It's Make Or Break For WiMAX, Says Analysys

February 13, 2008

This year will be decisive in the development of WiMAX, which experienced major setbacks in 2007, says Analysys, the global advisor in Telecom, IT and media, at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (11–14 February).

WiMAX (Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access) is a wireless broadband technology based on the IEEE 802.16 family of standards. It was originally designed as a last-mile fixed wireless broadband access technology, but has also became a mobile broadband specification. Theoretically, WiMAX offers longer ranges, increased throughput, QoS and interoperability at relatively low cost.

"WiMAX suffered a major setback when the partnership between US operator Sprint Nextel, one of the technology's strongest advocates, and Clearwire fell apart in November," says Andrew Parkin-White, Principal Analyst at Analysys, and co-author of Mobile Market Perspectives 2008 (A summary of recent research into the evolving mobile market).

"Several WiMAX networks were launched in developing markets in 2007, but most were small in scale and, given the low disposable income in these countries, operators will need to revise their business models if the cost of mobile WiMAX CPE continues to be high."

Research also suggests other technologies may meet the needs of the MNO (Mobile Network Operator) and its customers better than WiMAX.

"LTE looks to be more suitable for developed mobile markets, but success depends on its ability to achieve its targets for network performance at an appropriate price and within the right time-scale," says Parkin-White.

An alternative approach may well threaten conventional thinking on 3G network enhancements: the availability of low-cost fixed broadband, the advent of femtocells (indoor base stations) and the adoption of dedicated broadcasting networks could call into question the need for the envisaged network enhancement strategy.

"Our research, combined with demand and capacity modelling, has shown that an approach that combines these alternatives with HSPA+ may meet the capacity needs of a wide range of operators. If MNOs start to develop a fundamentally different view on their strategy for technology evolution, vendors will have to totally rethink their approach to the market in 2008. Either way, the future for WiMAX does not look healthy," explains Parkin-White.

-credit, WebitPR

Hitachi Com and Alvarion to Cooperate in Developing Mobile WIMAX System

August 08, 2007

Hitachi Com and Alvarion have agreed to develop Broadband Mobile Wireless Access System using Mobile WiMAX technology jointly in Japan and overseas market.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has developed the license policy of 2.5 GHz band. WiMAX is considered as the most likely candidate for Broadband Mobile Wireless Access Systems. To establish WiMAX technology, the base station, which can transmit broadband data stably, and the mobile management technology, which can realize seamless handover between base stations, are needed.

The main goal of this agreement is that Hitachi Com and Alvarion will develop total system solutions, combined with the base station technology of Alvarion, which is globally a leading company in WiMAX and broadband wireless systems, with the mobile gateway technology, construction and maintenance technology of Hitachi Com, which has the rich experience of 3G Mobile Radio Network System.

Hitachi Com is in charge of developing ASN-GW, while Alvarion is in charge of developing high performance macro/micro base stations.

Ultimately Hitachi Com, which has proven itself in the 3G mobile communication market, and Alvarion, hope to realize a new WiMAX system in Japan, that has high quality of career grade signal while still maintaining WiFi systems and deployment.

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to Partner on the First Nationwide WiMAX Network

July 23, 2007

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire plan to jointly construct the first nationwide mobile broadband network using WiMAX technology, and promote the global development of WiMAX-based services. The planned arrangement, which is set out in a letter of intent, is expected to provide broad benefits to consumers, businesses, educators, the Federal government and public safety users by fostering quicker, broader and more efficient deployment of a mobile WiMAX broadband network than either company could accomplish on its own.

The WiMAX network is being designed to deliver mobile broadband services in urban, suburban and rural markets, and enable significantly greater depth and breadth of services. The arrangement also is expected to enable each company to increase capital efficiency and reduce overall network development and operating costs.

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire expect to build their respective portions of the nationwide network, and enable roaming between the respective territories. The companies also will work jointly on product and service evolution, shared infrastructure, branding, marketing and distribution. Additionally, the companies intend to exchange selected 2.5 GHz spectrum in order to optimize build-out, development and operation of the network.

The arrangement is subject to the execution of definitive agreements, which are expected to be finalized within the next 60 days. It is also subject to review by the Department of Justice, and approval of spectrum license assignments and transfers by the Federal Communications Commission.

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire intend to provide consumers, businesses and distributors across the country with access to the open Internet over a robust wireless broadband network that is being designed to deliver comparable speeds to existing wireline broadband services and offer maximum customer flexibility. Additionally, the Federal government and public safety agencies, which rely heavily on wireless networks during times of crisis, are expected to benefit from the mobility afforded through the WiMAX network to access their Internet-based communications, applications and content.

"This arrangement will result in stronger competition in the rapidly growing market for broadband services, and will provide consumers, national enterprises and other businesses, educators and public safety agencies greater choice and faster access to a revolutionary mobile broadband technology," said Sprint Nextel Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Forsee. "It will further our objective of delivering mobile WiMAX service across the country and help fulfill our vision of delivering mobility products and services across all our networks."

"Our joint efforts will result in customers benefiting from a more extensive network, operating sooner and using our respective spectrum more efficiently than either company could have on its own," said Clearwire Chief Executive Officer Ben Wolff. "Our companies share a vision of doing for the Internet what cellular and PCS networks did for voice communications starting more than twenty years ago. Based on this shared vision and the expected benefits to each company and our respective shareholders and customers, it is natural that we would work together," Wolff said.

Under the network build-out plan, Sprint Nextel will focus its efforts primarily on geographic areas covering approximately 185 million people, including 75 percent of the people located in the 50 largest markets, while Clearwire will focus on areas covering approximately 115 million people. Initially, the two companies expect to build out network coverage to approximately 100 million people by the end of 2008, with seamless roaming enabled between the deployed areas.

The arrangement also will provide for the exchange of spectrum between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to enable each company to build out its portion of the network and to enhance service in its build-out territory, as well as for the exchange of other assets associated with this spectrum. In addition, Clearwire will have the ability to utilize certain Sprint Nextel infrastructure.

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire will market mobile WiMAX services under a common service brand, and Clearwire will offer mobile WiMAX services in Clearwire's territories through Sprint Nextel's retail stores, and through its own distribution channels. Both companies will provide seamless reciprocal roaming service to each others' WiMAX customers, and Sprint Nextel plans to provide dual-mode (CDMA-WiMAX) services nationwide to its customers over both its own and Clearwire's portion of the WiMAX networks.

Sprint Nextel will take the lead in establishing relationships with national distributors and other potential strategic partners, including wholesale or mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) arrangements. Clearwire will have the ability to offer Sprint Nextel's third generation voice and data services as part of a bundle or on a stand-alone basis to Clearwire's customers, which will also allow Clearwire to provide dual-mode services to its customers. The initial term of the arrangement is 20 years, with three 10-year renewal periods.

As previously announced, Sprint Nextel expects to commence the initial stage of its mobile WiMAX network deployments by year-end 2007 and both companies expect to launch commercial service in the first half of 2008. The companies individually are working with a broad range of manufacturers including Intel, Motorola, Samsung, Nokia and others to create an ecosystem of chips, products and software designed to provide mobile WiMAX access.

Mobile WiMAX is a wireless broadband technology that is designed to operate more than five times faster than today's third-generation wireless networks at lower cost. Mobile WiMAX technology is expected to allow users to wirelessly download full-length movies and songs, conduct live video-conferences from remote locations, and perform other interactive multi-media applications anywhere in the coverage area, mobilizing the full power of the open Internet. The technology is expected to be deployed ubiquitously with embedded chipsets in computing, consumer electronic devices and other innovative access devices being developed by a global ecosystem.
Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to Partner to Accelerate and Expand the Deployment of the First Nationwide Mobile Broadband Network Using WiMAX Technology

ABI Research Tracks US Mobile WiMAX Market as it Moves from Uncertain to Vibrant

July 16, 2007

Just a little over a year ago, most people thought the United States would only see deployments of fixed WiMAX in rural areas with no DSL or cable modem service. During the summer of 2006, however, those who did not see the bigger picture got a reality-check. In July, Clearwire made a firm commitment to shift its proprietary network to mobile WiMAX, receiving investments from Intel and Motorola. Shortly afterwards, Sprint Nextel announced its plans to deploy mobile WiMAX to make use of its extensive 2.5 GHz spectrum, becoming the first major mobile operator to commit to WiMAX.

"Today we are watching major strategic alliances, partnerships, and mergers starting to take place," says ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis. "DirecTV and EchoStar announced a partnership with Clearwire, allowing Clearwire to bundle broadcast video and – when its network is deployed – provide the DBS companies with a fast, low-latency pipe into the home."

Sprint and Clearwire will at least form a roaming arrangement, if not actually merge in some form. NextWave also has a lot of WiMAX-friendly spectrum, and its NextWave Broadband subsidiary will be selling mobile WiMAX chipsets, helping to enable more WiMAX devices faster, thus increasing the value of the spectrum it holds. In addition, there are many wireless ISPs looking to deploy mobile WiMAX. Horizon Wi-Com, for example, holds 2.3 GHz spectrum that it acquired from Verizon across much of the Northeast.

These market trends and more are discussed in a new ABI Research Brief, "Mobile WiMAX in the United States", which provides detailed analysis of these service providers’ past and present efforts, and future directions. It is included in ABI Research’s Mobile Broadband Research Service, which also contains other Research Briefs, full-length Research Reports, Market Data, ABI Insights and analyst inquiry support.

Bridgewater Systems Joins Alvarion's OPEN WiMAX Ecosystem

July 12, 2007

Alvarion Ltd. and Bridgewater Systems announced that Bridgewater has joined Alvarion's OPEN WiMAX ecosystem to provide subscriber-centric policy management solutions for WiMAX deployments. With the signing of a worldwide reseller agreement, Alvarion will offer Bridgewater's proven AAA Service Controller as part of its all-IP 4MotionTM WiMAX solution which provides an end-to-end solution for broadband network operators.

"We are pleased to be part of Alvarion's best-of-breed 4Motion WiMAX solution," said Tyler Nelson, vice president of business development and marketing for Bridgewater Systems. "Bridgewater's participation in Alvarion's OPEN WiMAX ecosystem will allow operators around the world to gain access to an industry-leading AAA solution that meets the requirements for mobile WiMAX, in addition to the functionality and carrier-grade performance required to support 4G services."

Designed as open, standard, and interoperable, OPEN WiMAX is a complete ecosystem that encompasses network equipment, consumer electronics, service offerings, and even the end-users' experience. OPEN WiMAX is the ecosystem of partners behind Alvarion's highly scalable 4Motion solution, which combines BreezeMAXTM and best-of-breed systems to create an operator-centric network solution for WiMAX.

4Motion is designed to enable service providers to offer subscribers fixed and mobile personal broadband services anytime, anywhere. The complete all-IP Mobile WiMAX solution is designed to be compliant with 802.16e-2005 and WiMAX Forum Network Working Group specifications.
Fully interoperable with 4Motion's Access Service Network gateways (ASN-GW), the Bridgewater Systems AAA Service Controller is a proven carrier-grade authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) solution. It features a powerful policy and profile engine to allow service providers to control and manage access to advanced and differentiated services on a per-subscriber basis. The AAA Service Controller provides extensive support for mobile WiMAX often not available in legacy AAA servers, such as support for multiple EAP methods, dual RADIUS/Diameter protocol support, device and subscriber authentication, as well as mobile IP support.

"Our growing OPEN WiMAX ecosystem now includes Bridgewater's leading subscriber-centric policy management products, which enables us to provide more flexible options in an end-to-end turnkey offering to the mobile WiMAX market," said Rudy Leser, corporate vice president of strategy and marketing for Alvarion. "Together we will provide a compelling value proposition to the growing market for mobile WiMAX solutions, as Alvarion expands its 4Motion solution by continuing to add best-of-breed partners."

Under terms of the agreement, Alvarion gains the right to resell the AAA Service Controller and associated modules for WiMAX on a non-exclusive basis around the world.

WiMAX Forum Announces Brazil Office, Appoints Director

July 05, 2007

The WiMAX Forum, an industry-led non-profit organization comprising more than 460 companies committed to promoting and certifying interoperable WiMAX products, today announced establishment of the WiMAX Forum Brazil Office in conjunction with appointment of the WiMAX Forum Brazil Director.

With the expanding interest in WiMAX technology and deployments in the region, in addition to active interest from WiMAX Forum’s Brazilian member companies, the WiMAX Forum has created a permanent presence in this market with the appointment of Brazil Director, Mr. Luiz C. Moraes Rego, faculty member of the Getulio Vargas Foundation Business School of Sao Paulo (FGV-EAESP).

"I am very excited to represent the WiMAX Forum in this rapidly developing region," said Rego. "WiMAX is a technology that matters for the emerging South American countries' economies. A standards based technology like WiMAX will allow for quick deployment over very broad areas to help bridge the digital divide and provide businesses with more broadband solutions."

Rego will manage all of the WiMAX Forum activities in Brazil, with a particular focus this year on addressing regulatory and member operator engagement. An important driver of new growth is to bring broadband wireless access to thousands of small and medium sized cities presently underserved or not served at all. The presence of a WiMAX Forum office and director in Brazil will help to ensure WiMAX plays a major role in this new growth.

Brazil, in particular, is a potentially significant market for WiMAX technology deployments, as WiMAX technology is already being deployed by service providers including Neovia, Brasil Telecom, Grupo Sinos, TVA and Embratel. In addition many operators, businesses have announced trials and would like to leverage WiMAX technology for broadband connectivity and digital divide.

"Brazilian Telecom Industry after years of fast growth fueled mainly by a new regulatory framework and a huge unsatisfied demand shows signs of deceleration," said Rego. "An important driver of new growth is the potential to boost overall economic activity. WiMAX would have a major role in that."

The WiMAX Forum Brazil Office is the organization's sixth office, with additional offices located in the United States, China, India, Taiwan, and Japan.

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Announcement of WiMAX Forum Japan Office

June 21, 2007

The WiMAX Forum, an industry-led non-profit organization comprising more than 460 companies committed to promoting and certifying interoperable WiMAX products, today announced establishment of the WiMAX Forum Japan Office in conjunction with appointment of Japan Director and Vice Directors by the WiMAX Forum.

Japan plays a key role in mobile communication technologies and services and is also expected to lead next-generation mobile broadband services. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has completed the regulatory work for the 2.5 GHz broadband wireless access and also announced the draft license policy on May 15.

Given this regulatory situation and the high demands from the Japanese member companies of the WiMAX Forum, the WiMAX Forum decided to establish the Japan Office and also appointed its director and vice directors for managing all of the WiMAX Forum activities in Japan, particularly for addressing regulatory and marketing challenges.

"I will act as local representative for the WiMAX Forum to help make mobile broadband a reality in Japan by working with equipment vendors and operators to develop interoperable telecommunication services," said Dr. Tadao Saito, WiMAX Forum Japan Director.

The WiMAX Forum Japan Office is the fourth office of the WiMAX Forum after its offices in US, China and India.

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WiMAX Forum Designates First North American Based Certification Lab

June 19, 2007

The WiMAX Forum announced the first, North America-based certification test lab today during the opening address at the WiMAX Forum Member Conference in Madrid. Established and operated by the WiMAX Forum’s lead certification testing partner, AT4 wireless, Inc., the lab will be located in Virginia and is due to open this October. The North America-based lab becomes one of five test labs for WiMAX Forum Certified products worldwide.

"Establishing a WiMAX Forum designated test facility in North America is very important strategically because the WiMAX Forum and key Telecommunications Industry Forums are located in the U.S.," said Luis Fernando Martinez, General Director of AT4 wireless. "We plan to quickly open a lab in the United States to support global certification testing for both Fixed and Mobile WiMAX devices."

The lab will initially be staffed by up to 25 - 30 employees and will conduct WiMAX Forum certification testing and radiated performance testing (RPT). AT4 wireless has the responsibility to develop and replicate the certification test beds to match other test beds globally so that interoperability for all WiMAX Forum Certified devices is assured. WiMAX Forum members in the Americas may submit devices for certification at the Virginia facility in October.

"A U.S.-based lab is important to help meet the needs of member companies as the demand for mobile certification testing increases in the U.S. market," said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. "We have great confidence in AT4 wireless and know they will deliver the essential task of ensuring WiMAX Forum Certified products are interoperable and ready for commercial deployment."

In the future, the North America lab may provide capabilities to support the convergence of emerging wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi with WiMAX and Bluetooth with WiMAX.

The WiMAX Forum plans to have five certification test labs located in the U.S., Europe, China, Korea and Taiwan by end of 2007.

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Clearwire Completes Acquisition of AT&T Mobile WiMAX Spectrum

May 31, 2007

Clearwire Corporation today announced the completion of its acquisition of all the 2.5 GHz wireless broadband spectrum previously owned or controlled by AT&T Inc. and the former BellSouth.

With this acquisition and assuming closing of other pending spectrum purchases, Clearwire’s U.S. spectrum holdings increased to approximately 14.0 billion MHz-POPs, covering an estimated 223 million people with varying depths of spectrum. In addition, Clearwire holds approximately 8.7 billion MHz-POPs of spectrum in Europe, covering approximately 199 million people. Clearwire holds one of the world’s largest portfolios of next-generation wireless broadband spectrum in the frequency bands identified by the mobile WiMAX standard.

Wavesat Announces Availability of World's First 5.8 GHz WiMAX Mini-PCI Design

May 30, 2007

Wavesat, a leading designer of WiMAX 802.16d-2004 & .16e-2005 solutions announced today the immediate availability of its 5.8 GHz Mini-PCI reference design. Wavesat's 5.8 GHz Mini-PCI design is optimized to allow equipment manufacturers worldwide to rapidly bring WiMAX equipment to market.

The reference design in the form of an extended length Mini-PCI card facilitates system designs by providing a plug-and-play complete solution for the lower layer air interface and time critical low-level MAC functionality. It allows equipment manufacturers to tailor the motherboard providing the higher layer application processor and peripherals according to their specific needs, hence providing greater flexibility and reducing development efforts.

The 5.8 GHz Mini-PCI design is a development platform supporting ODMs efforts to design WiMAX-compliant wireless devices for the 5.8 GHz unlicensed band using Wavesat's Evolutive WiMAX™ DM256 chip. Based on the WiMAX Forum profile, the 5.8 GHz Mini-PCI design greatly simplifies the overall WiMAX CPE design, enabling customers to bring WiMAX solutions to market faster and more cost-efficiently, while allowing for flexibility to address further changes driven by the WiMAX emerging market dynamics, application diversity and customer profiles.

"Wavesat's WiMAX Mini-PCI reference designs offer OEMs and ODMs the unique opportunity to quickly develop a low BOM subscriber unit with minimum NRE investment and risk by using existing broadband CPE platforms," commented Vijay Dube, VP Marketing and Business Development for Wavesat. "Because 5.8 GHz is an unlicensed frequency band, it can be rapidly deployed by Wireless Internet Service Providers (WiSPs) around the world and especially in North America, where it is the only WiMAX Forum profile currently deployable."

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picoChip first with WiMAX Wave 2 and MIMO basestation reference design

May 29, 2007

picoChip announced today the next version of its industry-standard WiMAX basestation reference design, with a software upgrade to support Mobile WiMAX Wave 2 and MIMO. The new PC8532 WiMAX platform has its first public display at WiMAX World Europe this week (Booth Number 204). It is the only basestation reference design to support WiMAX Wave 2 and IO-MIMO, and scales from access point (femtocell) to sophisticated multi-sector carrier macrocells. The PC8532 is used for WiMAX certification and has already demonstrated the widest range of interoperability with third-party terminals.

"The ability to upgrade our WiMAX basestations by software is fundamental to our strategic market advantage", said Paul Senior, VP Marketing of Airspan Networks and WiMAX Forum Board member. "picoChip's programmable PHY has been demonstrated to support IOT between systems running WiMAX Forum CertifiedTM 16d, 16e SISO, and 16e Wave 2 MIMO, all from a common hardware platform. This capability allows our customers to deploy WiMAX services today, confident in their ability to migrate to the latest features and performance enhancements as WiMAX evolves."

The PC8532 supports Wave 2 and IO-MIMO in both uplink and downlink. Wave 2 is the latest version of the WiMAX standard, adding increased support for mobility, while MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output) increases data-rate and reliability by simultaneously sending and receiving data by multiple antennas. The 2x2 MIMO system used in WiMAX significantly reduces CAPEX and OPEX for carriers, by increasing coverage and data-rate compared to other wireless technologies or to non-MIMO WiMAX. As a result, Wave 2 delivers maximum download and upload transmission speeds of 40Mbps and 12Mbps respectively.

"It is a testimony to the quality and maturity of our reference designs that so many customers and partners are already using them, including AT4 as the 'golden modem'. The addition of Wave 2 and MIMO as seamless upgrades will help our partners launch products faster and we are proud to be leading the way," said Guillaume d'Eyssautier, CEO and President at picoChip. "Certification and interoperability are absolutely critical to the success of communications technology; picoChip is highly committed to this process and delighted with the success we have demonstrated."

The WiMAX Forum has defined 2nd phase specifications of Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) to ensure compatibility among systems and terminals by different vendors. picoChip is a leading participant at such events, which included the recent WiMAX Forum Third Public Mobile WiMAX PlugFest for Interoperability.

picoChip's proven WiMAX PHY is accepted as a de facto industry standard through the number of manufacturers using it and through partnership with AT4 (formerly known as CETECOM). AT4 is the WiMAX Forum's approved testing authority for the certification of WiMAX products and uses the picoChip WiMAX reference design as the core in its protocol conformance tester.

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Nortel, Toshiba To Develop WiMAX Base Stations For Japan

May 22, 2007

Nortel and Toshiba Corporation announced an agreement for the joint development of mobile WiMAX base stations for Japanese and global markets. The base stations will be based on Nortel's broadband wireless technology and Toshiba's amplifier and miniaturization technology.

The new WiMAX base stations will offer low power consumption and will feature miniaturized equipment. The base stations' radio module will be developed by Toshiba, drawing on its strengths in miniaturization and high-efficiency amplifier technologies. Nortel will develop the digital module for the base stations. Nortel has extensive WiMAX R&D capabilities and expertise in OFDM and MIMO technologies that support high-speed wireless broadband communications. Building on these respective strengths, Nortel and Toshiba will develop a range of small, power efficient and cost effective WiMAX base stations.

"The initial focus will be on the joint development of WiMAX products, with Toshiba engineers contributing experience and expertise in radio technologies to Nortel's WiMAX solution," said Shunichi Kimura, corporate vice president, and president and CEO of Toshiba's Social Infrastructure Systems Company, the division driving this initiative. "In addition to Japan, there are many countries around the world that would benefit from the implementation of WiMAX technology and this cooperative effort will make a significant contribution to bringing WiMAX solutions to these markets quickly and cost effectively."

"Japan is an important market for us and this agreement with Toshiba is positioning Nortel to play a further role in helping Japanese and global service providers deliver high-speed mobile broadband services," said Peter MacKinnon, general manager, Nortel WiMAX and Wireless Mesh, and chairman, LG-Nortel. "It also offers a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate how two technology powerhouses can pool innovation to develop new WiMAX products that simplify business in this era of hyperconnectivity - where anything that would benefit from being connected to the network will be connected."

"This agreement marks a significant milestone for Nortel and Toshiba," said Nick Vreugdenhil, president, Japan, Nortel. "As Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications works to standardize ultra-broadband wireless technologies for the domestic market, we will be ready to respond to the needs of the Japanese market - and extend the benefits of this joint development alliance to other markets around the globe."

In Japan, Nortel and Toshiba jointly participated in the government's next-generation wireless trial using WiMAX solutions, and successfully completed the trial service provision in the Tohoku region of northern Japan during December 2006 to March 2007.

Nortel has been involved in development of OFDM/MIMO for more than eight years. Nortel is conducting WiMAX trials and completing network deployments around the world, notably with Chunghwa Telecom and the National Taiwan University in Taiwan, Austar in Australia, Quad-Cities Online and MSV in the United States, Wind Telecom in the Dominican Republic, Craig Wireless in Greece, Golden Telecom in Russia, Telefonica Moviles in Mexico and TVA in Brazil, as well as with Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Toshiba has experience and expertise in wireless transmission areas, such as wireless base stations, booster amps for base stations, ROF (Radio Over Fiber) and gap fillers, mainly in the Japanese market.

Maravedis and BWA Launch Industry's First Commercial WiMAX Deployment Database

May 17, 2007

Maravedis (www.maravedis-bwa.com) released WiMAXCounts (www.wimaxcounts.com), the industry’s first online database and service dedicated to tracking and analyzing WiMAX deployments worldwide. Developed from ground-up and comprised of key information on applications, service offerings, ARPU, pricing, target markets, subscribers and deployments worldwide, WiMAXCounts is a unique source of comprehensive information for the entire WiMAX ecosystem.

"As an emerging technology, the WiMAX industry lacked a bottom-up tool to track vital network deployment data," said Adlane Fellah, president and CEO of Maravedis Inc. "We have collected hard data directly from service providers worldwide to deliver an unbiased toolkit that enables operators and manufacturers to trail the key variables affecting the evolution of WiMAX adoption and network deployments."

WiMAXCounts is essential for both the service provider and equipment vendor communities. While service providers are acting in isolation from one another and have little access to the best practices in the industry, equipment manufacturers are eager to gain a clearer understanding of the market size and trends for R&D, strategic marketing and competitive purposes.

"Such detailed and neutral information is not easy to find in the WiMAX industry," said Eric Hamilton, CTO for Unwired Australia. "WiMAXCounts greatly enhances market knowledge among WiMAX service providers and helps us understand the current best practices in the market, network roll out and market entry strategies".

A dedicated team is permanently working on populating and updating WiMAXCounts to guarantee the WiMAX ecosystem with the most current information available. WiMAXCounts now covers more than 100 WiMAX operators in 36 countries and expect to add another 150 profiles across 34 additional countries by Q1-2008. It offers fundamental benchmarks to better evaluate the ongoing business practices, deployments and market conditions. A flexible reporting tool has been implemented to provide the information needed by decision makers and with unprecedented levels of granularity.

Maravedis complements its database with a quarterly newsletter that provides an executive summary analysis of recent service provider deployments and industry trends (investment, content, marketing programs, to name a few). WiMAXCounts is another indicator of Maravedis’ leadership that directly responds to market needs.

WiMAXCounts is a web-based service providing easy access to the latest WiMAX network deployment trends. It includes various dynamic tools to facilitate subscriber uses. With over 350 unique reports and graphics covering key variables, users can customize their research and export data into Microsoft Excel for easy manipulation and analysis. A Wikipedia-style feedback feature enables Maravedis to capture and execute improvements rapidly in response to user requirements.

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Alvarion Partners with NDS and MobiTV to Demo Mobile Wimax TV

March 27, 2007

Alvarion announced that it is showcasing 4MotionTM mobile WiMAX high resolution TV in cooperation with NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, and MobiTV, the leader of mobile and broadband television and music services. By deploying this type of OPENTM WiMAX solution, mobile WiMAX operators can generate additional revenues and profits under a variety of business models.

4Motion is designed to fully integrate NDS’s digital rights management (DRM) and conditional access (CA) solutions, with MobiTV's end-to-end mobile WiMAX television services, to enable broadcast of live channels video on demand (VoD), interactive TV, and other value added video applications.

"Our companies are cooperating in order to demonstrate mobile TV over WiMAX anytime, anywhere and on any device," said Joseph Deutsch, VP Product Marketing, NDS. "Alvarion's 4Motion solution, together with our core VideoGuard CA and DRM solution, supports the full range of video services, giving carriers the assurance that only paying subscribers gain access to content while offering various business models to consumers and increasing average revenues per user (ARPU)."

"Combining Alvarion’s 4Motion solution with MobiTV’s mobile WiMAX client and content delivery system means that high quality video services can be made available to users at all times," said Kay Johansson, CTO of MobiTV.

Leveraging BreezeMAXTM, 4Motion is designed to enable service providers to offer Personal Broadband or fixed, portable, and mobile WiMAX services anytime, anywhere. Designed to be compliant with 802.16e-2005 and WiMAX Forum Network Working Group specifications, 4Motion is the basis of Alvarion’s OPEN WiMAX ecosystem with its best of breed network optimization and smooth and simple integration of third party applications and services. 4Motion is expected to be commercially released later in 2007.

The three companies are showcasing their joint mobile WiMAX TV solution at the CTIA show, booth #4969, being held this week.

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WiMAX World Europe Conference 2007

Vienna, Austria
May 29-31, 2007.

The WiMAX World Conference and Expo series are the world's largest events showcasing next generation mobile broadband and WiMAX technology solutions. Now in it's fourth year, WiMAX World takes place on three continents and offers unrivaled business development, branding, sales, educational and networking opportunities.

Visit conference site: Europe Wimax World 2007.

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Solectek and WNI Global Sign $10.7 Million Dollar WiMAX Agreement

March 24, 2007

Solectek Corporation, a leading manufacturer of long-range wireless broadband equipment, announced that it has signed an agreement with WNI Global, an international provider of broadband wireless solutions, whereby Solectek will deliver approximately US$10 million of its WiMAX base stations and consumer premise equipment.

"We are delighted and honored to work with WNI Global on their roll-out of WiMAX," said Dr. Eric Lee, President & CEO of Solectek. "WNI Global has a strong presence in key emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico and the Middle East. In addition, they have the necessary expertise in broadband wireless to not only deliver a turn-key solution to carriers, but they also have highly trained technical staff capable of deploying any type of point-to-point and point-to-multipoint application, from WiMAX-based to mesh and WiFi systems for municipalities."

Jim Bletas, President and CEO of WNI Global, said, "After meeting with Solectek's engineering and marketing team it became clearly evident that the company has developed a market winning, value-oriented solution that is ideal for the markets we are focused on. What impresses me most is their platform’s ease of scalability and that it is a turn-key solution, complete with an EMS control system. This presents a simple, affordable solution for our customers that is easy to initially deploy yet also provides the ability to grow as their business expands. We are excited to work with Solectek to deploy their technology, initially in the 3.5GHz licensed frequency band."

Solectek's multipoint fixed broadband wireless access (FBWA) products are based on high-power radios and patented adaptive-polling software, which allow very high data throughput, flexibility, scalability and security. The SkyWay-MAX base station offers carriers a low-cost entry solution for each new market and the ability to grow capability as business expands.

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Verso and Navini Form Strategic Alliance to Bring Voice to WiMAX

March 22, 2007

Verso Technologies, a global provider of next generation network solutions, and Navini Networks, a leader in providing portable, plug-n-play broadband wireless access solutions, announce today that a reciprocal partnership has been secured to globally market Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions to the Mobile WiMAX sector by introducing Class 5 telephony features to WiMAX networks. The alliance will provide both companies with mutual visibility and access to emerging VoIP over WiMAX opportunities in their respective niches.

WiMAX is a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL. WiMAX is defined as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the IEEE 802.16 standard, officially known as WirelessMAN. In areas without pre-existing physical cable or telephone networks, WiMAX is a viable alternative for broadband access. Prior to WiMAX, many operators had to rely on proprietary fixed wireless technologies for broadband services.

The Navini and Verso alliance will bring the Verso MetroNet VoIP Overlay solution (an open standards, cost-effective next generation softswitch platform) to WiMAX access infrastructure enabled by Navini.

The VoIP solution integrates and packages a standard set of features and capabilities which includes the Verso Clarent® endpoint (Class 5) and tandem (Class 4) switching technologies as well as other core switching capabilities and voice services. The vertically integrated softswitch offering is designed to enable an end user’s access to Voice over Broadband (VoBB) applications such as prepaid, voicemail and hosted PBX.

The combined solution was recently rolled out by joint customer, Direct on PC Ltd (DOPC), the leading ISP in West Africa, on their pre-mobile WiMAX network. DOPC is deploying in the 2.3 GHz band in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. The services will include customized Internet and intranet access for Banking, Corporate, Oil and Gas, Educational and Government sectors throughout the region. In addition, DOPC plans to offer Internet solutions for the Home and Small Medium Enterprise (SME) segments. DOPC expects to have over 15,000 users in 2007 and as they migrate to 802.16e Mobile WiMAX, they expect to radically change the broadband services and mobile telephony environment. The DOPC network and the VoIP offering will seamlessly migrate to standards compliant Mobile WiMAX via software upgrades to the Navini RipwaveMX platform.

"The Verso-Navini VoIP relationship is ideally suited for the emerging West African market, and we believe it has the potential to change the broadband and mobile landscape in the region. We expect to have the ability to substantially increase our subscriber base and to bring an unprecedented variety of services to the region using Verso and Navini next generation technologies," said Munish Sharma, managing director, DOPC.

Beceem WiMAX Chipset Selected by SANYO

March 21, 2007

Beceem Communications, a leading provider of chipsets for Mobile WiMAX technology, announced that SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. has chosen Beceem's BCS200 chipset as the foundation for its entry into the mobile WiMAX (802.16e) handset market. SANYO will use the BCS200 chipset and systems software in the development of a dual-mode CDMA/WiMAX mobile phone with wave 2 functionality.

"We are very pleased to be working with SANYO, a recognized leader in the CDMA handset market in both the United States and Japan," said David M. Patterson, Vice President of marketing at Beceem. "Our BCS200 solution is ideally suited for the CDMA/WiMAX dual-mode handset being developed by SANYO."

"SANYO has chosen Beceem because of its continued leadership in mobile WiMAX," said Tetsuhiro Maeda, Vice President of SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. and Personal Mobile Group Telecom Company. "We believe that the BCS200 is a vital component in our ability to develop CDMA/802.16e handsets that deliver the features and performance that operators and consumers expect in a SANYO handset."

Beceem Communications BCS200 mobile WiMAX solution includes the BCSB200 baseband processor, BCSR200 direct conversion radio and modem software. Leveraging extensive field test experience in its wave 2 software, the BCS200 is ideal for meeting the unique requirements of mobile WiMAX handsets, which includes a small footprint and low power consumption.

Verso Launches Several WiMAX Technology Initiatives

March 19, 2007

Verso Technologies, Inc., a global provider of next generation network solutions, announced today several strategic initiatives designed to introduce Verso and its VoIP platform into the WiMAX technology arena.

Verso Technologies offers WiMAX network manufacturers the ability to bring to market an end-to-end voice solution by overlaying Verso’s voice and value-added applications, specifically the VoIP MetroNet Overlay, to a WiMAX network. In addition with this solution, Verso offers incumbents and mobile operators a cost effective VoIP platform that can ride over any access medium including WiMAX technology. Our solution allows carriers to introduce VoIP in order to reduce OpEx and increase ROI.

Specifically, as part of its WiMAX strategy, Verso has joined the WiMAX Forum, an international, industry-led, not-for-profit corporation of more than 420 industry members. The Forum was formed to promote and certify the conformance and interoperability of broadband wireless products using IEEE 802.16. The Forum works to promote global WiMAX deployments and to make WiMAX the platform of choice for broadband wireless. As members of the WiMAX Forum, Verso will participate in the Networking Working Group and the Marketing Networking Group, in alliance with several other telecom leaders, to promote the platform.

"Verso brings a strong value proposition to the sector. By partnering with Verso, WiMAX technology vendors as well as traditional operators can deploy revenue enabling VoIP networks and services specifically for voice over WiMAX," said Monty Bannerman, chief executive officer, Verso Technologies. "Verso has long been a pioneer in the VoIP space, and as the WiMAX market grows and pressure for revenue applications grows, Verso's portfolio of VoIP solutions will meet the needs of this new marketplace."

Altech and Samsung sign WiMAX deal

February 24, 2007

Altech and Samsung Electronics have agreed to co-operate for trial service of Mobile WiMAX broadband network in South Africa.

Following the successful test license application to ICASA, Altech and Samsung will install the Mobile WiMAX network in Gauteng, South Africa.

Altech is a leading South African multi-billion rand high-technology group involved in the design, development, convergence, manufacture, installation and distribution of telecommunications equipment, multimedia systems, IT solutions, electronic components, cellular telephony and industrial electronic products while Samsung is a leader and innovator of mobile technology.

According to the contract, Samsung will provide Altech with Mobile WiMAX infrastructure equipment along with various types of devices in the second half of this year. After the success of initial trial service, Altech will decide the mass deployment of Mobile WiMAX service in South Africa, said an official spokesman.

"Korea is one of the world's most advanced countries in developing and deploying wireless broadband networks. Samsung in particular has experience without peer in the deployment of these leading edge wireless technologies," said CEO of Altech Craig Venter.

"We chose them as our partner not only for their expertise, but because we believe that there is no other global technology player who can point to the depth of experience in the delivery of consumer IP services over wireless infrastructure."

The network service will be focused on the wireless delivery of triple play services, including video streaming, Internet access and Voice over IP. In addition, these services will be delivered to both next generation handsets as well as other devices such as laptop computers.

"As a frontier of Mobile WiMAX technology, we are very thrilled to work with Altech for deployment of Mobile WiMAX service in South Africa. I am pretty confident that Mobile WiMAX will bring the real benefit of the advanced telecommunication technology to South African people," said vice-president of Samsung Electronics Hyojong Lee.

Catalonian Gov. Plans to Test Mobile WiMAX

February 14, 2007

Alvarion Ltd. today announced that the Catalonian government is using its BreezeMAX system to extend advanced broadband services throughout the state. Building on its prior WiMAX deployments, the 3GSM host successes to ensure that all citizens of Catalonia receive equal broadband services, and some of them receive it using wireless access infrastructure. This project will be carried out by the Center for Information and Communication Technologies (CTTI), which has joined the WiMAX ForumTM.

Previously local operator Iberbanda—awarded its first broadband contract by the Catalonia government in 2004—had used Alvarion's BreezeMAX system to bring broadband to the Catalonian lands of Tarragona and Lleida. And with that project exceeding all expectations, Iberbanda is now extending broadband services to both rural and suburban areas in the two additional Catalonian lands – Girona and Barcelona country areas.

"The Catalonian government is a highly satisfied WiMAX user and believes in promoting the WiMAX advantage," said Jordi Bosch, Secretary for Telecommunications and Information Society. "Alvarion, the WiMAX worldwide proven leader, has earned the government’s trust during these two years of intensive commercial deployment throughout the region. We are adopting Alvarion's OPEN WiMAX, Best of Breed strategy, since we believe in this operator-centric approach, and now look forward to test Mobile WiMAX solutions."

"Iberbanda is completely committed to the deployment of this new access network bringing broadband services to a large number of Catalonia citizens, who were unable to receive these kind of services until now," said Luis Miguel García, CEO of Iberbanda.

BreezeMAX is Alvarion's award-winning, WiMAX Certified platform designed from the ground up according to the IEEE 802.16 standards and uses OFDM technology for advanced non-line-of-sight (NLOS) functionality. Its carrier-class design supports broadband speeds and QoS to enable carriers to offer triple play broadband services to thousands of subscribers in a single base station. Interested parties can view showcases and demonstrations of Alvarion's OPEN WiMAX strategy in Hall 2, Booth 225C at the 3GSM show being held in Barcelona, Spain on February 12-15.

"Once again we are taking a leading role in helping to bring broadband to Catalonia, a region already benefiting from WiMAX services provided by our BreezeMAX system," said Tzvika Friedman president and CEO of Alvarion. "We value the government's confidence in WiMAX and look forward to continued cooperation in Catalonia and with Iberbanda overall as we begin to promote our OPEN WiMAX solutions worldwide."

Samsung Demonstrates the Newest Mobile WiMAX Technology

February 13, 2007

Samsung Electronics demonstrated its newest Mobile WiMAX technology, 'Mobile WiMAX WAVE 2' at 3GSM World Congress 2007, Barcelona, Spain. 'Mobile WiMAX Wave 2' which supports Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) and Smart Antenna is a next generation mobile telecommunications technology created by the combination of Mobile WiMAX and 4G technology. It can realize 40 Mbps download and 12 Mbps upload transmission speeds in maximum.

The demonstration in Samsung booth, Samsung Electronics used 'Wave 2' systems and terminals to successfully demonstrate high-speed transmission of data at 34 Mbps for downloading and 8 Mbps for uploading. At this download speed allows the users to download MP3 music files (3 MB) in 0.7 second and a movie (700 MB) in 2 minutes and 45seconds.

In addition to the demonstration, Samsung also introduced its in-house-developed core chip for 'Wave 2', attracting interest from the global telecommunications industry including mobile telecommunications operators. 'Mobile WiMAX Wave 2' is to be deployed by Sprint and other operators by late this year.

Geesung Choi, President and CEO of Samsung's Telecommunications Network business said, "We will continue to develop innovative technologies such as Mobile WiMAX Wave 2 and will accelerate the commercialization of Mobile WiMAX in global market."

Samsung Electronics is now pursuing Mobile WiMAX businesses with 35 operators in 23 countries globally. The company has already concluded commercialization contracts or is implementing pilot service with nine operators in seven countries including the US, Europe, and South America.

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Nortel Achieves Industry's First Multi-Vendor Live WiMAX Call

February 13, 2007

Kyocera Wireless and Runcom have achieved what is believed to be the industry's first multi-vendor, live MIMO call using innovative WiMAX antenna technology. This technology is expected to deliver mobile services three to five times faster and at a much lower cost than today's 3G networks. The groundbreaking call, which included both voice and streaming video, demonstrated the commercial viability of MIMO-powered WiMAX for networks and end-user devices.

MIMO-powered WiMAX will allow service providers to meet the high bandwidth demands of today's mobile society without being prohibited by huge costs. This advancement has the potential to offer consumers fully mobile access to entertainment and communication tools that traditionally have been restricted to the home or office. For example, true mobility could be extended to workers for secure access and unprecedented bandwidth wherever they go; video gamers could enjoy their favorite interactive games in real-time; and children could pass the time on long drives watching their favorite shows via streaming video.

"This solidifies Nortel's position as a leader in OFDM-MIMO which is the underlying technology of WiMAX and the basis for all 4G solutions" said Peter MacKinnon, GM of WiMAX, Nortel. "To ensure an ecosystem of MIMO-powered WiMAX, Nortel has brought together its leadership in 4G Mobile Broadband technologies with Kyocera Wireless' expertise in consumer devices and Runcom's pioneering developments in chipset technologies."

"In order to be successful in the market, mobile video must be affordable for consumers," said Monica Paolini, Senza Fili Consulting. "WiMAX, with its infrastructure, high capacity, and the proven ability to support mobility, is an excellent technology choice for operators looking to drive the costs out of mobile services while still offering the most competitive broadband speed performance."

"As the world's first handset manufacturer to demonstrate a MIMO-powered WiMAX device, Kyocera Wireless is in a leadership position to enable future products with the bandwidth-intensive features - like television and broadband Internet - that many consumers will demand," said Dave Carey, vice president of strategic planning, Kyocera Wireless Corp. "Kyocera Wireless has a long track record of innovation in the wireless industry and we're gratified to be working with Nortel and Runcom on yet another step forward in wireless technology."

"Leading edge WiMAX technology will allow mobile customers to enjoy enhanced communication services without sacrificing the flexibility and dependability that they have come to expect from their devices and networks," said Dr Zion Hadad, CEO, Runcom. "We expect this collaboration will provide the end to end MIMO solutions that can transform the wireless industry."
The call took place at Nortel's Advanced Technology Lab in Ottawa over live air using 2.5 Ghz commercial spectrums. The technology used was a prototype PCMCIA card from Kyocera Wireless powered by Runcom's MIMO chipset, and Nortel's WiMAX Base Station 5020. This is believed to be the industry's first multi-vendor, end-to-end WiMAX MIMO wireless broadband solution where all components are MIMO based. Nortel signed a working agreement with Kyocera Wireless in December to bring to market MIMO-based PCMCIA cards and other devices. Based on market demand, commercial products could be available later this year. In addition, Nortel will demonstrate the MIMO-powered WiMAX solution at its booth (#145 in Hall 8) at 3GSM World Congress taking place Feb. 12-15 in Barcelona.

Nortel's Mobile WiMAX solution is built on a foundation of MIMO, a combination of innovative transmission and antenna technologies that maximizes spectrum to deliver the lightning-fast speeds and high bandwidth essential to high-quality mobile video and TV. The power and performance of Nortel's solution provides substantial savings to operators because WiMAX delivers high-speed, broadband fixed and mobile services wirelessly to large areas with minimal infrastructure.

Study: Differentiation Key To Mobile WiMAX Success

February 13, 2007

Mobile WiMAX carriers will have to differentiate their services from cellular services if they are to survive, and even then, they will face many technical, cost, and competitive challenges in the United States, a study by In-Stat concludes.

However successful Mobile WiMAX (Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access) carriers turn out to be, they will create downward price pressure on incumbent cellular carriers, In-State noted.

"When WiMAX competes with cellular, cellular operators will be forced to decrease their prices for wireless data services over cellular," said In-Stat's study. "Even if WiMAX fails after that point, it is unlikely that cellular carriers will ever again be able to charge the amount they currently do for wireless data services."

Mobile WiMAX , based on the Internet Protocol, promises to accelerate wireless-data speeds well beyond what's offered by current 3G cellular networks and deliver basic voice service. Voice service will be based on the technology's Voice-over-Mobile WiMAX spec, a VoIP technology that In-Stat says isn't likely to be used much before 2009 in the United States.

Because WiMAX carriers will offer voice and data services like cellular carriers, they'll have to "differentiate WiMAX from cellular data and offer each for a different purpose," the study said. One way would be to promote WiMAX for wireless internet access from laptop PCs and PDAs, while cellular data will be used for cellular handsets.

However they position their service, startup Mobile WiMAX providers "will need to undercut a cellular service provider's price for service if they are to have any chance of succeeding," the study said. Such price cuts, however, "will make it more difficult for that WiMAX provider to pay back his network," In-Stat noted. "In addition, if the cellular operators in the area start to see significant movement to WiMAX, they will reduce their service prices to compete."

