Corinex and IBM have won what looks set to be a very big contract with E.ON, a German multinational utility and major player in energy markets, to supply broadband over powerline (BPL) technology for E.ON’s low voltage grids – the bits of the network nearer the end-users, after power has been stepped down from the high-voltage distribution network. It seems that IBM is reanimating BPL, after an abortive attempt to use it for commercial broadband back in 2009. E.ON says it plans to deploy the BPL tech to support its German smart meter and smart grid rollout, and will be implementing it in transformer stations and street cabinets – roughly 60,000 systems. The protocol being used is SNMPv3/IPv6, but E.ON…