Tut Systems, Motorola in licensing pact

Home networking Tut Systems today added another company to its list of technology licensees, with Motorola becoming the latest to see the benefits of the start-up's telephone line-based technology.

Motorola also licensed the reference design for universal serial bus, or USB, technology from chip giant Intel for its cable modems. The USB technology will allow Motorola modems to easily plug into a PC and underscores a greater emphasis on home networking on the part of the technology giant.

Tut has chosen to license its technology to several third parties, including the likes of Lucent Technologies, Intel, and National Semiconductor.

Tut makes technology, called Homerun, which allows a phone line to be used as a networking pipe in a home, allowing multiple PCs and peripherals to connect to a network without an interruption in phone service. The technology caught the eye of Microsoft, which has an equity stake in the firm.

Motorola is the 12th company to license Tut's technology.

Separately, Motorola also announced plans to develop residential gateway technology for the deployment of cable modems.