Cellular carriers that build Mobile WiMAX networks, such as Sprint, will likely succeed by using the cellular network for data and voice and WiMAX for data-only service targeted to PDA and laptop users. In fact, it is Intel's intent to incorporate WiMAX in laptop chips, In-Stat said. The differentiated dual-network strategy "gives the [cellular] company more flexibility because it can deploy WiMAX when it likes, and it can shift its wireless data load between
WiMAX and cellular however it pleases."

Mobile WiMAX faces many other challenges, including competition by well-established cellular carriers whose networks will likely be more reliable than startup Mobile WiMAX networks. Other challenges include the lack of a
single worldwide WiMAX standard or frequency band that would drive down end-user device costs through economies of scale, said analyst Allen Nogee. The WiMAX standard, he explained, is an umbrella that covers several "profiles," each of which has a unique channel width, frequency band, and sometimes different duplexing forms to fit into various countries' existing spectrum allocations, In-Stat explained.

Current 3G cellular devices cost under $250, and some are starting to drop below $100, In-State noted. At these levels, "WiMAX devices will have a difficult time competing on price, and it's unlikely that the number of WiMAX devices produced will reach just this year's cellular 3G numbers for many years to come," Nogee said.

As for infrastructure, when backup power and similar additions such as backhaul are taken into account, WiMAX base stations are roughly equal in price to smaller cellular base stations, he said.

WiMAX's key advantage over cellular is 20 percent to 30 percent greater spectrum-efficiency than current cellular technologies. Down the road, however, CDMA2000 1X EV-DO Rev. C technology will greatly accelerate cellular data speeds "and allow cellular to directly compete with WiMAX."

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Cable & Wireless International Selects Alvarion Systems for Wimax Services

February 13, 2007

Cable & Wireless International (CWI) and Alvarion, the world's leading provider of WiMAX and wireless broadband solutions, announced the signing of a global frame agreement in which CWI has selected Alvarion's BreezeMAX system for fixed and mobile (802.16e) deployments. Alvarion's award-winning BreezeMAX is the most deployed WiMAX system in the world with over 300 installations in more than 100 countries.

CWI has already deployed the first network in Antigua offering service beginning in December 2006. The WiMAX network deployment provides broadband to business and residence customers, using the BreezeMAX Pro and BreezeMAX Si customer premises equipment.

"Alvarion's WiMAX strategy enables us to optimize all aspects of our WiMAX network deployments using the best systems from multiple companies. This further enhances the WiMAX ecosystem while deepening the business partnership between our companies," said Frank Mount, CWI Chief Technology Officer. "Alvarion's high capacity deployed network supports voice and broadband and is capable of meeting the mobility required by our customers, meeting a significant differentiator for CWI."

BreezeMAX, Alvarion's mature and field proven WiMAX platform, has been deployed in over 300 networks over the past 2.5 years. It is a complete offering, addressing all deployment types – fixed, nomadic and mobile – in rural, suburban and urban environments.

"We are proud to be selected by an innovative and international operator as CWI," said Tzvika Friedman, CEO of Alvarion. "Working together on advanced solutions and services will further assist Alvarion as market leaders. OPEN WiMAX combines our market-leading BreezeMAX system with complementary network systems from best of breed partners to serve as the future global standard for delivering Personal Broadband services over WiMAX."

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First Ever WiMAX-LTE 4G IPR Report

February 12, 2007

Maravedis Inc. (www.maravedis.bwa.com) today strengthened its reputation as telecom's most innovative market research and analyst firm with the launch of the first ever report on WiMAX/LTE 4G Intellectual Property Rights(IPR), an exhaustive analysis of real-world IPR and patent data complemented by a comprehensive worldwide patent Database.

"We can't underestimate the impact of IPR on WiMAX/LTE 4G Technology. By the end of the decade, we expect that up to $300 million will have been spent annually on IPR for WiMAX alone" said Robert Syputa, Senior Analyst at Maravedis and author of the report. "The most successful companies focus R&D where they can benefit the most and leverage IPR. Unfortunately, many companies become so technology centric that they fail to align R&D with commercial success" Continued Syputa.

The WiMAX/LTE 4G IPR Policy & Market Report provides service providers with a powerful foresight on their upcoming IPR expenses, and helps manufacturer to truly position their IPR in the global patent scheme in order to direct their R&D and patent strategy. It also equips Investors and financial analysts with the right tools to gain insight on upcoming trends in the industry, identify potential investment, provide a solid foundation to build a strong marketing plan and understand how IPR and market trends may pressure new IPO's.

Maravedis invested many months gathering information, interviewing key industry players, and competently analyzing raw patents and IPR data to provide Stakeholders with a true effective, factual, detailed and forward looking set of data and analysis tools. "3GPP and other emerging technologies had databases and analysis enabling the industry to understand the potential of the technology, but no such tool was available for WiMAX/4G before. Through the expected market size, coupled with the rapid changes happening with the major players, there was a clear need to look ahead at the impact IPR and patent issues will have on the industry". said Adlane Fellah, President of Maravedis.

The report covers IPR policies, regulations, climate, forecasts, to name and few, and reveals several important IPR trends that indicate the role major players could have in the emerging WiMAX/4G markets.

Key Findings from the Author:

- Recent IPR trends, consolidation among smaller players and entrance of incumbent suppliers indicates further acquisitions by the larger players, such as Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung and Motorola, who will play a significant role in determining overall IPR costs in the WiMAX/LTE 4G market

- Qualcomm's position in 802.16e is limited but presents a stronger position for technology advances that will impact 4G.

- Samsung own the broadest field of OFDMA and related technologies used in WiMAX and LTE 4G.

- Wi-Lan, an IPR corporate licensor, has early agreements for WiMAX and related IPR licenses with Redline Communications, Cisco and Nokia, which sets benchmarks for commercial precedents of IPR agreements.

Maravedis expects that IPR disputes for WiMAX/4G will be less onerous than experienced in cellular due to the processes and policies developed, as well as the maturity and cross-discipline diversity of technologies comprised in emerging systems.

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Redline and Wavesat Advance with Proven Vendor Interoperability

February 12, 2007

Redline Communications Inc., a leading provider of standards-based WiMAX and broadband wireless infrastructure products, and Wavesat, a leading supplier of WiMAX chipsets, software and reference designs, today announced the companies have completed independent interoperability testing between Redline's WiMAX Forum Certified RedMAX base station and Wavesat’s WiMAX Forum Certified Evolutive CPE design. The independent testing confirms the availability of a wide range of fixed and portable WiMAX end-user devices, including PCMCIA cards, USB devices, desktop and outdoor units to support a wide range of applications such as Voice and Video over IP for carrier networks.

The independent testing also confirms Redline as a WiMAX base station vendor for devices based upon Wavesat's certified 802.16-2004 CPE design. Redline and Wavesat will display their WiMAX products at the 3GSM 2007 event in Barcelona from February 12 to 15, 2007, booth 2.1 C58.

"The WiMAX Forum Certified solutions now available are enabling carriers around the world to establish broadband wireless networks today that deliver the services subscribers want and build a profitable business model for operators," said Monica Paolini, Senza-Fili Consulting. "Vendor interoperability will be a key driver in the continued growth of the WiMAX market, providing more choice and ultimately lower cost devices for both operators and their customers. The increased number of fixed WiMAX products now available gives carriers the ability to deliver more advanced services and generate a rapid return on their WiMAX network investments."

"The successful completion of interoperability testing with Wavesat represents Redline's latest milestone in the advancement of our RedMAX products," said Kevin Suitor, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, Redline Communications Inc. "We continue to experience strong demand for our fixed WiMAX products, particularly from incumbent and competitive carriers in high-growth markets. We are focused on advancing our current technologies to provide additional benefits to our customers and we expect to remain among the leaders in the development of WiMAX technologies based on emerging standards."

"We are extremely proud to welcome Redline to our growing list of base station vendors who have successfully completed interop testing," says Frank Draper, VP Strategic Development for Wavesat. "We see an increasing number of WiMAX CPEs based on our WiMAX Forum Certified Mini-PCI design. As a market leader, we will continue to focus on enhancing our current product portfolio to bring additional cost reduction, easy upgradeability and design flexibility to our unique architecture".

Wavesat Announces Product Strategy for 802.16e Mobile WiMAX

February 12, 2007

Wavesat's leadership in the WiMAX space is further strengthened with the announcement of its IEEE 802.16e Mobile WiMAX strategy, centered around its UMobile family of WiMAX chipsets supporting all features of Mobile WiMAX Wave 2 profiles in a cost effective, flexible and highly programmable architecture.

The first chipset in the UMobile family, codenamed Panther, features a highly cost efficient and ultra low power consuming SOC, supporting the IEEE 802.16e-2005 standards for WiMAX mobile networks. Wavesat Panther chipset implements all MAC and PHY features required for Wave 2 WiMAX certification in a single chip, and includes advanced MIMO and beam forming technologies.

Panther's unique advantages include:
- Very high performance and fully programmable PHY & MAC solution, including smart antenna features such as MIMO 2x2.
- Lowest cost solution and footprint in the industry with on-chip DRAM in a 9x9mm package (no external memory required), allowing very easy integration into small form-factor applications such as wireless dongles, consumer appliances and mobile handsets.
- Very low power consumption at 150 mW in receive mode by using ultra low power DSP technology and enhanced power saving modes
- Highly programmable architecture supporting multimode operation including ODFMA / OFDM / and legacy 802.11a & g.

"Wavesat maintains its leadership in WiMAX chipsets and solutions with the announcement of its UMobile product strategy for 802.16e WiMAX," said Michel Guay, President and CEO, Wavesat. "Our deep understanding of the WiMAX marketing and customer's needs has translated into a unique and cost-effective architecture, offering a mix of flexibility and performance allowing our customers to very easily integrate our UMobile chipsets into their WiMAX solutions".

Adlane Fellah, CEO and Founder of Maravedis commented "We predict that there will be an accumulated 87 million broadband Wireless Access subscribers (excluding cellular) by the end of 2012, 67 million of which will be WiMAX subscribers. WiMAX will represent 90% of subscribers who are added in 2012, of whom 75% will be using 802.16-2005 technology. WiMAX chipsets will start to be embedded into laptops in the beginning of 2008, into handheld devices in the beginning of 2009, and into consumer electronics in the beginning of 2010. In this context, Wavesat who has been a pioneer in the development of WIMAX SOCs is well positioned to tap into this future competitive WIMAX mobile market."

Wavesat is conducting detailed IOT testing with prototype Panther units, and commercial samples will be available in Q4/07. Wavesat will be exhibiting at 3GSM, February 12-15, 2007 in Barcelona booth 2.1 C58.

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UHT to build the first commercial WiMAX network in the Ukraine

February 08, 2007

Alvarion announced that telecommunications provider Ukrainian High Technologies Ltd. (UHT) is using its BreezeMAX 3500 to build the first commercial WiMAX network in the Ukraine. Building on successful deployments in Kiev and Kharkov, UHT plans to use its exclusive IEEE 802.16 license in 3.5 GHz spectrum to extend its WiMAX network starting with Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, and Lviv. Alvarion local partner S&T Soft-Tronik, being a leading systems integrator in Ukraine, has performed system delivery, network deployment and will provide ongoing support.

"BreezeMAX gives us many technological and economic advantages in bringing WiMAX services to the Ukraine," said Yuriy Chuikov, General Director of Ukrainian High Technologies. "Our successful launch of WiMAX networks in Kiev and Kharkov--with their demanding business and private subscribers--demonstrates the viability of using the BreezeMAX 3500 to serve densely populated urban areas. Alvarion is our WiMAX partner in fulfilling our commitment to provide broadband services to the general population of the Ukraine."

"We are pleased to be working with two world leaders--UHT and Alvarionin deploying advanced networks delivering WiMAX services," said Yuri Lisetsky, General Director of S&T Soft-Tronik. "Our relationship with Alvarion is for the long term, and we welcome the opportunity to help bring broadband to all parts of the Ukraine. Being a leading system integrator in Ukraine we pay special attention to complex and innovative projects. They are both an opportunity and challenge that only a few companies in our market can take. This project has been of this kind and we are pleased with its current development."

"The Ukraine is an expansive country with a large population, and Ukrainian High Technologies is an innovative challenger that sees the vast potential of using WiMAX to make broadband widely available there," commented Tzvika Friedman, president and CEO of Alvarion. "This is another example of BreezeMAX being the industry benchmark by bringing WiMAX services quickly and cost-effectively to new areas of the world. With our initial deployment successes, we look forward to strengthening our relationship with UHT as they deploy BreezeMAX throughout the Ukraine."

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ClearSpectrum BWA/WiMAX Licensing Database Receives WiSOA Endorsement

February 06, 2007

Maravedis Inc., the leading broadband wireless market research and analyst firm, today announced that its ClearSpectrum licensing database has received official endorsement by the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance (WiSOA).

This is the first time WiSOA has given its official seal of approval to a research report such as ClearSpectrum. "WiSOA is pleased to provide its endorsement for the ClearSpectrum database," said Patrick Cruise O'Brien, WiSOA's secretary general. “Clear, concise and complete information is not easy to find in the WiMAX industry. We feel that a reliable and organized database such as ClearSpectrum will greatly enhance market knowledge among regulatory authorities, service providers and equipment vendors around the world."

"The members of WiSOA appreciate how such information can positively impact the understanding of WiMAX spectrum and regulation situation," said Adlane Fellah, President and Founder of Maravedis Inc. "We are truly honored to receive this prestigious endorsement, which we feel confirms the value of ClearSpectrum for our customers."

An enhanced database online provides significant time savings.

Maravedis also announced the official launch of the enhanced ClearSpectrum online BWA/WiMAX licensing database. Customers will now be offered the possibility to tailor their research by customizing the information by country, frequency and alphabetical sorting. The Online version also features a user-friendly search engine supporting various research fields, including country, frequency and license holder. Moreover, the user will now be able to create its own customized reports, use the Print Friendly option or even export data to Excel for manipulations

"Providing our customers with the most comprehensive and up-to-date research and analysis is an ongoing objective of Maravedis," said Fellah. "The new online and interactive features we've added to ClearSpectrum will enable our customers to always have access to the latest information, how they want it, when they want it and where they want it."

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Proxim Wireless Pioneers the Convergence of Wi-Fi Mesh and WiMAX

February 05, 2007

Proxim Wireless Corporation, a global pioneer of end-to-end solutions in Wi-Fi mesh, WiMAX, WLAN, and wireless backhaul and wholly owned subsidiary of Terabeam, Inc. , announced MeshMAX, a new multi-radio product line that incorporates WiMAX, Wi-Fi mesh, and Wi-Fi access. Proxim MeshMAXTM products are available in both the unlicensed and licensed frequency bands. Proxim Wireless is the first company to enable the convergence of Wi-Fi mesh, WiMAX, and Wi-Fi access in a single integrated device. MeshMAX provides significant benefits to service providers, municipalities, and customers planning to deploy Wi-Fi mesh and WiMAX. MeshMAX enables a new deployment architecture that increases the capacity of mesh networks, simplifies their deployment, and provides outdoor mobility for the 300 million-plus Wi-Fi clients.

"Proxim's MeshMAX is the right product line at the right time," said Daryl Schoolar, Senior Analyst, In-Stat. "The convergence of WiMAX and mesh is a natural evolution in broadband wireless, as it maximizes the strengths of both technologies. Proxim Wireless is well-positioned to deliver this integrated product family because of the company's long history of providing enterprise-class wireless networking products and point-to-multipoint distribution systems."

Proxim MeshMAX products are currently being evaluated by service providers in a number of countries including Chunghwa Telecom, one of the largest telecommunications operators in Taiwan. Commenting on the new MeshMAX product line, Dr. K.S. Huang, Chunghwa Telecom Labs, said, "Proxim's MeshMAX successfully integrates WiMAX and Wi-Fi mesh in the same unit. The advantage of this integration is that it guarantees Quality of Service for optimal voice and video, which can allow us to quickly and cost effectively bring Internet connectivity and applications to rural areas."

Explosive Growth in WiMax Patent Activity Promises Surge in Industry

February 03, 2007

Mountain View, CA, PRWeb - A new report from WTRS finds dramatic growth surge in WiMax patent activity. Completing intensive study of almost 500 WiMax related patents, WTRS now predicts phenomenal increase in WiMax industry, but IP litigation activities will affect market leaders.

WTRS announces 2007 edition of its unique WiMax Patent Directory. This Report demonstrates the enormous growth in innovative WiMax activity; last year's Directory covered about 50 new patents and this year's new Report studies over 475!

The Report offers analysis of current and pending WiMAX-related patent litigation, and analysis of IP and Patents with registered IEEE Letters of Assurance.

Patents are tracked for mobile and fixed WiMAX and related technologies such as WiBRO. Both US and worldwide patents are evaluated by company with a focus on fundamental network architecture, enabling software, and RF chipsets. Detail is extensive and the 500 page Report is both comprehensive and accessible, organized with an easy-to-use interface; patents to claims are hyperlinked within the document.

"The Wireless Triple Play industry will be dominated by WiMax in both fixed and mobile forms," according to Principal Analyst Kirsten West. "We are starting to see examples of WiMax used to solve actual business pain and that is the prerequisite for broad adoption in the Wireless Triple Play market."

In the past this Report has been purchased by OEM's, but also by a diverse Group, including a law firm and even a University Department. A previous version was even purchased by another Market Research firm! This is a unique publication, without a comparable offering from any other firm, but also is a tool allowing purchasers to identify those individuals making significant contributions to the WiMax universe.

Using only publicly available information, meticulously gathered from public patent sources, company information, and other research this report is truly an invaluable resource for any company participating in the WiMAX sector, or planning a potential entry into this market.

Kyocera Wireless and Runcom Announce Collaboration

January 27, 2007

Kyocera Wireless Corp., a leading global supplier of CDMA wireless devices and accessories, and Runcom Technologies, the pioneer in OFDMA enabling technologies for Mobile WiMax, disclosed today a development agreement aimed at leveraging Kyocera's expertise in wireless device development and Runcom’s leading chipset technologies. The companies are working closely to develop exciting new consumer electronic devices employing the latest in broadband Mobile WiMAX technology.

WiMax delivers high-speed broadband fixed and mobile services wirelessly to large areas using considerably less infrastructure than previous wireless protocols. When paired with new MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technology, it can deliver mobile services three to five times faster than today's third-generation (3G) standards at a lower cost. A growing number of wireless service providers around the world are planning to use WiMax's multimedia capabilities to complement existing cellular networks and service offerings.

"Mobile WiMax devices and their diverse capabilities will change the landscape of wireless services available to consumers, truly offering a 'quadruple play' of cable television, broadband Internet, home telephone and mobile telephone functionality," said Dave Carey, vice president of strategic planning for Kyocera Wireless Corp. "Users will enjoy an unprecedented combination of productivity, connectivity and entertainment that’s as mobile as they are. Kyocera is determined to be at the leading edge of this evolution and we are pleased to be working with Runcom, a company that clearly shares this vision."

Kyocera and Runcom worked closely over the last several months in the early development of multiple classes of Mobile WiMAX terminals, such as PC cards, customer-premises equipment (CPEs), residential gateways and others. At the heart of these devices, the companies anticipate incorporating Runcom's RNA 200 Mobile WiMAX baseband ASIC with MIMO capability.

"Runcom is proud to offer the world’s first MIMO-powered WiMax chipset and we are confident it will lead the wireless industry into true 4G services," said Israel Koffman, vice president of marketing at Runcom Technologies.

Nexcom First to Market to Offer WiMAX in Bulgaria

January 26, 2007

Nexcom Bulgaria (www.nexcom.bg), a leading telecommunications operator with more than 8 years of experience in Bulgaria, has announced today that it has launched the 1st commercial WiMAX network in Bulgaria and the Balkans. The network spans 10 cities and is based on the fixed 802.16 standard using the BreezeMAX™ suite from Alvarion – a WiMAX Forum founding member and worldwide leader in WiMAX deployments.

"The good news is that WiMAX is not just a promise for high-speed wireless voice, data and video transfer. WiMAX is already a reality in Bulgaria," said Emil Nikolov, CEO of Nexcom Bulgaria. "We are proud not only to be the first company to offer WiMAX service in Bulgaria, but to be a pioneer in market liberalization, providing the first real alternative to the incumbent operator. We are excited with the huge potential of WiMAX and we plan to quickly expand in more than 30 cities in 2007 covering 85% of the Bulgarian population."

Nexcom’s WiMAX network supports a myriad of applications and services, ranging from voice and high-speed data – both for residential and business customers, to leased line replacement and VPN for corporate users. Currently the company will provide fixed wireless solutions, progressively upgrading in 2007-2008 to nomadic and mobile services.

Sprint Nextel and Nokia in WiMAX Pact

January 05, 2007

Sprint Nextel today announced that Nokia has been named a key infrastructure and consumer electronic device provider for its 4G WiMAX next generation mobility network. Nokia joins Intel, Samsung and Motorola in creating the advanced network infrastructure and access devices which will be designed to allow consumers, businesses and governments to experience high bandwidth mobile Internet connectivity at access speeds significantly higher than today's wireless networks beginning late 2007.

Sprint Nextel last August announced the selection of WiMAX (IEEE802.16e-2005) technology for a next generation wireless network which would utilize the company’s extensive 2.5GHz spectrum assets, and formation of a unique business ecosystem designed to spur widespread adoption of WiMAX devices and services. This combination creates a time-to-market advantage for implementing the first large scale mobile WiMAX network expected to cover at least 100 million people by year-end 2008.

"Sprint Nextel is forming a world class ecosystem around mobile WiMAX technology to deliver unprecedented mobile broadband services to customers," said Barry West, Sprint Nextel president, 4G Mobile Broadband. "A company of Nokia’s global stature fortifies the foundation of Sprint’s mobility vision and will help make Sprint's WiMAX multimedia services pervasive and indispensable for customers."

The strategic relationship with Nokia involves network infrastructure, mobile device and market development commitments. Under the agreement Nokia will:

- Be a major supplier to Sprint for WiMAX network infrastructure, including the market-leading Nokia Flexi WiMAX base transceiver stations which bring significant site and operating cost savings.

- Develop and market WiMAX-enabled mobile devices in significant volumes, including multimedia computers and Internet tablets.

- Jointly develop mobility services and applications to improve the customer experience

-Conduct co-marketing efforts to drive market development and support global adoption to help establish worldwide roaming.

"Nokia shares Sprint Nextel's mobile broadband vision and is proud to join its industry-leading WiMAX ecosystem," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO, Nokia Corp.
"WiMAX is an ideal technology for open Internet models in all major global markets. With Sprint's leadership, the next generation network will offer innovative mobile broadband services, connecting people with content and technology in new and exciting ways."

Sprint Nextel is expecting to invest up to $800 million in 2007 and between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in 2008 relating to the 4G WiMAX mobile broadband network. Sprint Nextel’s goal is to have a broad range of mobile WiMAX-enabled chipsets and modules and an array of portable data, multimedia and consumer electronics devices available from multiple vendors which work seamlessly among Sprint's network offerings. As a result, customers will experience an interactive mobile data network that is designed to offer faster speeds, lower cost, greater convenience and enhanced multimedia content.

