WiFi with a high-speed backbone that relies on a home’s powerlines.

Arris’s powerline-based platform uses G.hn (branded by the vendor under the “RipCurrent” moniker), a home networking platform that competes with HomePlug and, to an extent, the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), which uses a home’s coaxial lines.

Arris also offers a range of whole-home networking products that use MoCA, though most of those are focused on platforms that are being delivered and managed by cable operators and other MVPDs.

Arris also looked at MoCA for its new retail router line, but found that there are more complexities around that technology with respect to in-home wiring, Tom Boshell, director of global retail sales at Arris, said.

Using a combo of G.hn, powerline and WiFi, he said, offers a way to deliver ubiquitous coverage in the home with a retail product that offers a relatively easy self-install option, he added. Arris believes the router/extender set up will eliminate dead zones in homes as video streaming and other bandwidth-intensive apps on home networks on a broader range of devices become increasingly prevalent.

Arris started to make its new line available for pre-order via the Arris Store and at Amazon.com. According to the Arris Store, the expected ship date is April 29.

Here’s the new product lineup:

WiFi Routers with RipCurrent:

-Arris SURFboard SBR-AC1200P (802.11ac, four Gigabit Ethernet ports, and four internal antennas): $119.99

-Arris SURFboard SBR-AC1900P (802.11ac, four GigE ports, six internal antennas): $199.99

-Arris SURFboard SBR-AC3200P (“tri-band concurrent” 802.11ac, four GigE ports, six internal antennas: $299.99

RipCurrent-enabled extenders:

-Arris SURFboard SBX1000P:  $59.99

-Arris SURFboard SBX1200P (dual-band concurrent): $99.99

Arris has also developed iOS and Android apps to assist with installation and management of the user’s home network.

The product introduction expands Arris’s retail efforts under its own SURFboard brand. For a time, Arris had offered retail products under both its brand and the Motorola brand following its acquisition of Motorola home in April 2013. Zoom Telephonics  inked a deal last year to use the Motorola brand in cable modems, routers and set-tops sold at retail, and launched its initial Moto-branded product lineup in February 2016.

Here’s a promotional video about Arris’s new G.hn-based retail router product family: