January 29th, 2008
Demo 08: Green Plug debuts universal power supply
Green Plug introduced a universal power supply technology for consumer electronics devices at Demo 08. The “universal” appellation means that the power supply works at both the AC input and at DC output voltages, according to company CTO Gus
Pabon (his last job was as Senior Power System Technologist for Apples iPod division).
The company developed a universal power protocol chip, which can identify devices, such as an iPod or Dell laptop, and provides the devices with the appropriate voltage and shuts down the power port when it senses the device no longer needs power, eliminating wasted power on client side.
Green Plug will license its universal connector and Greentalk protocol software for free, according to CEO Frank Paniagua. The company plans to make money on sales of its embedded chip and is looking for licensees. Paniagua called out to HP and Dell during his presentation. Let’s hope that Green Plug is successful, so we can rid ourselves of carrying around power supplies for our growing number of essential CE devices.
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