NDS Partners With MobiTV To Demonstrate First Mobile WiMAX TV Service

January 03, 2007

DS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, announced today that it has partnered with MobiTV to demonstrate the first-ever secure delivery of Mobile WiMAX TV to Ultra Mobile PCs. The integration of NDS VideoGuard with the MobiTV® service enables Mobile WiMAX operators to offer premium mobile television over a two-way IEEE 802.16e network while maintaining content rights and protecting service revenues. The new technology will be demonstrated at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show.

The solution integrates the NDS VideoGuard DRM and Conditional Access (CA) Server with MobiTV’s backend system to support the encryption of content and management of subscribers. On the client side, the two companies have integrated the NDS VideoGuard DRM and CA client into MobiTV’s mobile TV client which runs on an Ultra Mobile PC. An Ultra Mobile PC is a new category of mobile devices optimized for specific usage such as Internet-to-go, Entertainment-to-go, and Education-to-go, while providing full PC capability and versatility.

The MobiTV client connects to the video sent over the WiMAX network and displays it only after verifying subscriber rights for the service. This type of integration enables operators to protect the revenues generated from the MobiTV service, ensuring that only paying subscribers can gain access to the available channels.

The integration of the MobiTV service with NDS VideoGuard demonstrates an end-to-end pay-TV platform for WiMAX service providers. The service includes an efficient delivery mechanism for video, an electronic service guide (ESG) with channel and program information, and a TV client application. The integrated DRM offering allows operators to enforce content rights and to apply various business models to the content that is being delivered, including subscription, pay-per-view, pay-per-time, and others, appealing to different subscriber profiles.

“MobiTV offers the leading platform for delivery of TV to mobile devices and PCs. Our demonstration at CES shows how Mobile WiMAX operators can generate revenues from mobile video by supporting multiple business models and protecting their content at the same time,” said Joseph Deutsch, Vice President of Product Marketing for NDS.

Kay Johansson, CTO for MobiTV remarked: “Video and television delivery will obviously be one of the key applications for Mobile WiMAX, and a well thought out, mobile television solution providing multicast and unicast streaming is crucial for WiMAX operators trying to maximize ARPU. By integrating our solution with a key DRM player like NDS, we are showcasing how such an offering works and could be implemented with ease.”

FINTEL Covers Fiji Islands With WiMAX Using Alvarion's BreezeMAX

December 26, 2006

Alvarion announced that Fiji International Communications Limited (FINTEL), the country's international telecommunications provider, has selected BreezeMAX to offer WiMAX data services to the businesses and residents of the Fiji islands. Working with Paclink, a leading South Pacific systems integrator, FINTEL will start by offering services in the capital city of Suva, later expanding to more of the 330 islands in the south Pacific archipelago.

"We are pleased to be able to bring the '4G' services of WiMAX to the Fiji Islands," said Mr. Jone Wesele, Commercial & Business Development Manager of FINTEL. "As a complement to our existing fiber and satellite networks, BreezeMAX has proven to be ideal for our island terrain. It's a robust, ruggedized system with exceptionally high performance for our non-line-of-sight environment and meets the demanding bandwidth and service requirements of our busy tourist industry."

BreezeMAX is Alvarion's WiMAX Certified platform designed from the ground up according to the IEEE 802.16 standards and uses OFDM technology for advanced non-line-of-sight (NLOS) functionality.

"Bringing WiMAX to the Fiji Islands is very exciting, and we are thrilled to plan and deploy such a significant addition to FINTEL's network capabilities," said Philip Martyn of Paclink. "We look forward to growing our relationship with Alvarion to offer more network solutions to FINTEL and other carriers in our region."

BreezeMAX carrier-class design supports broadband speeds and quality of service (QoS) to enable carriers to offer triple play broadband services to thousands of subscribers in a single base station. Since its launch in mid-2004, BreezeMAX has been successfully deployed in over 200 installations in more than 80 countries around the world.

"As [WiMAX] deployments in Asia Pacific increase..." said Tzvika Friedman, "WiMAX services will give the Fiji tourist industry a substantial boost with the corresponding economic benefits."

WiMax IPOs on the Horizon

December 25, 2006

By Olga Kharif - Business Week Online

On Dec. 18 and 19, two wireless upstarts -- NextWave and Clearwire -- filed to go public with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Based on their S-1 forms, both companies hope to make their fortunes on WiMax, a broadband-wireless technology expected to start making significant inroads in the telecom market next year.

Market researcher Gartner (NYSE: IT) Dataquest expects the North American WiMax services market to swell from 30,000 connections in 2006 to 21.2 million by 2011.

What's the appeal of WiMax? The wireless technology could provide consumers with a new source of high-speed broadband services, threatening to displace digital subscriber lines (DSL), cable modems, and today's slower cellular and WiFi services.

For WiMax operators, product suppliers, and software vendors, the technology represents a huge opportunity to shake up the telecom market -- one that Clearwire and NextWave are hoping investors will be quick to appreciate.

Strong Investor Appetite

Will investors snap up Clearwire and NextWave's offerings? The answer could differ by company, even though, at first glance, the two outfits appear to be very similar: Both are swimming in operating losses and both hope eventually to make their money, at least in part, from building out WiMax networks.

The two companies also expect to go public in early 2007, capitalizing on a revival of the tech initial public offering market -- the strongest it's been since 2000, says IPO expert Tom Taulli. On Sept. 21, wireless broadband gear maker Riverbed Technology (Nasdaq: RVBD) priced above its expected range, and the company's shares have rallied 210 percent since, to US$30.19, indicating strong investor appetite for wireless broadband-related stocks.

Yet Clearwire's shares might receive a different reception, and attract very different investors, than NextWave.

One reason: Clearwire has A-list investors: chipmaker Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and cell phone manufacturer Motorola (NYSE: MOT) . It also has legendary telecom executive Craig McCaw at the helm.

"There's a natural comfort that comes with the fact that Intel and Motorola are interested, and McCaw runs it," says Michael Mahoney, managing director at EGM Capital hedge funds in San Francisco. Years ago, McCaw cobbled together the first nationwide cellular empire in the U.S., which he sold to old AT&T (NYSE: T) for $11.5 billion in 1994.

Spectrum Speculators?

How much Clearwire could raise in an IPO is yet unclear. Some estimates suggest the figure could be around $400 million.

Clearwire, which originally planned to go public earlier this year but withdrew its application due to adverse IPO market conditions, already has 188,000 subscribers, up from 1,000 users in 2004. Its network is deployed in 34 markets in the U.S. and in certain locales abroad. It also has $1.25 billion in cash, equivalents, and short-term investments, according to documents filed with the SEC. Clearwire officials did not respond to requests for an interview.

NextWave is famed in its own right, but for different reasons.

...

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Alvarion Introduces a New Converged Wimax Wi-Fi Solution

December 07, 2006

Alvarion Ltd. introduced two new converged solutions combining Wi-Fi functionality with both WiMAX and pre-WiMAX products. The BreezeMAX WI2 and BreezeACCESS WI2 enable carriers to capture additional revenues, while moving toward advanced Personal Broadband services, providing a powerful cost-effective, converged network that combines high performance Wi-Fi portability for IEEE 802.11b/g devices with WiMAX quality-of-service (QoS).

Each WI2 solution consists of an outdoor Wi-Fi access point with integrated power module capable of connecting to various commercial power sources, either a BreezeMAX or BreezeACCESS VL unit for backhaul and network management software.

As a fully ruggedized, all-outdoor Wi-Fi access point solution for hot zone applications, service providers now deploying WiMAX networks can extend their BreezeMAX networks in 2.3, 2.5 or 3.X GHz and BreezeACCESS VL networks in 5 GHz with Wi-Fi hot spot coverage. The result is full support in a single broadband network for both WiMAX users and subscribers using standard Wi-Fi devices such as laptops, PDAs, smart-phones, and portable gaming devices.

"Wi-Fi supported by WiMAX QoS answers the many demands of both public and private sector including public broadband access, traffic management, video surveillance, connecting city offices, homeland security, as well as growing number of Personal Broadband applications," said Rudy Leser, Alvarion's corporate vice president of strategy and marketing. "And with both WI2 products, existing broadband wireless operators can now leverage their current infrastructure to capture consumer and business/government segments for bandwidth-intensive applications in a mobile environment. This gives them an early market advantage towards mobile broadband services and the offering of Personal Broadband."

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Intel Demonstrates Its First Mobile Wimax Baseband Chip

December 05, 2006

In the next step toward integrated WiMAX/Wi-Fi Technology for future laptops and mobile devices, Intel Corporation announced design completion of its first mobile WiMAX baseband chip. Combined with the company’s previously announced single-chip, multi-band WiMAX/Wi-Fi radio, the pair creates a complete chipset called the Intel WiMAX Connection 2300. This development marks another major step in Intel’s efforts to deliver an “always best connected” mobile Internet experience for future laptops and mobile devices.

The Intel WiMAX Connection 2300 chipset design was demonstrated during Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Sean Maloney’s keynote at the 3G World Congress and Mobility Marketplace in Hong Kong.

Maloney showed an Intel Centrino Duo mobile technology-based laptop with mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-2005), Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n), and high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) 3G capabilities successfully accessing the Internet at broadband speeds over a mobile WiMAX network. The demonstration illustrates the high-speed and quality of service capability of WiMAX for handling content-rich applications that can be extremely responsive without interference from other wireless technologies residing on the same system.

"Intel continues to drive innovation in mobile broadband access by eliminating the seams that prevent ubiquitous wireless connectivity," said Maloney. "The Intel WiMAX Connection 2300 will help speed the deployment of mobile WiMAX, and accelerate the availability of a new wave of “personal broadband" laptops and mobile devices that deliver the real Internet."

With the initial Intel WiMAX Connection 2300 chipset design now complete, Intel plans to focus on validating and testing the product, with plans to sample both card and module forms beginning in late 2007.

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Wimax via Motorola sets soon

November 28, 2006

Wimax is the next hot thing in the Indian telecom market. After rolling out the first Made-in-India mobile,
Motorola plans to cash in on the demand for wireless broadband (high speed Internet) in the country. The world's second largest maker of mobiles is in discussions with telecom operators to provide network and equipment for offering Wimax (high-speed Internet access over a wireless connection).

The annual broadband wireless equipment market
opportunity in India is pegged at around $4.5 billion by '12 and Motorolavis keen to bite into this pie. "Motorola will design networks and provide customer premises equipment (CPEs) and handhelds. Our end-to-end solutions will be deployed by operators beginning next October," Mr Amit Sharma, vice-president, strategy and business development, Motorola Asia Pacific said.

India is targeting 30 million broadband (high speed Internet)
users by 2010 while the current base is just 2 million. The most difficult part of providing broadband access is last mile, the final leg of delivering connectivity from a communications provider to a customer, as it requires
fanning out of wires and cable.

Wimax is an easy solution as it doesn't require a direct line of sight between the source and endpoint. With a service range of 50 km, Wimax supports peak data rates of 23 Mbps. Samsung and Alcatel are other vendors eyeing the Indian wireless broadband market.

Mr Sharma said Motorola is undertaking pilots for Wimax in
some areas. "It's much easier to deploy Wimax access points and power requirements are also less (compared to wireline networks). We don't think this is a replacement for mobiles. Wimax will be used for data
applications while cellular networks will continue to be used for voice services," said Mr Sharma.

Existing service providers can
overlay their cellular networks with Wimax while new entrants can use Wimax for
greenfield installations of broadband networks.

Motorola Wimax handhelds will be a PDA-like device, with high computing powers for data access. While CPEs and handhelds will be imported to begin with, manufacturing is likely to be localised over time. Motorola is already setting up a mobiles manufacturing facility at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai.

Intel is the technology partner for Motorola. "Intel is supplying us chips. We box them and give it to service providers," Mr Sharma said, adding that Wimax will allow the country to leap from from the 2.5G voice-centric networks to 4G data-centric networks.

Telecom Giants Stake Out WiMAX Turf For Broadband On Horizon

November 23, 2006

While mobile broadband is mostly "a business of tomorrow," some early consumer response is quite promising. Clearwire, a startup with $2 bil. in financing including investments by Intel and Motorola, says it has achieved penetration rates of 10%-15% in seven areas where it has offered its wireless broadband service for at least 11 months.

"This low-double-digit penetration rate from Clearwire is about double expectations of a mid-single-digit penetration," notes Kagan Research senior analyst John Mansell.

Telecommunications giants are scrambling to carve out a beachhead in wireless broadband either with their own proprietary systems or aligned with the WiMAX Forum, an industry group setting standards. Broadband wireless will require billions of dollars for spectrum licenses, technology development and infrastructure to deploy nationally; current cell phone technology and infrastructure is inadequate.

"The holy grail is true mobility in wireless broadband that would be analogous to today's cell phone service but with faster speeds," says Mansell, who will moderate a Dec. 7 audio conference on WiMAX. "But we're not there yet. Service providers today are offering at best just portability that is experienced in 'hot spots.'"

WiMAX aims to drive down costs by standardization, which also will facilitate roaming capability allowing customers to be handed off between different carriers.

"While there's a growing consensus WiMAX faces a significant set of financial, technical and regulatory challenges, there's also tremendous upside," Mansell writes in a Kagan Research report, JupiterKagan Concept Report: WiMAX: Friend or Foe to Incumbent Carriers? "At mid-year, of the 400 mil. with Internet access worldwide, there were about 100 mil. dial-up and 300 mil. broadband subscribers. Only 1%-2% of the broadband subscribers were wireless."

The leading cell phone carriers are evolving already established standards, notes Mansell, while WiMAX has strong support from rural carriers and new entrants.

IRAQTEL selects Redline to establish Iraq's first WiMAX network

November 19, 2006

Redline Communications, a leading provider of
standards-based broadband wireless equipment, and IRAQTEL, the telecom subsidiary of Al Emaar Holding Group - Iraq, today announced it will deploy the first WiMAX network in Iraq using Redline's WiMAX Forum Certified(TM) RedMAX products. Vision Valley, a specialist in systems integration, network design and implementation, will provide its regional expertise to ensure the network is effectively established. IRAQTEL will deliver advanced voice and broadband services to thousands of businesses and residents throughout its region via the Redline network.

IRAQTEL will begin its RedMAX deployment in Basrah, and will expand its WiMAX network to include additional regions across Iraq. The Redline solution will enable IRAQTEL to quickly and cost-effectively establish broadband wireless network to deliver the voice and broadband services its enterprise and government customers need and extend its network to reach more businesses, residents and municipal organizations.

"IRAQTEL has been searching for a WIMAX solution that would provide a cost-effectively alternative to VSAT networks, which have been the only available solution for establishing broadband connections because of the lack of copper line infrastructure ," said Sheikh Fawzi Al Lami, Chairman of IRAQTEL. "We chose Redline's RedMAX products to establish a carrier-class telecommunications backbone capable of supporting a scalable, high performance
network."
As the first to bring WiMAX technologies to Iraq, IRAQTEL joins a growing roster of leading telecommunications carriers that have chosen Redline's RedMAX products. The most widely-deployed WiMAX Forum Certified(TM) system, RedMAX enables carriers to establish WiMAX networks that will deliver the performance and features they need to deliver increasingly advanced communications services and expand their subscriber base over time.

"In choosing RedMAX, IRAQTEL has demonstrated its commitment to meeting the communications requirements of its growing customer base," said Majed Sifri, President and CEO, Redline Communications.

"IRAQTEL will deploy one of the world's most advanced WiMAX networks to address the lack of existing communications infrastructure with a vision to serve the people of Iraq with innovative and affordable wireless communications services."

"We have worked closely with Redline to design and deploy the WiMAX network for Iraqtel and other major telecommunications companies throughout the GCC," said Mahir Elfadil, Chief Executive Officer, Vision Valley." RedMAX products enable operators to position themselves at the forefront of the telecommunications industry, by delivering the most advanced wireless communications technologies available today."

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Aperto Unveils Mobile Wimax Strategy

November 14, 2006

Aperto Networks, has unveiled its strategy to support a wide range of deployment options for network operators looking to capitalize on the IEEE 802.16-2004 fixed and IEEE 802.16e-2005 mobile WiMAX standards.

Aperto's mobile WiMAX offering is based on an extension of Aperto's industry leading PacketMAX architecture, including the PM5000, the first base station to be certified by the WiMAX Forum. Aperto has adapted PacketMAX to accommodate the mobile WiMAX standard through 802.16e-2005 compliant radio controller modules and software selectable subscriber units allowing spectrally efficient collocation of the equipment based on the fixed and mobile WiMAX standards, or an elegant migration from fixed to mobile WiMAX.

"Aperto has been a strong solutions partner for GTS Poland for a long time and their introduction of "e" or mobile WiMAX fits squarely into our plans," said Pawel Kozlowski, field and access engineering director, GTS Poland. "With PacketMAX subscriber units we can run the "fixed" standard or the "mobile" standard depending on software load; and the PacketMAX 5000 base station gives us the flexibility we need to run both standards in the same footprint making technology migration straight forward. By executing on this strategy, Aperto has proven its ability to solve real operator problems."

With advanced technologies such as MIMO, antenna diversity and space-time coding (STC), the PacketMAX platform will evolve to yield even greater link budgets to enable more effective communications for WiMAX users, no matter where they are located, whether at the office, at home, or on the move. PacketMAX will also include multiple base station form factors for mobile WiMAX, such as single sector, multi-sector and pico-cell base station, allowing network operators to optimize their deployments.

Maravedis Predicts Internet Penetration in Canada to Exceed 70% by 2017

November 09, 2006

The leading telecom market research and analyst firm Maravedis introduces its new Canadian Internet Database, called CID. In addition to providing information on Canadian Internet penetration rates by year, region and technology, CID offers the unique capability to access precise information classified by Postal Code, a first in the industry.

"We understand the investment implications of offering Internet access, and we believe this substantial database is essential to Internet Service Providers (ISP) looking to enhance revenues, improve customer loyalty, identify new prospective clients, create new customized service offerings and increase addressable market," explained Julien Regoli and Adlane Fellah, the architects and originators of CID.

The analysis demonstrates an intrinsic correlation between Internet usage and specific demographic factors. Age, income, education and location are the most influential factors. "We have created an equation to represent this correlation and used it to estimate the level of household penetration in each of Canada’s Forward Sortation Areas (FSA), which provides users with higher quality projections taking into account the detailed socio-economic characteristics of this market," continued Fellah.

Over 95% of Internet users on broadband access by 2017

According to Maravedis, Internet penetration per household in Canada will exceed 70% by 2017, and it is anticipated that 95% of Internet users will have subscribed to a high-speed (broadband) connection.

"The average monthly bandwidth usage per residential subscriber has increased from 50 Mbps in 2003 to 300 Mbps in 2005, which definitely makes dial-up service an increasingly frustrating experience," says Adlane Fellah. Dial-up Internet subscribers are typically new or occasional users. And, as they increase their use, subscribers are likely to upgrade to a high-speed connection at some point.

Canada is a leading country when it comes to Internet penetration as well as broadband deployment, and they continue to intensify although at a slower pace than in the past few years. CID clearly projects a growing gap in penetration rate between the Atlantic and the Western Provinces. By 2017, British Columbia is expected to possess the highest Internet penetration rate at close to 80%, followed by Ontario and Alberta in the high 70s%. In contrast, Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland are expected to reach around 55% penetration.

Although growth has decelerated, the Canadian Internet market will be interesting to watch in the coming years. Between changes in regulation and the introduction of new technologies such as Broadband Wireless Internet through WiFi and WiMAX, we expect an exciting future ahead as Wireless technologies are deployed, providing subscribers with portability and mobility features. As a result, Maravedis foresees there will be several subscriptions per household - a phenomenon Canadian households are experiencing today with cell phones.

Maravedis' CID also includes a WiMAX supplement with all the vital information on current license holders in the 2.5 GHz band in Canada.

Intel Ships its Next-Generation WiMAX Chip with Support for Mobile Networks

October 11, 2006

Accelerating the availability of broadband wireless access, Intel Corporation today announced the availability of the Intel® WiMAX Connection 2250, the company’s next-generation system-on-chip and its first designed to support mobile networks in addition to fixed networks.

The Intel WiMAX Connection 2250 is the industry’s first dual-mode baseband chip, and when paired with Intel’s discrete tri-band WiMAX radio, the solution is capable of supporting all global WiMAX frequencies.

Speaking at WiMAX World today, Sean Maloney, executive vice president and general manager of Intel’s Sales and Marketing Group, also announced that Motorola Inc. currently intends to integrate the Intel WiMAX Connection 2250 into its CPEi 200 Series of WiMAX customer premise equipment. Motorola joins several other leading telecommunications equipment manufacturers currently expected to deliver Intel WiMAX Connection 2250-based products in 2007.

“Intel is bringing its first mobile WiMAX compliant product to market, marking an incredibly important step in the launch of mobile WiMAX,” said Maloney. “The first with dual mode support, the new chip bridges the worlds of fixed and mobile WiMAX, helping equipment manufacturers build customer premise equipment at increasingly attractive price points, and service providers to break ground on upgradeable networks.”

WiMAX is a standards-based wireless technology for providing high-speed, last-mile broadband connectivity to homes and businesses and for mobile wireless networks. Intel’s WiMAX silicon delivers the features needed to enable cost-effective, high-speed wireless modems for homes and businesses.

Service providers may benefit from the versatility and faster time to market afforded by the dual-mode support of the Intel WiMAX Connection 2250. Compliance with both the IEEE 802.16-2004 fixed standard and the more advanced IEEE 802.16e-2005 specification for fixed, nomadic and mobile WiMAX functionality enables the development of customer premise equipment that can be deployed in “d” mode and upgraded to “e” mode with a quick over-the-air software upgrade. The Intel WiMAX Connection 2250 is optimized for cost-effective WiMAX modems and offers flexibility in equipment design, deployment and application.

Maloney went on to highlight the growing number of service providers committed to building out WiMAX networks and said that trials and deployments worldwide now top 225, with more than 40 commercial networks currently delivering wireless broadband services. Among the many service providers and equipment manufacturers currently providing Intel WiMAX Connection 2250-based solutions and services are Telefonica de Espana and Iberbanda working with Alvarion; Pipex and Yozan working with Airspan Networks; GTS Poland working with Aperto Networks; Teledata Moçambique, Lda (Africa), Crowley Data (Poland) and Integrated Telecom Company Ltd. (ITC) (Saudi Arabia) working with Redline Communications. In addition, Motorola, Alcatel, Navini, Proxim, Siemens and SR Telecom, among others, have announced they will also incorporate the new Intel chip into their product lines.

Maloney also highlighted work that has begun on a mobile WiMAX trial in Portland, Ore. in collaboration with Clearwire and Motorola. The trial is expected to run through 2007.

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Report: WiMAX On Track To Compete For Dominance In Wireless

September 19, 2006

Maravedis announced the publication of its fourth edition of "WiMAX and Broadband Wireless (Sub-11GHz) Worldwide Market Analysis and Trends 2006-2012" report.

