Marvell acquires DS2 intellectual property and assets

Marvell's acquisition of the intellectual property and assets of DS2 has rolled up the last of the big independent powerline networking chipset vendors. First, CopperGate acquired the HomePlug assets from Conexant (and then itself got purchased by Sigma Designs), and Atheros purchased Intellon. It's a trend that signifies the importance of well-integrated networking solutions that may leverage at least a couple of networking technologies, including Wi-Fi and "no-new-wires." Second, these larger vendors are much closer to the end-user manufacturers, as they're building integrated solution for things like set-top boxes, modems, residential gateways, etc., and it's a sign that significant growth is coming in the embedded market for powerline networking solutions. Finally, with some corporate structure wrapped around the powerline assets, maybe we'll see some adult conversations occuring around how to finally end a ten-year+ standards battle in this market.