WiMAX is on track to compete for mainstream wireless markets according to Maravedis Report "Nothing points out the immediate course into mass market development than the planned introduction of multimode WiMAX mobile plus cellular semiconductors and devices," said Adlane Fellah, Senior Analyst at Maravedis, and co-author of the report.

This 800-page report provides a comprehensive analysis of the broadband wireless market, technology trends, regulation as well as Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). The document also considers the experience of service providers whilst providing an overview of key emerging countries-BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), in addition to an in-depth analysis of municipal markets.

Highlights of the Report include:

- Service providers are examining fixed mobile convergence to reverse ARPU decline.

- Service providers care about certification, standardization and economies of scale in the medium to long term, but they want robust equipment with NLOS capabilities today.

- The cost of indoor CPE will fall to US$75 by 2008, which will in turn boost the proliferation of WiMAX.

- BRIC countries will represent one third of accumulated BWA/WiMAX subscribers by 2012.

- Lack of spectrum allocated for WiMAX China and India is of concern, and may impact WiMAX adoption if not resolved by 2008.

- The essential IPRs (patents) for WiMAX technology being held by different and non-dominant companies will provide WiMAX the opportunity to emerge as being a lower cost technology.

- The WiMAX equipment market is forecasted to reach an annual US$6 billion in 2012, and will have generated accumulated revenues of US$15 billion by then.

- Maravedis predicts an accumulated 87 million BWA subscribers by the end of 2012, 67 million of which will be WiMAX subscribers.

SOURCE: Maravedis

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Alvarion's BreezeMAX Selected for WiMAX Services in Tonga

September 19, 2006

Alvarion Ltd., announced that Tonga Communications Corporation (TCC) has selected its BreezeMAX 3500 solution to cover the Kingdom of Tonga with WiMAX services. Tonga CC, the islands’ national operator, plans to overlay its current GSM network with WiMAX to bring broadband data services to the citizens of Tonga. The Kingdom of Tonga, the oldest and last remaining Polynesian monarchy, is an island nation with around 100,000 residents inhabiting 42 of its 170 islands spread over 700,000 square kilometers in the south Pacific, and has thousands more visitors who come to enjoy its year round tropical weather, beach communities, and now broadband services.

"We have been searching for a way to bring broadband to the islands for awhile, but only Alvarion's BreezeMAX fit our business model," said Steve Tusler, CEO of TCC. "Given our island topography and tropical weather, we require a robust system that is easy to scale and works in non line-of-sight conditions. We were impressed with the BreezeMAX system's quality-of-service and proven field reliability worldwide and look forward to bringing broadband to as many island residents as we can and to our many visitors."

BreezeMAX is Alvarion's WiMAX platform designed from the ground up according to the IEEE 802.16 standards and uses OFDM technology for advanced non-line-of-sight (NLOS) functionality. Its carrier-class design supports broadband speeds and quality of service (QoS) to enable carriers to offer triple play broadband services to thousands of subscribers in a single base station. Since its launch in mid-2004, BreezeMAX has been successfully deployed in over 180 installations in more than 80 countries around the world.

"As we expand our WiMAX deployments in Asia Pacific, we welcome Tonga CC's decision to overlay its GSM network with WiMAX to offer the latest broadband services to its users," said Udi Shaked, Alvarion's general manager in the APAC region. "The ability of BreezeMAX to provide broadband to users over large areas becomes clear in a geography such as Tonga. And its advanced OFDM technology overcomes the challenges of deployment in an island topography."

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Japanese Incumbent Beginning Broadband Deployment in Rural and Island Areas of Okinawa

August 24, 2006

Alvarion Ltd., announced that NTT West-Okinawa Corporation, a subsidiary of NTT West, has signed a supply agreement for its BreezeACCESS VL system. The Japanese incumbent is beginning a broadband deployment to serve the rural and island areas of Okinawa where wired infrastructure is too difficult and costly to deploy.

"We selected Alvarion's BreezeACCESS VL after an extensive trial period," said Kenichi Honda, president of NTT West-Okinawa. "Given our island topography, we need a robust system that is easy to deploy and offers high quality services in non line-of-sight conditions. We are impressed with both the VL's overall performance and cost effectiveness, and the result is we now see a way to close the digital divide in our region."

BreezeACCESS VL's enhanced features such as OFDM non-line-of-sight (NLOS), extended reach of more than 30 kilometers (19 miles), high capacity, encryption and quality of service (QoS) mechanisms enable carriers, mobile operators, ISPs, enterprises and others can use the VL to provide triple play services to business and residential subscribers in the 5 GHz bands. With its advanced features such as 20 MHz channel spacing and automatic clear channel selection (ACCS) and its built-in spectrum analyzer to monitor the noise on each channel, BreezeACCESS VL enables greater flexibility in frequency planning.

"We are very excited to strengthen our relationship with NTT West-Okinawa, one of the world's largest incumbent carriers, as they deploy broadband services throughout Okinawa," said Tzvika Friedman, president and CEO of Alvarion. "Our BreezeACCESS VL provides broadband with quality of service to thousands of users over large coverage areas and is an excellent choice for island terrain. This deployment is a direct result of our flexibility and investments in optimizing the VL for the local Japanese market."

With a per chassis maximum capacity on the base station of over 300 Mbps in a single 3U shelf, carriers offers subscribers up to 32 Mbps (net FTP). The BreezeACCESS VL is supported by AlvariSTAR™, a carrier-class network management system that simplifies network deployment and enables rapid expansion of a service provider’s customer base with effective fault management for quick resolution.

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AirTegrity Wireless Donates Pre-WiMAX Solution to Sand Harbor State Park

August 23, 2006

AirTegrity Wireless, a company dedicated to developing industry-leading wireless communications solutions for global applications, today announced it has donated a pre-WiMAX system for wireless broadband to the Sand Harbor State Park in Lake Tahoe. The Incline Village, Nevada-park is home to the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. The AirTegrity system will provide free wireless Internet access to Park employees, Festival volunteers, and Park patrons alike (photo of installed base station available; see details below).

The AirTegrity system was installed 8,000 feet up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Lake Tahoe where it is subject to high snowfall, extreme winds and temperatures, and mountain debris. This new network, one of the first solar-powered pre-WiMAX installations and the highest-elevation pre-WiMAX installation to date, is an extension of one which has proven its capabilities even in the harsh weather conditions of the High Sierras since 2001.

AirTegrity offers base stations, relay stations, and subscriber stations – everything needed for a wireless network. With reliable operation in difficult physical conditions of the Lake Tahoe mountains, AirTegrity proves this pre-WiMAX system is an ideal technology for maintaining wireless Internet access, voice, video, and data communications in the event of catastrophic weather from Mother Nature.

WiMAX is a new wireless broadband technology that provides all of the speed and performance of wired broadband networks over a wireless connection. AirTegrity’s WiMAX-In-A-Box system is based on the current specifications for WiMAX and, until certification is completed, should be considered a pre-WiMAX technology. While the specifications for WiMAX are evolving, it’s already clear that WiMAX will dramatically increase the performance and lower the costs associated with the installation and operation of broadband voice and data networks. Earlier this month, Sprint-Nextel announced plans to build a new, nationwide wireless network based on WiMAX technology.

"AirTegrity’s donation to the San Harbor State Park benefits the Festival and our employees and visitors who use the park year-round," said Catherine Atack, executive director of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. "The new wireless Internet access provided by AirTegrity lets us virtually transport our office to the theater which is critical when the Festival is in season. We are grateful to the company for their donation."

"WiMAX is an exciting new technology that has tremendous potential to change the way we communicate wirelessly. We believe the demand for WiMAX will from the communications industry will be strong with major investments from leading telecommunications companies and service providers alike," said Greg Phillips, CEO, AirTegrity Wireless. "Demanding deployments like this one demonstrate why an investment in this technology by these organizations is a good one."

In addition to serving communities, fixed wireless broadband technology like AirTegrity’s has emerged as a critical low-cost connectivity option for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that need high-performance broadband connectivity but may either not have access to the physical wired infrastructure or may be seeking alternatives to its high-costs.

AirTegrity Wireless, Inc. is leading the global race to introduce products based on the 802.16 standards adopted in 2004. The new AirTegrity pre-WiMAX products combine core features and functionality from technologies for wireless communication, wireline, LAN, WAN, VPN, VoIP, security and network management, thereby offering a suite of capabilities unique to AirTegrity’s products. With the new AirVantage product line, designed for service providers seeking "last mile" high-performance wireless broadband access with AirTegrity’s simple "WiMax in a Box" approach, AirTegrity offers all of this power and flexibility in a compact, low-power-consumption, integrated package.

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Netia Selects Alavarion's Breezemax for a 20 City Wimax Deployment in Poland

August 23, 2006

Alvarion Ltd., announced that Netia, a leading competitive Polish telecommunications provider, has selected its BreezeMAX 3600 for a 20 city WiMAX deployment in Poland. An extension of Alvarion's market leading BreezeMAX solution operating from 3.6 to 3.8 GHz, the BreezeMAX 3600 is targeted at WiMAX operators in Europe and other countries where that frequency is available and enables carriers to offer broadband data, voice, and multimedia services with high performance over wide coverage areas. As a customer of Alvarion's MGW solution for multi-residential voice and data services, Netia began this WiMAX deployment in 20 additional cities upon receiving the nationwide license. Netia is one of four Polish carriers who received the nationwide WiMAX license.

“We want both business and residential subscribers across Poland to automatically think of Netia when signing up for broadband," said Wojciech Mądalski, president and CEO of Netia. "We selected the strong team of Alvarion to ensure that we can provide WiMAX services to subscribers in the first 20 cities by the end of August."

BreezeMAX is Alvarion’s award-winning WiMAX platform designed from the ground up according to the IEEE 802.16 standards and uses OFDM technology for advanced non-line-of-sight (NLOS) functionality. Its carrier-class design supports broadband speeds and quality of service (QoS) to enable carriers to offer triple play broadband services to thousands of subscribers in a single base station. Since its launch in mid-2004, BreezeMAX has been successfully deployed in over 180 installations in more than 80 countries around the world.

“Netia is an excellent example of a carrier who plans to use WiMAX aggressively to expand its service offerings and penetrate various new markets for increased revenues," commented Tzvika Friedman, president and CEO of Alvarion. “Our more than a decade of leadership in broadband wireless access and now WiMAX enabled us to quickly match our BreezeMAX system to the spectrum needs of Netia. We are pleased to provide them with the world's most widely deployed WiMAX system in the frequency band they require and look forward to helping Netia grow its WiMAX network to cover all of Poland eventually."

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Google launches local Wi-Fi early

August 17, 2006

Google launched its free Wi-Fi service in its home town of Mountain View, Calif., today, ahead of schedule, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

“The feedback was overwhelming positive,'' said Chris Sacca, head of special initiatives for Google. “It's glowing, and in fact it's why we're launching the network earlier than we planned. It's hard to keep up with the requests to get on the network.''

The network covers 90 percent of the city's 12 square miles and offers maximum data-transfer speeds of up to 1 megabit per second. It consists of 380 Tropos-built transceivers on light poles throughout the city. The company will pay the city an annual fee of $36 per fixture.

The company has said it doesn't plan to become a municipal wireless provider; rather it wants to study the new technology. Google has also joined with EarthLink to build a network in San Francisco, and Sacca is joining the board of the group pushing for a Silicon Valley-wide wireless network.

"We want to inspire these networks to be built. We want to throw our hat in the ring and show the promise of these broadband networks,' Sacca told the San Jose Mercury News. 'We wanted to make it very unpopular for anyone to oppose the promise of these networks."

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WiMAX Telecom Selects Alvarion to Expand Its WiMAX Networks in Austria

August 16, 2006

Alvarion Ltd. announced that WiMAX Telecom AG, the first pan European WiMAX carrier, has again selected its BreezeMAX 3500 expanding its WiMAX networks in Austria and Slovakia. Upon acquiring its nationwide 3.5 GHz license last year, WiMAX Telecom first began building its WiMAX network with Alvarion's BreezeMAX and now plans to deploy more than 10,000 additional BreezeMAX PRO CPEs by the end of 2006.

"Expanding our networks using Alvarion's WiMAX systems makes good business sense for us," said Dov Bar-Gera, chairman of WiMAX Telecom AG. "Last year, we first selected BreezeMAX because it met our extensive requirements and rigid evaluation as a robust system to handle our sometimes inclement local weather, conditions in the landscapes of Austria and Slovakia. Building on our initial success, we look forward to additional roll outs of WiMAX services in other regions where we hold 3.5GHz licenses."

BreezeMAX is Alvarion's award-winning WiMAX platform designed from the ground up according to the IEEE 802.16 standards and uses OFDM technology for advanced non-line-of-sight (NLOS) functionality. Its carrier-class design supports broadband speeds and quality of service (QoS) to enable carriers to offer triple play broadband services to thousands of subscribers in a single base station. Since its launch in mid-2004, BreezeMAX has been successfully deployed in over 180 installations in more than 80 countries around the world.

"WiMAX Telecom is part of a new breed of 'innovative challenger' carriers who are leveraging the advanced technological and economic benefits of WiMAX to build broadband networks quickly and cost effectively," commented Tzvika Friedman, president and CEO of Alvarion. "We are pleased with their success using BreezeMAX to offer broadband data and toll quality voice services to their subscribers. Our continuing innovation and leadership in WiMAX worldwide, coupled with the network building activities of forward thinking carriers such as WiMAX Telecom, means that the mass availability of broadband services and personal broadband services is fast approaching."

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Sprint Nextel Unveils 'G-Normous' Wimax Plans for the US

August 09, 2006

US carrier Sprint Nextel, along with the help of Motorola, Samsung, and Intel, announced that the carrier will adopt the 802.16e mobile WiMAX standard as its "4th Generation" broadband technology, the first nationwide wireless infrastructure for mobile communications. The company will continue to use its current CDMA networks that are in place today for voice services, and will use the 4G network exclusively for high-bandwidth data services.

Sprint will deploy WiMAX gear to leverage its 2.5GHz spectrum holdings, which covers 85 percent of the top 100 U.S. markets. The plan is to conduct trials next year, with commercial releases expected in 2008. The rollout will complement, not replace, Sprint's existing EV-DO network.

The network will use both Motorola and Samsung network infrastructure, along with Motorola multi-mode handsets and access devices, and will be powered by technology partner Intel’s next-generation 802.16e Centrino chip.

Gary Forsee, Sprint's CEO said that Intel will also be supplying equipment to build the network while Motorola and Samsung will develop WiMAX-compatible phones and mobile devices.

Sprint expects to spend about $1 billion on the initiative in 2007, and between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in 2008.

Forsee didn't specify to what extent the other companies might help offset Sprint's costs, saying those details will come later this year when Sprint provides financial guidance for 2007.

The announcement comes hard on the heels of 2.5GHz operator Clearwire Corp.'s announcement last month that it would convert its proprietary BWA gear to WiMAX. It scored $900 million in financing from Intel and Motorola.

"Clearwire and Sprint will be able to leverage each others' 2.5GHz spectrum holdings to increase their coverage," said Philip Solis, ABI Research senior analyst. "Even more important, the satellite TV providers will benefit from a developing WiMAX ecosystem in the United States as they consider their options to leverage a WiMAX network."

With this announcement, Sprint Nextel is hoping to take an early lead in the deployment of 4G data services. The company plans on rolling out 4G services in select test markets by the end of 2007, with an official launch of its services to an approximate 100 million people during 2008 with the proposed ability to download 10mns of video in about 100 seconds.

By all accounts, the big winners here are Motorola and Intel. This announcement along with the Clearwire investment announcement last month signals that Motorola and Intel are the indisputable powerhouses behind WiMax and that this technology will now certainly gain a foothold in the US as well as abroad.

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WiMAX Forum Applauds Sprint Nextel for its Decision to Deploy Mobile WiMAX

August 08, 2006

The WiMAX Forum applauds Sprint Nextel Corp. for its decision to build a nationwide mobile WiMAX network using equipment and solutions from three WiMAX Forum member companies. A WiMAX Forum board member, Sprint Nextel announced today it had selected Intel, Motorola and Samsung Telecommunications America to deploy a mobile WiMAX network as part of its 4G Wireless Broadband Initiative as a means of delivering personal broadband services to U.S. consumers (http://www2.sprint.com/mr/news_dtl.do?id=12960).

“This is a watershed moment for the WiMAX Forum and the fast-growing WiMAX ecosystem,” said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. “Sprint Nextel has had a strong commitment to advancing the WiMAX market, and this is evident by its selection of mobile WiMAX as its 4G next-generation network for its 2.5GHz spectrum throughout the U.S. Clearly, Sprint Nextel intends to be one of the foremost operators to provide a rewarding personal broadband experience and more choice of services to U.S. subscribers. The WiMAX Forum is fervent in its belief that delivering mobile Internet services will be the key to connecting the world.”

“Sprint Nextel joins other operators in U.S., Korea and Japan that selected mobile WiMAX because of advantages in performance, cost, flexibility and innovation crucial in maintaining a leading position in their markets,” Resnick continued. “More and more, operators worldwide view mobile WiMAX as a natural complement to existing mobile and wireline networks and the most effective way to deliver bandwidth intensive and real-time applications on notebooks and other mobile devices.”

The WiMAX Forum is the exclusive organization driving the industry forward and is leading the global, open ecosystem that it has built along with its 375+ member companies. Collaboratively, the WiMAX Forum is aggressively pursuing programs to assure certification and interoperability of mobile WiMAX products, global roaming, interworking to complement existing voice networks, development of applications and services optimized for WiMAX, and the promotion of WiMAX products worldwide.

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Sprint Nextel to use WiMax for network

August 08, 2006

Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation's third-largest wireless provider, said Tuesday it will use WiMax technology to build its next generation of communications network.

The company said the new network, expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2007, will provide consumers with wireless Internet speeds on par with DSL or cable modems.

Gary Forsee, Sprint's chief executive, announced the decision during a news teleconference in New York. He said the telecom company will spend $1 billion on the network in 2007 and between $1 billion and $2 billion in 2008.

Similar to popular Wi-Fi networks that provide wireless Internet access in such places as airports and coffee shops, WiMax can be designed to cover whole cities or regions.

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Alvarion Deploys WiMax in Wyoming

August 07, 2006

Alvarion Ltd, announced the deployment of a citywide wireless broadband network in the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming to support the communication needs of multiple public safety and public works departments. The fixed and mobile network employs Alvarion’s BreezeACCESS® 4900, operating in 4.9 GHz for multipoint backhaul, and its BreezeACCESS 900, operating in 900 MHz to give city workers mobile access in their vehicles, including connecting their Wi-Fi enabled personal digital assistants (PDAs).

“Our rather ambitious goal for this first phase was to offer the broadest range of services of any municipal wireless broadband network in North America,” asserted Theresa Snyder, chief information officer of Cheyenne. “We selected Alvarion because it offered all the desired functionality, but at significantly less cost than comparable solutions. Building on our success, we are now making plans to expand the network to offer T1 replacement services; real-time video for security, traffic, and utility use; and countywide mobile services to give access to the Sheriff’s department.”

With the launch of the network, built by certified Alvarion solution partners, Excelsio Communications and BIG Wireless, Cheyenne’s municipal services now include centralized control of about 100 traffic lights, online processing for expedited building permits, access to GIS maps and data for firefighters and utility workers, and online parking tickets. In addition, the network provides public broadband access and online community services in parks, city pools and malls, and mobile access for more than 80 city police and firefighters in vehicles.

“Cheyenne has created large efficiencies for their city, while greatly enhancing public safety in terms of response time, real-time information retrieval and vital communications,” said Greg Daily, president of Alvarion's North American Sales Division. “This network deployment shows once again that when the cost and performance of a municipal broadband wireless network are fully evaluated, broadband wireless and Alvarion solutions are the ideal choice. We look forward to working with Cheyenne on future phases of the network.”

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Navini Powers Pre-WiMAX Launch in Mexico

August 05, 2006

Navini Networks' pre-mobile WiMAX 802.16e wireless broadband solutions are enabling a commercial pre-WiMAX service launch in Mexico. The provider of portable wireless broadband network solutions secured the contract with Mexico's Ultranet2go.

The launch is taking place in Veracruz and Aguascalientes, Mexico. Ultranet2go already offers portable high-speed wireless Internet in the city of Puebla. The three cities constitute an area covered by roughly 3.2 million POPs.

"Navini Networks provided us with a seamless upgrade path to mobile WiMAX that allows us to continue to expand and increase our subscriber base now," says Patricio Zorrilla, CEO of Ultranet2go.

The companies expect to expand the WiMAX reach with future launches planned in Tampico, Matamoros, Xalapa, Coatzacoalcos, Cuernavaca, Chilpancingo and Iguala.

Navini recently made commercially available its pre-mobile WiMAX Ripwave MX platform in the 2.3 GHz frequency. The company says it expects 2.3 GHz to serve as the major WiMAX 16e frequency used for personal broadband.

In June, Navini Networks secured $17.5 million in additional funding. As part of the funding round, Intel Capital increased its stake in Navini - Intel is a big supporter of mobile WiMAX.

At the time of the announcement, Navini said it planned to use the funds to expand its business and advance its business plan.

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First mobile WiMax chipsets ready to ship

July 29, 2006

Wireless chip maker Beceem Communications this week became one of the first manufacturers to ship a mobile WiMax digital base band and integrated radio chip set -- MS120 -- for handheld devices.

The chip set is based on currently available IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMax specifications. However, the IEEE has not yet ratified a mobile WiMax standard.

Beceem is also shipping a reference design kit for the WiMax modem, including host driver software.

Although the work by the IEEE on the mobile WiMax standard is not complete to date, Lars Johnsson, vice president of development for Beceem, said that when the standard is finalized, the MS120 chip set will be compatible.

"We guarantee it will be fully profile-compliant," said Johnsson.

Mobile WiMax devices still must wait for the availability of WiMax networks.

Nevertheless, the entry into the market of mobile WiMax technology with a range equivalent to cellular and far superior performance is expected to raise some interesting issues down the road with the wireless carriers.

Using 10MHz of available spectrum, mobile WiMax is expected to have a 30Mbps peak rate with one kilometer range in densely populated areas and up to five kilometers in rural areas.

Although the carriers have a great deal of money invested in buying spectrum for deployment of their 3G networks, the WiMax chips would offer a competitive alternative.

They also consume the same amount of power as cellular radios.

In addition, WiMax uses OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) technology, which offers a number of other advantages.

OFDM has a lower power consumption rate than Wi-Fi chip sets, making it attractive to the handset manufacturers.

OFDM has the ability to use minimum bandwidth when connecting to the network and only uses the highest speeds when there is real traffic. The system shuts off, into sleep mode, the moment the last packet arrives, according to Johnsson.

"Wi-Fi can't do that," he said.

OFDM has other advantages as well. While a single user may never get peak performance due to latency in the IP network, OFDM can give the unused capacity to a different user.

"You can't do that with CDMA," added Johnsson.

While Johnsson believes the operators will face a choice between cellular and WiMax once mobile WiMax becomes readily available, one industry analyst sees it slightly differently.

Julie Ask, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research, said the carriers are committed to other technologies for their 3G networks. Sprint and Verizon are committed to EVDO (Evolution Data Only), while Cingular and T-Mobile are committed to HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access).

However, carriers are evaluating technology for future 4G networks in the 2010 time frame.

"WiMax is a potential 4G technology. All the carriers are looking at it, but no decision has been made," said Ask.

Johnsson said once one carrier breaks ranks and uses WiMax instead of cellular, the others will quickly follow.

MS120 chip set samples, along with reference design kits, are available now, said Beceem officials.

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WiMax interest soars in Japan

July 26, 2006

Motorola and Softbank revealed plans to test a WiMax wide area wireless networking service in Tokyo.

The two companies are the latest to join Japan's rapidly growing WiMax sector, in which at least four trials have been announced or are underway.

Motorola will provide a complete trial system including access points, a back-end access network, and prototype WiMax mobile handheld devices.

Softbank will use this to measure the effectiveness of WiMax as a wireless broadband technology.

The company will assess range, throughput and ability to seamlessly hand over mobile connections between WiMax base stations and other wireless protocols. The five-month trial will begin in September.

WiMax provides wireless internet access in a similar manner to Wi-Fi, but over a wider area and at higher speeds.

According to NTT DoCoMo, WiMax can cover an area of up to 50km in radius with a single base station, and offers data rates as high as 75Mbps.

Performance in early trials suggests that actual WiMax performance will fall below these targets, but will still be far superior to Wi-Fi. Motorola plans to use multi-antenna WiMax access points to boost performance closer to theoretical limits.

Softbank operates a five million subscriber broadband internet service in cooperation with Yahoo Japan.

Earlier this year, the company acquired Vodafone's ailing Japanese mobile operation, turning itself into the country's third largest mobile operator with 26 million customers.

In announcing a WiMax trial, Softbank joins local mobile service competitors NTT DoCoMo and KDDI.

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Total WiMAX Service Subscribers Expected To Reach 13.98 Million In 2011

July 25, 2006

Research and Markets has announced the addition of WiMax: Latest APAC Market Development to their offering.

Since 2005, WiMAX has generated tremendous public interest in the APAC region. Most APAC telecommunication industry regulators have given the go-ahead for WiMAX. Service providers, especially competitive service providers, are using WiMAX as a perfect chance to get into the broadband and wireless business. However, their expected cost-effectiveness of WiMAX will not arrive soon, since the standardization and commoditization of WiMAX equipment will take more time to complete. Nevertheless, many WiMAX networks were set up for trials and commercial deployments in APAC.

In the 13 APAC countries, the total APAC market, including WiMAX CPEs, WiMAX base stations, and WiMAX commercial services (but excluding the non-radio-access part of total WiMAX solutions), is valued at US$106.4 million in 2006 and the figure will grow 40.4 times in 5 years time, to US$4,300.6 million in 2011. Total WiMAX service subscribers are expected to reach 13.98 million in 2011.

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World's first WiMAX oil rig deployment

July 22, 2006

AlanDick, the communications infrastructure specialist, has landed the contract for the world's first deployment of a WiMAX multipoint network at sea, on board a cluster of 11 off-shore oil rig platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

As well as being the world's first WiMAX network deployment to an oil rig cluster, the installation will be Mexico's -- and quite probably South America's -- first major WiMAX network.

"This is a double first in terms of the siting of the network, which is effectively on the high seas in the Gulf of Mexico, and the fact that it's the first WiMAX deployment in Mexico," said John Oliver, AlanDick group marketing manager for broadband technology.

The 11 oil production platforms from Pemex, one of Mexico's major companies, are located offshore from Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, with the 3.4 GHz WiMAX transmissions using double redundancy components and systems at all points in the network spanning an average of 10km between the platforms.

"The most remote platform is 16 km away from the rest of the group, whilst the shortest WiMAX hop is 4km," said Oliver, adding that the decision to go with WiMAX was taken after the technology's advantages were realised by the client.

"WiMAX is quickly establishing itself as the wideband wireless network of choice for land-based networks, but the system really comes into own over water, as any attenuation issues are minimised thanks to WiMAX's frequency hopping spread spectrum network topology," he said.

"The important thing to realise with WIMAX is that it's a globally ratified standard that can support both voice and data, yet is still flexible enough to support several different data modulation schemes. This makes it ideal for an off-shore oil rig deployment, where the distances and variable, often hostile, weather conditions involved will push any wireless technology to its limit," he added.

"Ask anyone involved in wireless network deployments over water and they will tell you about the need to plan for a worst case weather scenario, with problems such as torrential downpours of rain, triggered by the high humidity levels seen at sea, all contriving to severely attenuate the radio signal," said Oliver.

"WiMAX's inherent flexibility, coupled with the high performance of the Redline RedMAX kit used in the project, has allowed Pemex to make the right choice in terms of technology, hardware and, of course, system integrator" he added.

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News Corp., DirecTV take broadband to the Max

July 19, 2006

News Corp.'s zealous embrace of interactivity soon will reach way beyond the runaway success of the social networking Web site MySpace when its majority-owned DirecTV decides on a path and partners for creating a national WiMax network.

Approval is imminent for the project that could take at least two years and $2 billion, providing News Corp. and DirecTV a valuable wireless interactive broadband loop with consumers to directly sell content, advertising, goods and services. WiMax is a wireless a broadband technology often referred to as "WiFi on steroids" with a much wider 30-mile range than the more limited access offered by WiFi services. WiMax, which is short for World Interoperability for Microwave Access, also promises to provide more security and speed than traditional wireless connections.

"If we can pull something off ... there is no reason why that shouldn't link in with everything," News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said in a recent interview. "I would expect to have wireless broadband advanced in at least two or three cities before the end of this year, and then it might take two or three years to build it out across the entire country," Murdoch said.

High-level sources say the unprecedented undertaking will involve strategic equity partners that bring WiMax spectrum, equipment and other expertise to the mix. In one of the most likely scenarios, News Corp. and DirecTV have been in advanced talks with Clearwire Corp., a WiMax venture of Craig McCaw, in which chipmaker Intel Corp. and equipment manufacturer Motorola Inc. recently invested $900 million.

McCaw has been amassing one of the largest stables of licensed radio spectrum to build his own national wireless WiMax network. Intel, which has a vested interest in the commercial success of WiMax, particularly for PC users, has been one of Clearwire's partners from the start.

As an alternative, DirecTV also has been exploring the possibility of partnering with other WiMax spectrum owners such as Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) or acquiring its own WiMax spectrum when such rights are auctioned off by the FCC on Aug. 9. In such cases, DirecTV would have to pull together, on its own, more of the elements needed to build its own WiMax network.

Clearwire, such leading cable operators and DirecTV rivals as Comcast and Time Warner and telcos like Sprint Nextel also are among the more than 250 companies that have filed with the federal government to bid in the auction of wireless spectrum.

See complete article by Diane Mermigas on Hollywood Reporter: News Corp., DirecTV take broadband to the Max.

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VeriSign Wins WiMAX Authentication Contract

July 18, 2006

VeriSign says that it has been selected by the WiMAX Forum to provide a single, trusted device authentication standard across broadband wireless networks based on WiMAX standards. Under the agreement, VeriSign will operate the WiMAX root CA used to create a single, trusted device authentication standard for WiMAX networks.

The VeriSign Custom Device Certificate Service (CDCS) allows embedding X.509-standard digital certificates into all WiMAX Forum Certified hardware devices based on IEEE 802.16-2004 and ETSI HiperMAN 1.2.1 standards. Using strong certificate-based authentication allows service providers to ensure network access, digital content and software services can be secured from unauthorized access.

"VeriSign has proven experience creating interoperable trust models, and demonstrated a deep understanding of the WiMAX requirements, giving us the confidence that they are the best choice to secure the millions of WiMAX devices that will be deployed," said Ron Resnick, president and chair, WiMAX Forum. "VeriSign met the WiMAX requirements for a PKI Trust Model and can provide scalable, robust PKI trust services to our more than 350 member corporations worldwide."

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PuntoNet orders more Ecuador WiMax gear from Airspan

July 14, 2006

Ecuador's PuntoNet has awarded a $1 million contract to Airspan for equipment to be used in the continued deployment of a nationwide WiMax wireless network.

Florida-based Airspan said Thursday it would be supplying and installing WiMax and pre-WiMax equipment for use in a network that will eventually bring Internet and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony to the South American nation.

"We have successfully installed pre-WiMAX equipment in four major cities in Ecuador," said PuntoNet President Enrique Quiroz. "In the third quarter 2006 we will become the first ISP in Ecuador to start a major deployment of WiMAX infrastructure throughout the country."

The equipment will be used to develop Ecuador's first end-to-end network solution combining broadband wireless with soft switch and gateway capabilities for providing VoIP solutions.

Deployment has already taken place in the capital Quito and three other cities.

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Sequans Announces Availability of Mobile WiMAX Chip

July 12, 2006

SEQUANS Communications, a leading developer and provider of fixed and mobile WiMAX silicon and software, announced that it is now sampling its WiMAX mobile station chips to select customers. Supporting the recently ratified 802.16e-2005 broadband wireless access standard, the chip provides equipment makers with a fully integrated physical layer and media access control (MAC) layer solution and the lowest power consumption for developing low cost and high performance WiMAX mobile stations.

"The results of our tests so far exceed our expectations and we are now confident in releasing the mobile station chip to our key customers and ODM partners," said Bertrand Debray, Sequans VP of engineering. "The team executed brilliantly in developing a high performance chip in record time."

Sequans' SQN1110 system-on-chip (SoC) is a highly integrated, low power 802.16e-compliant, baseband solution. Its high level of integration and ultra-low power consumption make it suitable for use in mobile devices -- handsets, smartphones, PDAs, PC cards, USB dongles -- as well as fixed devices.

Sequans new mobile station chip was designed to include all MAC and PHY features required to attain WiMAX certification, expected later this year.

The SQN1110 mobile station chips are sampling now along with evaluation kits for the SQN2110 base station chipsets; general availability for both is scheduled for September 2006.

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Siemens installs first WiMAX network in Latin America

July 07, 2006

Siemens Communications has installed Latin America’s first commercial WiMAX network for Orbitel, Colombia’s leading long-distance operator. The new network is located in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, and provides wireless internet access on the basis of Siemens’ WayMAX@vantage solution comprising base stations, modems and a monitoring and control system. Over the coming months, Orbitel will start to roll out the Siemens WiMAX technology in a further 14 major Colombian cities.

All-in-all, Siemens will cover 15 Colombian cities with WayMAX@vantage for Orbitel to provide the company’s customers with broadband internet access featuring data rates of up to 2 megabits per second. The network supports data-intensive services such as high-quality video streaming to laptops.

“We have chosen Siemens as our partner for the implementation of this project in view of the extraordinary functionality, the high performance and the simplicity offered by its WayMAX solution,” said Alejandro Toro, Orbitel’s head project manager.

“The Orbitel project opens up the Latin American market for our WiMAX technology. It is a major milestone in the regional rollout of our wireless technologies,” said Christoph Caselitz, president of Mobile Networks at Siemens Communications.

The WayMAX@vantage solution from Siemens is one of the first products to pass the interoperability tests of the WiMAX Forum’s international standardization laboratory. It is certified for the WiMAX FDD 3.5 GHz system and thus ready for the future IEEE 802.16e-2005 OFDM profile and the ETSI HiperMAN standard. The IEEE 802.16 standard used today allows data transmissions at rates of up to 10.5 megabits per second with a bandwidth of 3.5 MHz. The certification ensures the interoperability of systems from different vendors, thus reducing the investment risks for operators.

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Clearwire Secures $900m In Financing Round Led By Intel Capital

July 06, 2006

Clearwire Corporation, a high-speed wireless broadband services provider founded by Craig McCaw, today announced a series of transactions with Intel Capital, the venture capital investment arm of Intel Corporation, Motorola and Motorola Ventures. Clearwire, which to date has only installed proprietary fixed wireless networks from subsidiary NextNet Wireless, stated it will work closely with those two companies to popularize and accelerate the development and deployment of portable and mobile WiMAX networks based on the IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard.

The transactions include Intel Capital’s investment of $600 million as part of a $900 million private financing round and Motorola’s acquisition of Clearwire’s subsidiary NextNet Wireless, a leading provider of OFDM-based non-line-of-sight wireless broadband infrastructure equipment. This represents the single largest investment for Intel Capital ever. Motorola will buy NextNet Wireless from Clearwire, while Motorola Ventures is also buying a stake in Clearwire.

Additionally, the three companies will cooperate on research, development and deployment of future wireless broadband networks. Motorola will sell NextNet equipment to Clearwire, and Intel will concentrate on getting mobile WiMax chips designed into future notebook PCs. This announcement is significant, as it shows that three major players are intensely focused on getting the mobile WiMAX standard - IEEE 802.16e-2005 -deployed around the world

"The size of this investment from Intel Capital underscores our commitment to supporting wireless broadband using WiMAX networks in the United States,” said Intel Capital President Arvind Sodhani. “Our collaboration with Clearwire and Motorola builds on the foundation of previous WiMAX network deployment investments...”

"Wi-Fi has become an essential part of people's lives. WiMAX is next. It is rapidly moving from a technology initiative to real deployments,” said Sean Maloney Intel executive vice president and general manager, Mobility Group. "...This investment in Clearwire will lay the foundation for high-speed mobile broadband services across North America.”

"Deploying a nationwide network takes a lot of capital," said Sriram Viswanathan, vice president of Intel Capital. Viswanathan said the funds also will be used for customer acquisition and acquiring spectrum.

Clearwire currently offers fixed broadband wireless service based on a pre-standard version of IEEE 802.16-2004, with download speeds of up to 1.5Mbps and upload speeds of up to 256Kbps. The service ranges in price from $30 to $37 a month.

[Contributing writer Alan Weissberger]

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On the bus with WiMax in action

July 04, 2006

Korea is about to get one of the world's first Mobile WiMax services and its operator, KT, is so proud of the technology it has been driving reporters around Seoul in a bus tricked out with laptops and PDAs to demonstrate the broadband-on-the-go service. IDG News Service had a ticket and here's the video to prove it.

See video and pictures: On the bus with WiMax in action.

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Koreans to get mobile WiMax

July 01, 2006

Telecoms carrier KT has demonstrated a Mobile WiMax service that it is about to launch in South Korea.

The carrier has been using a bus to show the service, based on the Korean-developed WiBro variant of the IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMax specification.

Trials of the service began in April and a limited commercial service will kick off this month, offering up to 1 Mbit/s to users travelling as fast as 75mph. The initial service covers a single area in downtown Seoul, three areas south of the Han River in the city's IT valley, and the suburb of Bundang. A subway line and two expressways from Seoul to Bundang also have coverage.

About 150 base stations support the service now, and this is expected to expand to between 700 and 1,000 by the fourth quarter this year. At that time the full commercial service will launch in Seoul and nine other cities, according to KT's plans.

To demonstrate the service and prove it works while on the move, KT took reporters equipped with WiBro laptops and PDAs on a bus ride through Seoul. The speed challenge was difficult to test in Seoul's congested streets - we were lucky to even reach 20mph - but the data throughput was much easier to gauge.

The system managed to cope with streaming from Google Video just fine, and browsing the web was easy. KT demonstrated a three-way video conference with one participant on the bus, one in Seoul and one in Australia, and that went well and worked simultaneously with web browsing and watching a live stream of CNN.

A broadband speed-testing website estimated the connection at about 322 kbit/s, although the site was US-based, so the international connection could have impacted the speed..

There were few glitches, and the trial service seemed to fulfill its promise of being slower than existing wireless-LAN systems but with much greater coverage.

If KT and SK Telecom, which is also planning to launch a service, can deliver that for a cheap, flat monthly fee, it could provide an attractive consumer alternative to 3G data service.

Article by By Martyn Williams, IDG News Service for Techworld.com

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BART and CCJPA Select Four Firms for Broadband Wireless Internet Tests on High-Speed Trains

June 29, 2006

BART/Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA), the manager of the Capitol Corridor intercity passenger train, have selected four proposers to help them take the next big step toward providing fast mobile broadband services on trains. Bandwidth intensive applications that will be tested via the limited trial networks include Internet, email, Virtual Private Network (VPN) access, video downloads and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to their riders' laptops, PDAs and cell phones, all available while the Capitol Corridor train is moving at full speed between Auburn and San Jose. Results of the initial technical trials will lead toward a fast-track procurement of a system-wide network, a process that is being watched by passenger rail providers around the world.

A Request for Information (RFI) was released by CCJPA on March 23, 2006 that asked the wireless industry to offer their best ideas and concepts. Eleven proposals were received and four were selected to participate in the tests. The four participating companies are:

- Concourse Communications (Wireless developers in 11 major U.S. Airports.)
- Earthlink (Winning proposer for WiFi networks in San Francisco, Philadelphia, etc.)
- Nomad Digital (Operator of the Brighton to London wireless network)
- ATCI (Leading a consortium to deliver bi-directional satellite internet service)

CCJPA believes these technical trials will demonstrate the technical feasibility and cost-effectiveness of a broadband network along the railway that can support bandwidth-intensive, real-time applications. Wi-Fi will provide connectivity within the train to riders, train staff and remote devices. Wi-Fi traffic will be backhauled to base stations along the tracks or via satellite.

CCJPA will work with the proposers to install and test their own networks and equipment, at their own expense, on sections suitable for testing along Capitol Corridor's 171 miles service area. CCJPA will supply rail cars for the equipment (working with Caltrans, the owner of the rail equipment), room in the various stations for more equipment and collaborate to ensure that their needs for the technical trials are met. The trials will be conducted through December 2006.

Some of the services that the broadband network will support are:

- Web browsing
- Email access
- VPN access to corporate networks
- File upload and download
- VoIP to place and receive voice calls over the Internet
- High-speed video and audio streaming
- Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) surveillance and monitoring to ensure safety on trains
- Electronic ticketing and management of passenger information
- Transmission of train diagnostic information.

At the end of the test period, the CCJPA will use the trial results to form the basis for a competitive bid process (slated for the first quarter of 2007) to build a state-of-the-art network that serves the entire Capitol Corridor. Major transit agencies throughout California and the United States have already contacted CCJPA, and will be monitoring closely the progress of the technical tests.

Eugene Skoropowski, the CCJPA Managing Director, says, "We were genuinely surprised and gratified by the large number of qualified proposals that we received from major wireless industry members. It was a tough process narrowing the field to four qualified participants. We continue to believe there will be incredible benefits from this type of broadband mobile network for our riders and our daily train operations."

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BellSouth Picks Alcatel Solution For Use in WiMAX Trial

June 29, 2006

BellSouth will utilize a WiMAX solution from Alcatel as it prepares to launch a trial of the wireless broadband solution.

BellSouth has been working with Alcatel’s Evolium product for the past four months in a lab environment. Evolium operates on a standard recently adopted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

The trial will be launched next quarter, BellSouth said.

"BellSouth continues to pave the way in wireless broadband," said Paulino Barros, chief product officer of BellSouth Retail Markets. "We are committed to increasing our broadband coverage. We look forward to working with Alcatel to assess the viability of offering a simple and seamless WiMAX solution that will extend broadband even further into our network."

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Maravedis predicts WiMAX subscribers to reach 13 million in India by 2012

June 27, 2006

The leading telecom market research and analyst firm Maravedis, in partnership with Tonse Telecom, the Indian leader in Telecom market research and analysis, today released a new Market study entitled “India Wireless Broadband and WiMAX Market Analysis and Forecasts 2006-2012”. This study provides a detailed review of current regulatory and overall wireless market trends in India.

“According to our research, we can expect 13 million WiMAX subscribers in India by 2012” said Adlane Fellah, co-author of the report and Senior Analyst at Maravedis Inc. The Indian economy is flourishing and the demand is quickly outpacing the supply of telecommunications services provided by the legacy wired telecommunication infrastructure built during the state monopoly era. “More than 70% of Indian households do not have access to fixed telephone services. Instead, customers have flocked to cellular phone carriers, which have built a tremendous infrastructure to provide services to more than 100 million customers” continued Fellah.

Broadband services were launched in India in 2005. ADSL services now cover 300 towns with 1.5 million connections while broadband wireless subscriber figures are still negligible. In a country where monthly broadband ARPU is estimated at $8-10, and computer penetration is still at around 4%, BWA / WiMAX adoption will depend on very low cost end-to-end pricing for connectivity including the compute platform and CPE. The Indian telecom sector operates in a volume-driven market. If WiMAX is to succeed it will only be on the premise of huge volumes not, small deployments

“Bharti TeleVentures, Reliance, BSNL and VSNL (Tata Group) have all acquired licenses in 3.3GHz range and are in various stages of trials and modest commercial deployments. Maravedis Tonse has gathered evidence that larger deployments will start to materialize in early 2007 but volumes in the millions will take a few years to materialize. The planned release of additional spectrum will be critical to this” explained Fellah.

“However, shortage of spectrum is a serious obstacle for massive adoption of broadband wireless and WiMAX in India. For WiMAX to prosper in India, license holders will need at least 20MHz of spectrum while they currently hold 12MHz or less. 20MHz is a minimum to support wide scale deployments and hence a profitable business case” added Sridhar, co-author of the report and CEO of Tonse Telecom

Government appears to be serious about solving the problem by releasing some of the spectrum from the departments of Space and Defense and the TRAI is currently engaged in a critical public consultation. Wireless adoption is essential if the government wishes to meet its ambitious plans.

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Alvarion Completes Initial 802.16e Interoperability

June 22, 2006

Alvarion Ltd. announced that it has completed initial interoperability tests between its 4Motion BreezeMAX base stations and various end user devices from third party manufacturers that are expected to be generally available in the near future. Focused around the IEEE 802.16e-2005 specification for mobile WiMAX, the tests were performed by Alvarion at multiple locations using its market leading BreezeMAX base stations and other vendors' end user devices, many of which use the mobile WiMAX chipset from Beceem Communications, widely regarded as a leading WiMAX chip vendor.

Alvarion's extensive interoperability testing is part of the company's efforts to promote open, standard, multivendor WiMAX networks, while offering service providers the ability to buy a complete end-to-end WiMAX 802.16e-2005 solution. Alvarion's mobile WiMAX solution, called 4Motion, includes mobile WiMAX radio base stations; end-user devices such as indoor desktop modems, PCMCIA cards and multimode devices; core network elements such as AAA servers and mobile IP home agents; and a comprehensive management platform. 4Motion mobile services are expected to be available in the first half of 2007.

See Full Release here: Alvarion Completes Initial 802.16e Interoperability Between its 4Motion™ BreezeMAX™ Base Station and Various Third Party Devices.

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WiMAX Demo Sends Strong Signal

June 22, 2006

A demonstration of WiMax technology transmitting live video footage from a racing yacht achieved a transmission distance of 40 kilometres, showing great promise for true mobile broadband.

The technology demonstration, carried out by WiMAX Telecom Group took place at the World Sailing Championships in Austria.

The yacht set a new record for long distance WiMAX transmission used a wireless broadband connection to relay live video footage up to 40 kilometres away.

It was reportedly the first time anyone had even attempted to send live video footage via WiMax from a moving vehicle, let alone a yacht moving at 12 knots.

The demonstration shows promise for service such as VoIP where WiMAX couldbe used to replace expensive satellite links to achieve broadband access.

WiMAX Telecom Group was awarded licensed frequencies (3.5 GHz) in Croatia in 2005. It holds national licences in Austria and Slovakia, where its active networks already serve several thousand customers, and has licenses in key regions of Croatia, where the company plans to deploy its network at the end of 2006.

Next year, it will expand its wireless broadband network in this coastal region using the 802.16e protocols. But the company has thje rest of Europe in its sights with branches in Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia and Croatia making WiMAX Telecom the only independent, multinational provider of WiMax services.

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Alvarion unveils self-installable WiMAX CPE

June 19, 2006

Alvarion, an Israeli provider of wireless broadband solutions and specialised mobile networks, has commercially launched its Breezemax Si, a self-installable, all indoor customer premises equipment (CPE) based on the WiMAX standard. Breezemax is Alvarion’s WiMAX platform, designed according to IEEE 802.16 standards to support fixed, nomadic, portable and mobile wimax applications.

The new CPE from the Breezemax 3500 family uses radio technology for improved indoor penetration and NLOS operation that enables simple end user plug and play installation.

The Breezemax Si can be integrated with Alvarion's over 150 WiMAX network deployments and it reportedly provides subscribers with the same features and functionality as the company’s Breezemax Pro outdoor CPE. By eliminating professional installation, the Si enables carriers to broaden their distribution channels to best fit their business models, the company claimed.

The Si CPE introduces a unique dual mode FDD/TDD software defined radio (SDR) functionality that enables operation in either FDD or TDD mode. Through a web-based interface, the Breezemax Si reportedly achieves a connection in almost any environment using its integrated 9dBi antenna or with an external 12dBi window mount antenna.

Article by: Parthajit Bhattacharyya for DmAsia

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airBand Brings Pre-WiMAX Technology To West Valley Businesses

June 16, 2006

airBand Communications Inc., the largest fixed wireless company for business customers in the United States, today announced that it has expanded its wireless network in the greater Phoenix area with an 11th base station that is deploying pre-WiMAX equipment. The base station, located in the West Valley, provides coverage to approximately 2,000 businesses within a four- to five-mile radius.

airBand is deploying pre-WiMAX technology throughout its network to provide Phoenix businesses with greater broadband capacity and higher quality of service for Voice over IP, video, disaster recovery, VPN and remote server applications. Because airBand’s fixed wireless network bypasses the local telecom company, customers benefit from scalable bandwidth solutions, quick installations and higher levels of customer service. airBand customers can upgrade bandwidth in hours and get services installed in a matter of days. In addition, airBand offers an unmatched level of reliability backed by its Service Level Agreement (SLA) that provides a 100-percent uptime guarantee.

airBand has successfully operated in Phoenix for more than five years serving companies such as Mountain Park Health Center, a non-profit operator of four medical clinics in the Phoenix area.

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Altera and Sequans Provide First Mobile WiMAX Base Station Modem Chipset

May 16, 2006

Altera Corporation and Sequans Communications today announced the availability of the first mobile WiMAX basestation modem chipset supporting the recently ratified IEEE 802.16e-2005 broadband wireless access standard. Comprised of three Stratix II FPGAs, the Sequans SQN2110 modem chipset provides wireless OEMs with a ready-made solution for developing mobile WiMAX systems.

Mobile WiMAX is a technology based on IEEE's most recent iteration for wideband wireless communications. It provides mobile wireless connectivity without line-of-sight to basestations, a cell radius of three to ten kilometers and system access speeds of up to 40 Mbps per channel.

"Altera's FPGAs allow rapid delivery of an off-the-shelf flexible chipset to accommodate various customer needs and evolving WiMAX specifications, and presents a clear cost reduction path through pin-to-pin HardCopy structured ASIC," said Bernard Aboussouan, Sequans' vice president of marketing and business development. "As a result, our solution meets Wave 1 mobile WiMAX certification requirements and offers a clear migration path to Wave 2 certification profile, including the support of adaptive antenna systems (AAS) and multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO)."

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Alvarion's New Breezenet B100 Achieves Breakthrough Speeds

May 16, 2006

Alvarion Ltd. announced that its new BreezeNET B100 has achieved breakthrough speeds and performance for point-to-point broadband access and backhaul applications. Available in Q3 2006, the B100 is a carrier class wireless bridging solution that operates in the licensed-exempt 5 GHz band and offers up to 108Mbps. The product addresses the growing market need for robust, high capacity systems to support real time video, voice, and data services and the backhauling of high performance WiMAX broadband access and other networks, including those built using Alvarion’s BreezeMAX™ and BreezeACCESS VL products.

"Today's need for increased bandwidth stems partly from municipalities and the public safety market demands, particularly in North America and Europe," said Esme Vos, founder of Muniwireless.com. "Broadband networks supplying these needs must combine high capacity, 100% reliable point-to-point bridging and backhauling at the right cost, and many times, operate in a licensed-exempt band."

Also targeting building-to-building enterprise connectivity, cellular backhaul, and high capacity access applications, such as real-time video, voice, and data services, the B100 is a field proven extension to Alvarion’s widely deployed BreezeNET B family of point-to-point solutions and already successful BreezeNET B14 and BreezeNET B28 products. Widely used also to deliver broadband services for government, other public sector customers, and public safety and homeland security uses such as video surveillance, highway patrol, vehicle tracking and video streaming, BreezeNET B products are sufficiently flexible and robust for most any deployment environment.

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WiMAX Market Poised to Nearly Triple, Semico Says

May 15, 2006

If necessary factors are met, WiMAX will be the leading contender for mobile services amongst wireless solutions with revenues increasing from $21.6 million in 2005 to $3.3 billion in 2010, Phoenix, Arizona-based Semico Research predicts.

The firm asserts that WiMAX will do for broadband what cellular has done for phones - make broadband mobile and will become part of a number of networks, providing broadband wireless access in rural areas, offering backhaul services, offloading data traffic, and making broadband mobile.

"There is controversy surrounding this technology because it is not the only broadband option out there," said Connie Wong, director of wireless communications for Semico, in a statement.

"However, the establishment of global standards, the ability to provide higher throughput and high reliability to the customer, and affordable services in the form of low-priced CPEs will catapult WiMAX into the driver-seat if met," she continued.

According to Semico's recent WiMAX forecast that includes both base stations and CPEs, the market is poised to grow from a mere 6,000 units in 2005 to 4.27 million units in 2010, a compound annual growth rate of 268.3 percent.

"The hype over WiMAX is hot and the market has been flooded by participants. Intel and Fujitsu have invested heavily in WiMAX and their aggressiveness in this market will be a strong catalyst, not to mention it will provide excellent opportunities for start-up companies," Wong concluded.

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IBM, Alvarion to Deliver Wireless and WiMAX for Public Safety

May 10, 2006

Alvarion, the world's leading provider of wireless broadband solutions and specialized mobile networks, announced an alliance with IBM, the world's largest information technology services and consulting provider, to offer and deliver wireless systems to municipalities and their public safety agencies. The alliance will enable a new approach for delivery of scalable, multi-layer IP-based wireless networks that support data, voice and video for both fixed and mobile applications.

Based on a unique pilot wireless network implementation in Fresno, the 6th largest city in California, the IBM and Alvarion information communication technology (ICT) system is comprised of IBM's suite of productivity-enhancing mobile applications built on Alvarion's broadband and mobile wireless systems. Customizable to deliver broad functionality and support a myriad of applications, while enabling citywide broadband coverage at a fraction of the cost of competing systems, this cooperation now brings affordable broadband within reach of most U.S. communities.

The Fresno public safety network is intended to enable police officers to send and receive text messages, still images, and even full-motion video using their car-based mobile data terminals and their handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) greatly enhancing productivity and their ability to deter crime and capture criminals.

Fresno’s Chief Jerry Dyer said, “Although this capability will certainly be used to increase officer’s productivity and enhance homeland security in Fresno, its most important contribution is in making the community safer from everyday crime related to gangs, substance abuse and recidivist offenders.”

Built by IBM using Alvarion broadband wireless systems and IBM's WebSphere Everyplace Connection Manager, the network features government-grade wireless encryption, roaming and compression to the city's 250 police vehicle fleet.

Using 900MHz based mobile technology requiring less than one-tenth the number of nodes generally required by competing Wi-Fi based solutions while providing superior net service speeds, the network employs Wi-Fi to extend the network to low cost, end user devices. To protect the city's existing network investments while ensuring seamless connectivity over a wider area, the broadband network features seamless switching at vehicular speeds, as it maintains session persistency with the police department’s legacy 800MHz narrowband network. The network provides the optimum balance of minimum infrastructure and maximum access.

"The Fresno project is one of the first Community Broadband implementations and serves as an example of how this technology can solve real problems that impact public safety's ability to respond that may even save lives and improve livability for communities," says Michael Dillon, IBM Director of Safety, Security and Community Broadband. "This is an example of how cities and counties can be customer-focused, cost-effective and creative participants in their communities. Fresno was a collaborative effort that will likely pay-off for everyone in increased responsiveness and flexibility in a security-enhanced environment for public safety."

"The telecom market is in transition toward more ICT solutions, and this partnership is aimed specifically at offering the latest in broadband and public safety technologies to the thousands of tier 2 and smaller communities throughout the world," remarked Tzvika Friedman, CEO and president of Alvarion. "Beginning in the U.S., our joint success in Fresno is evidence that these networks are extremely robust and can add up to several hours of user productivity per day. And the network has proven to be flexible enough to support additional departments and applications and at a fraction of the cost of competing solutions."

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Vodafone Takes a Cautious View of Mobile WiMAX

April 24, 2006

Report from the field by Alan J Weissberger.

Vodafone, the world’s largest wireless service provider by revenue, provides new insight into the carrier’s current assessment and future direction for next generation wireless technologies. In a talk at the April 20th IEEE East Bay ComSoc meeting, entitled, "Visions from a Global Carrier’s Crystal Ball," Dr. Stanley Chia, Senior Director of Vodafone’s US R&D Group, made several observations about Mobile WiMAX and how it might be positioned against 3G data technologies like HSDPA (WCDMA) and EVDO (CDMA). The theme of the talk was how 3G might co-exist with all the rapidly developing technologies (mobile WiMAX, mesh WiFi, VoIP, mobile broadcast).

Here are the key points of Dr Chia’s presentation, as they relate to the mobile WiMAX market:

- CAPEX is a very large barrier to entry for new wireless service providers. Huge sums must be invested in base stations, access nodes, other wireless infrastructure, core network switches and routers, billing systems and operations software, land, and lease hold improvements.

- Wireless access technologies will include: 3G data evolution, mesh WiFi, and mobile WiMAX.

- Mainstream vendors supporting mobile WiMAX include: Samsung (WiBRO in Korea), Intel, Alcatel, Siemens, Nortel, and Motorola. Cautious vendors include: Lucent, Nokia, and Ericsson. [He did not mention Cisco, which is apparently on the fence with respect to WiMAX].

- Being committed to their proprietary version of 3G, China will not likely push mobile WiMAX. Hence, the worldwide market will exclude the country with the most market potential.

- An optimistic projection was for mobile WiMAX metro networks to be in place in 2008 along and the technology would be integrated into PCs (like WiFi today). Handsets might be available in 2009, but VoIP would need to be ubiquitous and roaming would be an issue (unless dual mode phones were commonplace).

An article from the February 1st, Financial Times was cited to support Vodafone’s cautious stance on WiMAX. Here is a quote from that article (with some editorial modifications):

“Is mobile WiMAX a credible substitute for 3G? Probably not. Its practical speed should be 2-10Mb/sec. But most 3G networks are already upgrading to an adequate 2Mb/sec. Spectrum is also a problem: most of the world's existing 700 odd licences are regional, and some currently permit only fixed services. WiMAX avoids expensive royalty payments to Qualcomm, which owns most of 3G's intellectual property. Still, building a ubiquitous Wimax network would be far more expensive than buying wholesale access to 3G with a virtual operator agreement.

"That leaves mobile WiMAX’s main potential as giant hotspots. The concentrated nature of mobile usage – three quarters of most peoples’ activity occurs in three locations – means this threat cannot be totally ignored. Dual mode handsets, which permit switching between networks (mobile and WiFi), are being developed by Nokia (and Motorola), among others. Qualcomm seemed to concede 3G’s potential inadequacies by buying Flarion, which specializes in a rival but similar technology (Flash OFDMA) to WiMAX, last August. The basic strategy of most mobile operators of being married to 3G, but being open minded about flings with other technologies, thus looks correct.”

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Alcatel Selected for WiMAX Trial in the Tokyo Area

April 20, 2006

Alcatel has been selected by ACCA Networks Co., one of Japan's largest DSL and Optical Fiber Access service providers with over a million subscribers, to launch a WiMAX trial in the Tokyo area. This is a significant step forward for both companies towards WiMAX services in Japan.

The trial, set to be deployed in June 2006, will be Alcatel's first WiMAX reference in Japan based on the 802.16e-2005, the IEEE's universal WiMAX standard. It is a strong step towards offering commercial service and satisfying growing demand for access to advanced broadband Internet applications from any location.

The Alcatel Evolium WiMAX end-to-end solution provided for the trial will operate in the 2.5 GHz frequency band and includes base station equipment, indoor CPE (Customer Premises Equipment), mobile terminals and integration services. In this collaboration, Alcatel will bring its high performance WiMAX solution and advanced WiMAX engineering expertise.

"We selected Alcatel because of their commitment to the IEEE 802.16e-2005 WiMAX standard and their undisputed leadership in providing operators with the most advanced solution.", said Yoshio Sakata, President of ACCA and Head of WiMAX Business Development, "The Alcatel solution is available now and can be easily integrated into our network."

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BART and Amtrak in NorCal to test wireless Internet

April 12, 2006

Rail riders could soon access the Internet on BART and Amtrak trains in Northern California.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit District and the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority said Monday they are considering testing new wireless technology on the 105-mile BART system and the 171-mile Amtrak corridor between San Jose and Auburn.

The WiMax technology can carry signals across greater distances than traditional wireless.

The agencies want interested companies to pay for tests from July to December before bidding on a contract next year to run the system for a profit. Revenues could come from selling ads or charging for access.

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Canadian WiMAX network launched

April 04, 2006

Broadband choice has become more of a reality for some Canadians, as Inukshuk Wireless, a joint venture between Bell Canada and Rogers Communications has opened for business. According to Bell Canada, the first phase of the network covers over 5 million households and is available in selected areas from coast to coast.

Inukshuk is using pre-final-certification WiMAX technology to operate the network, making it the first large-scale WiMAX deployment in North America. Bell and Rogers used their preexisting infrastructure such as cellular towers to install the network, which operates in spectrum licensed to the companies already. Those spectrum licensing requirements stipulate that the service be made available in at least 25 unserved rural markets in the next year and 50 by March 2008.

WiMAX service will be available directly from both Bell Canada and Rogers Communications. Bell Canada is dubbing its WiMAX service "Sympatico High Speed Unplugged." Subscribers will pay CAN$45 per month for 512Kbps down, but a 3Mbps service will be available for an extra CAN$15 per month. Rogers Communications is calling it "Portable Internet," and is charging CAN$49.95 per month for 1.5Mbps service. Currently, Rogers offers 3Mbps landline service for CAN$43.95.

Although CAN$60 per month for 3Mbps service may not sound attractive to urban and suburban dwellers accustomed to higher speeds from traditional, wired service, it will likely prove very attractive in rural areas where the only current alternative is dial-up. For customers in many of the cities where the new WiMAX service is being offered, it will be a matter of choosing one Bell or Rogers service over another. Residents of western Canada who are primarily served by Shaw Communications and Telus Corp. will have more options for broadband as a result of the new wireless network.

WiMAX has been touted for many years now as both an alternative to cable and DSL, and as a solution to extend the reach of broadband to areas where it is not currently available. Earlier this year, the WiMAX Forum certified the first official WiMAX hardware, which operates in the 3.5GHz range. Unfortunately for US residents looking for options when it comes to broadband, that spectrum is already in use. That means for the time being, any WiMAX implementations in the US will either have to use proprietary hardware and run the risk of not being to interoperate with other networks, or wait until gear that operates in open spectrum (e.g., 5.8GHz) is certified (hopefully within the next twelve months). Until that time, we'll have to be content with seeing how our neighbors to the north do with their first WiMAX deployments.

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Maravedis predicts large expansion of WiMAX in Brazil by 2010

April 02, 2006

There will be 768,000 accumulated BWA/WIMAX subscribers in Brazil by 2010, of which two thirds will be WiMAX, according to the latest report from leading research firm Maravedis, titled “BWA/WiMAX Brazilian Market Analysis.” This new report, the first of a series that will include reports on Russia, India and other countries, provides an in-depth review of the broadband wireless and WiMAX markets and regulatory activity taking place in Brazil.

“Approximately 70% of those accumulated WiMAX subscribers will be residential mobile users, while fixed WiMAX will continue to be driven by large and SME customers,” explained Eduardo Prado and Adlane Fellah, co-authors of the report.

The Brazilian players are anxiously awaiting the new 3.5 GHz auction to start sometime in July 2006, before federal elections due in October 2006. Bidders will want either to expand their current coverage areas or to enter the WiMAX arena. Moreover, positive regulatory changes in the 2.5 GHz band will open the WiMAX market starting 2007.

Maravedis predicts that the most active players will be companies with deep pockets such as Telemar, Brazil Telecom, Embratel and Telefonica, who are thoroughly testing the technology and crafting their business plans.

“Overall, the total accumulated equipment market size for BWA/WiMAX in Brazil will represent a lucrative US$300 million by 2010, which makes Brazil a key market for BWA/WiMAX vendors for the years to come,” Fellah added.

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Google and Earthlink bid to provide city-wide WiFi to San Francisco

March 28, 2006

San Jose, CA. By Alan J Weissberger

Municipal WiFi networks are sprouting up all over Silicon Valley, with projects covering a range of business models from free with advertisement-supported to premium service with no ads. With the greatest number of WiFi hotspots of any US city, San Francisco has recently announced its intention to build out a WiFi system covering the entire 49 square mile city.

Mountain View Project:

Back in November 2005, the city of Mountain View, CA accepted Google's offer to blanket the city with free wireless Internet access. This will make Mountain View the first city in the Bay Area - and possibly the country - to get a full umbrella of free WiFi coverage.

Google will install more than 300 access points/network nodes, which will be mounted on streetlamp poles throughout the city. As part of a five-year contract, Google will test the system this summer. At that time, it will be possible to surf the Web with a wireless laptop in the city library, parks, and near bookmobiles throughout Mountain View.

The Mt View project is based on IEEE 802.11, using a wireless point to multipoint topology between the base stations and the gateways which Alvarion says is WiMAX ready for future upgrades.

Mountain View leaders say it's only fitting that their city get free citywide Internet access, since Google sprouted in its back yard and has grown to become one of the world's most powerful Internet search engines. “It's going to make us one of the first, if not the first, to have citywide Internet. It's a pretty cool thing,'' Mayor Matt Neely said. ``We're thrilled for all our neighbor cities who get to follow our lead.''

Google's San Francisco Municipal Bid:

Google’s San Francisco Muni WiFi proposal is a joint bid with Earthlink - who would own the network if their joint bid was accepted by the city. The network would cover just over 40 square miles. If selected, Google would provide free, rate limited access. DSL-like speeds for $20 a month have been publicly discussed. It is also not clear if Earthlink would be the only ISP, or if other WISPs could participate as well.

Information on the SF city web site refers to the proposed service as "affordable," but also allows the city to designate certain parks, common areas and residential and business zones as free hot spots, allowing anyone with a WiFi device to gain access.

The SF Muni WiFi system, called Tech Connect, would use 802.11b/g technology to provide users with 1 Mbps of downstream capacity without the need for external CPE for a cost of $10-18M. Ensuring in-home access to the greatest extent possible is one of the key goals of the system, which expect to provide coverage to 95% of outdoor areas with 90% in-building penetration.

Other bids include a submission from an effort known as SF Metro Connect, which is spearheaded by Cisco, IBM and wireless specialists SeaKay, as well as proposals from Communication Bridge Global, MetroFi, NextWLAN and Razortooth Communications.

It appears that a review panel will begin evaluating the proposals and hopes to make its decisions regarding the citywide Wi-Fi network by early April, at which time the San Francisco Department of Telecommunications and Information Services will enter into negotiations with the winning bidder.

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WiMAX Forum Certifies Five New Fixed WiMAX Products

March 25, 2006

The WiMAX Forum today announced the latest fixed wireless broadband network products to achieve the designation of WiMAX Forum Certified(TM) based on the defined Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) system profile operating in the 3.5GHz frequency spectrum. The WiMAX Forum member companies and products to complete certification and interoperability testing include Airspan's MacroMAX base station and EasyST subscriber station solution, Axxcelera's ExcelMax base station, Sequans Communications' SQN1010-RD subscriber station solution, Siemens' WayMAX@vantage base station and subscriber station solutions, and Wavesat's miniMAX subscriber station solution.

WiMAX Forum's certification laboratory, CETECOM Spain, worked with each WiMAX equipment supplier to conduct an extensive series of stringent and extensive test procedures, consisting of protocol conformance, radio conformance and interoperability testing. To date, 14 fixed WiMAX products have received the WiMAX Forum Certified seal in the two months since the program first started certifying equipment.

"By achieving the certifications of FDD profile equipment, the WiMAX Forum and our members continue to make significant progress in delivering products that help network operators build out their fixed WiMAX networks," said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. "In addition to our hard work on the certification front, I am also quite pleased with the outcome of our continued collaboration with ETSI and WiMAX system suppliers in the latest Plugfest in France, which provides essential experience and intelligence to advance how our member companies progress from the prototype stage to commercial system development stage."

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Showcase of Samsung SPH-M8000 WiMAX phone at CEBIT

March 20, 2006

Samsung was showing what it claims is the world’s first mobile WiMAX phone. Based around Windows Mobile for pocket PC the handset itself comes with a 65,536 colour 2.8in TFT screen running a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels.

The connected The SPH-M8000 phone acts as client and requires a WiMAX server within 1 kilometer distance. It is a slider model Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone with Push-to-all, video telephony, Bluetooth, 1.3 Megapixels camera and a VGA front camera. The maximum download rate is 3 Mbps while 1Mbps is the upload rate.

Since this is obviously a mobile WiMax product, Samsung quoted the phone as being able to provide those broadband transfer rates and connection while moving at speeds of up to 120km/h.

The M8000 will only available in Korea at this time but it does show potential for mobile data provision in the near future.

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Clearwire Casts $1B into WiMAX

March 20, 2006

Recently announced in Red Herring.com, Clearwire - a so called 'start-up' - is looking to invest about $1 billion in funds to build its own WiMAX network, and plans to offer wireless broadband service over wide areas. Specifically, Clearwire is anxious to acquire spectrum and build new markets, Chief Strategy Officer Ben Wolff told RedHerring.com.

Clearwire is definitely a new firm, but with a solid history. Clearwire was founded in October 2003 by Craig McCaw, the cellular phone pioneer who sold McCaw Cellular Communications to AT&T in 1994 for more than $11 billion.

With the new capital available, Clearwire may start to compete with incumbents like Comcast and AT&T in the growing high-speed broadband Internet market. More specifically, the company could partner with satellite-TV companies who want to offer a bundle of video, voice, and data in their quest to compete with the cable and telephone companies.

Speculation on the potential pairing grew earlier this year after News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said his DirecTV company was looking for a way to enter the wireless broadband market. Clearwire was considered a leading candidate to help.

“What we like about our business plan and technology is there are a number of parties we could partner with,” said Mr. Wolff, declining to say whether the company is negotiating with DirecTV. Clearwire could even partner with wired and wireless phone companies as well, he mused.

"Building up a network like ours is very similar to building up a cellular network,” said Mr. Wolff, who is also co-president. Clearwire currently offers service in more than 200 cities and towns in the United States, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, and Mexico. In the U.S. the company operates under the licensed 2.5 GHz band in places like Jacksonville, Florida; Modesto; California; and Bellingham, Washington.

Clearwire deploys an early, nonstandard version of WiMAX. The equipment for its network comes from its wholly owned subsidiary NextNet Wireless.

The service is considered fixed because phones or other mobile devices that work with the technology are not yet available. Nevertheless, Clearwire’s service can transmit voice and data at speeds comparable to DSL and cable. And because it is wireless, there is no need for fiber-optic cables or copper wires.

Currently the speed of the connection is up to 1.5 Mbit/second. The company charges $30 to $37 a month for the service and $5 for the modem, to a rather small number of customers.

Read the entire article at Redherring.com.

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Wavesat and Sanmina-SCI Announce Agreement on WiMAX Mini-PCI

March 20, 2006

Wavesat, developer of WiMAX chipset and software, and Sanmina-SCI, a leading global electronics manufacturing services company, announced an agreement for production and cost optimization of the WiMAX Mini-PCI. The low-cost, small-form factor WiMAX 3.5 GHz Mini-PCI modules are now available for volume delivery anywhere in the world.

The WiMAX Mini-PCI modules are based on Wavesat's recently launched WiMAX 3.5 GHz Mini-PCI reference design, and incorporates Wavesat's Evolutive DM256 chipset and MAC coprocessor. Plus, the WiMAX Mini-PCI modules are fully compliant with the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard, offer easy upgradeability to 802.16e-2005 for basic mobility applications, and support TDD and HFDD, 3.5 and 7.0 MHz bandwidths and modulation up to 64-QAM.

"We are excited to be working with a WiMAX pacesetter such as Wavesat," said David Dutkowsky, EVP for Sanmina-SCI's Communications Infrastructure Division. "Wavesat's unique WiMAX expertise and strategic positioning, in conjunction with our manufacturing capability and international presence, will result in tangible benefits for the WiMAX industry worldwide."

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Indonesia Gets National WiMax Network

March 16, 2006

Aperto Networks and Citra Sari Makmur (CSM), one of Indonesia's largest telecommunications operators, have announced they will expand the existing deployment of Aperto's WiMAX-class multi-service broadband wireless systems to cover a wider area across Indonesia.

The deployment will take place in stages and will involve a transition to the latest family of Forum Certified products from Aperto.

CSM uses the network primarily to deliver broadband wireless services to Indonesia's financial services and banking sector. The network supports legacy frame relay applications, VPN, Internet access, leased line and telephony services.

But the CSM also provides data, voice and multimedia services to hotels, enterprises, and high-end residential customers across various cities in Indonesia.

"We consider CSM to be among the world's most progressive and forward-thinking telecom service providers," said Reza Ahy, chairman and CEO of Aperto Networks.

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Korea gets WiMax certification lab

March 16, 2006

Outside North America - especially in Korea - momentum for WiMax wireless-broadband technology continues to grow. Korea, with the development of WiBro, is an early adopter of broadband wireless services and now is the homebase of a new certification lab. WiMax Forum original Cetecom Laboratories (www.cetecom.es) from Spain is the first laboratory, but to handle the expected boom in WiMax gear, they recently added TTA (Telecommunications Technology Association) in South Korea as the second.

TTA will likely specialize in certification of emerging products that conform to IEEE 802.16e, the mobile segment of WiMax. Which makes sense, as South Korea's WiBro (Wireless-Broadband) is essentially the basis for mobile WiMax. TTA plans to have the WiMax lab operating by the second quarter of this year. It expects to certify the first commercial mobile-WiMax product in the first quarter of 2007.

In other WiMax news, Cetecom Laboratories is also preparing to offer mobile-WiMax certification. The lab is jointly developing a protocol-conformance tester with Aeroflex. Cetecom and UK-based picoChip have just announced that the tester would rely on the PC102 DSP-array chips and the PC8530 software stack from picoChip. Cetecom hopes to begin mobile-WiMax testing by the end of the year.

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SR Telecom eyes local market for WiMax

March 16, 2006

Canadian broadband fixed wireless solutions provider SR Telecom believes Mexico will be one of the top 10 countries in the world for WiMax sales in 2006, SR Telecom's marketing vice president Chad Pralle told BNamericas.

Mexico's transport and communications secretary SCT is due to publish a draft bill very soon for opening up the 3,400-3,700MHz band for WiMax, meaning operators can install networks without the need for a concession license.

According to Pralle, Mexico is in a category of developing countries with reasonable PC penetration and GDP per capita but still with low DSL broadband penetration, and such countries may leapfrog wired broadband, going straight to wireless.

"There's a lot of talk about WiMax and what it can do. People talk about putting it into New York City and providing mobile broadband access. But in the short term it is countries like Mexico that are going to be the driver for WiMax volume because there's pretty good PC penetration, good GDP per capita and a real drive to get broadband," Pralle said.

At the beginning of this month, SR Telecom announced it had won a US$10M contract to deploy equipment for Mexican fixed line operator Axtel, which Pralle says was the most significant WiMax contract won anywhere in the world in 2005.

Pralle expects a shift this year with carriers starting to offer WiMax broadband solutions to residential customers rather than just corporate and small office home office (SOHO) clients.

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OECD sees uncertain future for WiMax

March 16, 2006

In a wide-ranging report published this week, the OECD has outlined some of the factors that could define the success or otherwise of WiMax wireless networking.

The report's primary finding was that WiMax depends critically on spectrum allocation, a process which is still incomplete worldwide. "Despite all the excitement over WiMax, the ultimate role of WiMax in the wireless market is debatable," it said.

The report also cited concerns about competition from existing network operators, who it said are more likely to upgrade their 3G investments with HSDPA than roll out an entirely new network.

Several mobile operators have recently announced plans to deploy HSDPA in the UK, including Vodafone, T-Mobile and 3.

However, the OECD also said that WiMax could play a key role in providing connectivity in areas currently poorly served by wireless broadband.

Other issues causing concern include the uncertainty about standards for mobile WiMax, the regulatory environment for connecting networks to the phone system, and the possibilities that operators may block ports rather than lose mobile phone revenue to voice over IP. If that doesn't happen, the report said, then WiMax may be useful if built into mobile phones.

Although WiMax's range makes it potentially complementary to Wi-Fi, the OECD noted, this may also pose more security risks, as it increases the area over which eavesdroppers may operate.

Analysis by Rupert Goodwins for ZDNet.

Also see these other related stories: Doubts raised over Wimax's future.

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Airspan Debuts Commercial Availability of WiMAX Base Station

March 15, 2006

Airspan Networks, Inc., a leading worldwide provider of WiMAX and WiFi based broadband wireless access networks, and carrier class Voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) solutions, today announced its plans to start shipping MicroMAX-SOC (system on a chip) to its first customers in April 2006. This announcement was accompanied by "live" demonstrations of the product at CeBIT at the Airspan stand.

"MicroMAX-SOC, which is based on the high-performance SQN2010 WiMAX Certified base station system design of Sequans, is the first cost-optimised, pay-as-you-grow WiMAX solution available in the market place," said Jonathan Paget, Executive Vice President and COO of Airspan Networks. "MicroMAX-SOC, which is our third WiMAX Base Station, offers Service Providers and Network Operators a unique value proposition of very high performance at an affordable price point."

MicroMAX-SOC, which is initially available in the 3.5 GHz FDD band, will start shipping to customers in April 2006.

See full press release (Marketwire).

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Mobile WiMax gets thumbs up in Japan

March 14, 2006

Mobile WiMax could soon be coming to Japan.

The long-range wireless broadband technology, which received its official certification late last year, is set to be rolled out in the land of the rising sun by telecoms operator KDDI.

The company has just completed field trials of the technology in area around the city of Osaka, in order to assess how mobile WiMax performs in an urban environment.

KDDI also put the technology under the spotlight to measure the high-speed handover between base stations, which it said is satisfactory at speeds of up to 120kmph. The operator also demonstrated handover between mobile WiMax and 3G variant EV-DO.

In addition, the Japanese operator is working on a system that will choose the right radio technology - cellular, wi-fi, or mobile WiMax, for example - depending on what activity the user is carrying out at the time.

According to consultancy Senza Fili, there will be 15.4 million WiMax subscribers in 2010, 41 per cent of whom will be based in the Asia-Pacific region. The consultancy said the region's demand for portable and mobile services will spur the uptake of the mobile flavour of WiMax.

Story by Jo Best, for Silicon.com.

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Intel, Redline Communications and BCS lead the WiMAX race

March 13, 2006

Intel Corporation, the world's leader in silicon innovation, and Redline Communications, manufacturer of RedMAX, the world's first complete wireless broadband system to achieve WiMAX Forum Certification, are using the power of WiMAX technology to connect wireless 'hotspots' at the Gulf Air Bahrain Formula One taking place in Bahrain from March 10th - 12th.

The RedMAX WiMAX equipment will connect Grand Prix visitors to the Internet, via a WiFi Hotspot, allowing them to access voice, video and data communications directly from the event and follow race statistics and updates via the web. The WiMAX network is being established by BCS, a Bahrain-based network systems integrator specializing in advanced wireless networks.

'The WiMAX pilot at the Grand Prix will demonstrate the ability of this technology to make broadband access more broadly available, enabling people to stay connected from more locations than ever before,' said Samir Al-Shamma, GM Gulf Countries, Intel Corporation. 'Intel is keen to provide an enhanced experience to audiences by integrating leading technology into different aspects of the Grand Prix' Al Schamma also added that by enabling millions to obtain wireless internet connectivity cheaply and easily, WiMAX presents a tremendous opportunity for economies aiming to rapidly embrace the benefits of global digital transformation.

'Just as the Formula One demonstrates the highest-performance vehicles in the world, WiMAX technology delivers unmatched, high-speed connectivity in the most challenging of conditions,' said Keith Doucet, Vice President, Marketing and Product Management, Redline Communications. 'We are excited to once again work with Intel at an international Grand Prix event to demonstrate the capabilities of WiMAX.' In June 2005, Intel and Redline demonstrated their WiMAX-based technology at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Canada.

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Redline Demos Worlds First Complete WiMAX System

March 11, 2006

Redline Communications, the leading provider of advanced broadband wireless access and backhaul solutions, is featuring live, over-the-air gaming and other high-bandwidth applications using its RedMAX base station and subscriber units - the world's first complete WiMAX Forum Certified WiMAX system. The demonstration is taking place at Redline's booth at CeBIT 2006 in Hannover, Germany from March 9 to March 15.

"CeBIT visitors are among the first to experience fully certified Redline RedMAX WiMAX products in real-world applications," said Keith Doucet, Vice President, Marketing and Product Management, Redline Communications. "While there are many companies out there that claim to have WiMAX products, Redline is the first company in the world to have a complete WiMAX Forum Certified system. These live demonstrations at CeBIT are giving people the opportunity to experience WiMAX capabilities first hand."

Germany continues to be a major technology gateway for Central and Eastern Europe. Over the past few years the WiMAX industry has matured considerably to where it is now securely positioned to offer affordable, standards-based broadband access to all international markets, including those in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Redline's award-winning WiMAX Forum Certified products showcased on March 10th incorporate the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 WiMAX broadband interface and enable carriers and service providers to quickly and cost-effectively deliver rich broadband services including voice, video and data to enterprise and residential subscribers.

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Airspan Unveils First Mobile WiMAX Device

March 10, 2006

Airspan Networks Inc., a leading worldwide provider of WiMAX and WiFi based broadband wireless access networks, and carrier class Voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) solutions, announced support for Mobile WiMAX on its AS.MAX WiMAX product line and the first details of its revolutionary Mobile WiMAX USB device, called the "16eUSB".

"The 16eUSB is the first Mobile WiMAX USB device. It is designed to be fully compatible with the IEEE's 802.16e-2005 standard and the WiMAX Forum Mobile WIMAX System Profile... As a quad-band device that will operate in all key WiMAX frequency bands, including 2.3-2.4 GHz, 2.5-2.7 GHz, 3.3-3.7 GHz, and the 4.9-5.4 GHz bands, it will allow a user to have access to WiMAX networks virtually anywhere in the world," said Eric Stonestrom, President and CEO of Airspan Networks.

Airspan also announced support for Mobile WiMAX on AS.MAX, its class-leading WiMAX product line. Airspan's high-end AS.MAX Base Stations ... will require a "software only" upgrade to enable them to support Mobile WiMAX. With the upgrade, the base stations will simultaneously support both 256 OFDM Fixed CPEs and SOFDMA Mobile WiMAX laptop cards, handsets and USB devices.

Sunao Takatori, President and CEO of Yozan Inc., observed: "We are proud to be a sponsor of the development of Airspan's 16eUSB Mobile WiMAX device. It will enable Yozan to deliver our vision of a truly holistic communication service, which binds together wireline and wireless infrastructures and provides users with global access to the Internet, anywhere and anytime."

View full-size image of the 16eUSB.

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Siemens Releases its First WiMAX Modem

March 10, 2006

According to a recent report, Siemens has released its first WiMAX modem - the Gigaset SE461. The “plug and play” modem is based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard and is designed for residential users and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Gigaset SE461 supports data transfer rates of up to 20 Mbps and can be used to access video-on-demand, video streaming and VoIP. The device covers frequency ranges of 2.3-2.5 GHz, 3.4-3.6 GHz and 3.6-3.8 GHz, enabling it to be used worldwide.

Siemens also offers WiMAX base stations and systems to monitor and control WiMAX networks.

The modem supports Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux, enabling it to network with nearly any other PC. It comes with a close range antenna designed for desktop use and an outdoor antenna with a longer range.

Operators Start Telecom of Russia and Finnet of Finland have reportedly already reached agreements with Siemens for WiMAX systems.

Siemens will provide the operators with WiMAX network equipment including base stations and end-user products such as the new Gigaset SE461.

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Alvarion Extends its market Leading Breezemax Solution to New Frequencies

March 09, 2006

Alvarion Ltd., the world’s leading provider of wireless broadband solutions and specialized mobile networks, today announced the extension of its market leading, BreezeMAX solution to 3.6 GHz with the introduction of the BreezeMAX 3600. Operating from 3.6 to 3.8 GHz and targeted to fixed WiMAX operators in Europe and other countries, the BreezeMAX 3600 enables carriers to offer broadband data, voice and multimedia services with high performance over wide coverage areas. Currently in field trials, the BreezeMAX 3600 is expected to be commercially available in the second quarter of this year.

“Broadening our BreezeMAX product line to new frequencies is part of our ongoing commitment to enable carriers everywhere to leverage all available spectrum for WiMAX services,” said Rudy Leser, Vice President of Marketing of Alvarion. “Our intimate carrier relationships combined with our vast local knowledge in markets throughout the world means we can anticipate the growing demand for WiMAX services and address this demand with the appropriate product. Being the first to offer a WiMAX product in 3.6 GHz is evidence of our continued leadership of the WiMAX market and dedication to bringing ‘personal broadband’ to everyone, everywhere.”

BreezeMAX is Alvarion’s WiMAX platform designed from the ground up according to the IEEE 802.16 standards and uses OFDM technology for advanced non-line-of-sight (NLOS) functionality. Its carrier-class design supports broadband speeds and quality of service (QoS) to enable carriers to offer triple play broadband services to thousands of subscribers in a single base station. Since its launch in mid-2004, BreezeMAX has been successfully deployed in over 150 installations in more than 30 countries around the world.

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WiMAX Laptops Coming in Late 2006

March 08, 2006

Intel Corp.’s mobile platforms group is ramping WiMAX faster than originally thought.

The company at its spring Intel Developer Forum announced 802.16e integrated mobile WiMAX technology, specifically a mobile WiMAX PCMCIA card, for the second half of this year. The technology, which Intel will use for WiMAX-enabled laptops, was originally planned for a 2007 release.

The technology is designed to serve the 2.3/2.5GHz band, which is the favorable band for Asia.

“We work toward standards and that same desire was behind Wi-Fi. There were many people who said Wi-Fi would not become a global standard so we could get a global band for Wi-Fi” said Intel Executive VP Sean Maloney during his afternoon keynote. “Over the last year, we’ve been doing the same thing on WiMAX. We’ve been working hard to come up with a global standard frequency band. We are now at the point that there is a clear collection around the 2.3/2.5GHz, 3.5GHZ and 5GHz bands. It looks likely that the planet will be able to be covered using those three bands.”

Further, Maloney showcased the first single-chip multi-band Wi-Fi/WiMAX radio, codenamed Ofer. “The objective is that over the next three years these two technologies will merge,” he said, noting Ofer will utilize the 2.3/2.5GHz 3.5 and 5 GHz bands. “This is a very important first step, a radio that is capable of handling those three bands.”

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KDDI Mobile WiMAX Trial Proves Successful

March 07, 2006

KDDI has successfully completed field trials of Japan's first Mobile WiMAX system, in central Osaka.

The trials verified Mobile WiMAX functionality in an urban environment, demonstrating practical communication speed along with basic performance and high-speed handover between base stations.

The Mobile WiMAX system, which will be built in accordance with Wire Communications Standard IEEE802.16e, supports stable, high throughput communications in non-fixed environments at speeds of less than 120km/hour. Each base station covers an area of several kilometers, making the system suitable for providing service in an urban environment. KDDI believes that Mobile WiMAX has the potential to become a platform that will complement 3G mobile phone systems in urban areas.

The field trials also demonstrated the successful connectivity of Mobile WiMAX to 'Ultra 3G,' among others. In addition, the trials successfully demonstrated a seamless handover between WiMAX and EV-DO - the first in the world. An 'Ultra 3G' trial system also connected the WiMAX system to an MMD (MultiMedia Domain) application server via an IPv6 network.

With these trials, KDDI successfully tested services that can only be found on an 'Ultra 3G' platform, including interoperability on both fixed and mobile networks, such as Mobile WiMAX, and automatic selection of the most suitable network for various user functions, such as exchanging picture and sound files.

KDDI aims to commercialize Mobile WiMAX in the future and will continue to carry out various performance tests, including simultaneous multi-terminal connectivity and trials with adaptive arrays.

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Intel Capital invests in Beceem Communications

March 06, 2006

Beceem Communications Inc., a provider of chipsets for Mobile WiMAX technology, said Monday that it has received a significant investment from Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Intel Corp.

Neither Beceem or Intel Capital would disclose the amount of funding. Both companies are based in Santa Clara.

"This collaboration is aimed to accelerate the trial and deployment of Mobile WiMAX networks and establish Mobile WiMax as the highest performance, most spectrally efficient wireless broadband technology available," said Shahin Hedayat, CEO and co-founder of Beceem, in a release.

"This collaboration with Beceem underscores Intel's philosophy that the early availability of high performance chipset solutions is important for the adoption of Mobile WiMAX by operators," added Sriram Viswanathan, vice president and managing director of Intel Capital.

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Part 3, WiMax Market Update from the Field

March 06, 2006

Part 3, update by Alan J. Weissberger.

Heavy Reading’s WiMax findings:

Telecom network operators are convinced that WiMax will have a positive impact on their ability to deliver new services, and most expect to see deployment of WiMax in commercial networks by the end of 2007, according to results of a worldwide survey of service provider professionals conducted by Heavy Reading, Light Reading Inc.'s market research division.

Worldwide sales of WiMax products have been minuscule so far, but the true test of its potential is about to commence, now that the first standards-compliant products are hitting the market for deployment in real commercial networks. Certification by the WiMax Forum that products conform to various iterations of the IEEE 802.16 standard that defines WiMax began in January 2006 and is expected to trigger wide-scale deployment of WiMax equipment by telecom service providers. WiMax may actually eclipse some of the industry’s earlier "saviour" technologies, primarily because it is viewed as a linchpin for the future convergence of wireless and wire-line networks, in addition to promising advancement for broadband wireless services and applications.

Key findings of Service Provider WiMax Deployment Plans include the following:

Service provider respondents overwhelmingly view WiMax as a technology that will have at least some impact on the future of telecom networks, and a solid majority expects it to have a major impact. Less than 2 percent of the 262 respondents categorized WiMax as offering "more hype than hope," while nearly 60 percent said WiMax would have a major long-term impact on telecom networks and services. These results clearly indicate that WiMax developers have succeeded in making a strong case for their technology, and that service providers are expecting WiMax to have a place in future network designs.

Positive attitudes toward WiMax and its role in telecom networks cut across all service provider types. For every type of service provider included in the survey, more than 50 percent of respondents said WiMax would have a major long-term effect on networks and services. The respondents most bullish about WiMax's prospects include those from long-distance operators (69.1 percent of whom said WiMax would have a major long-term impact), Bell companies (68.8 percent), and operators of conventional wireless networks (68.4 percent).

The evaluation process for WiMax is already well underway, and the next 12 to 18 months will be critical in determining how many carriers make investments in WiMax and how extensive those investments will be. A majority of respondents say their company is now evaluating WiMax technology, and almost all of the rest say their company is likely to take a close look at WiMax once the technology matures – which most expect to occur in the next 12 to 18 months.

The vast majority of respondents expect to see commercial WiMax service launched within the next two years. Nearly 40 percent of respondents expect commercial WiMax service to be available this year, and more than 80 percent anticipate it by the end of 2007.

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Aeroflex, CETECOM Win WiMAX Forum Tender

March 06, 2006

Aeroflex has announced that its joint bid with Centro de Tecnología de las Comunicaciones (CETECOM Spain) has been successful in winning the contract from the WiMAX Forum to develop the protocol conformance test solution for the new WiMAX 802.16e technology standard. The contract win follows the recent open call for tenders initiated by the WiMAX Forum.

The first product Aeroflex and CETECOM will bring to market is a base station emulator for the protocol conformance testing of mobile stations that will execute ETSI approved TTCN-3 test cases. Early functionality will be available to support development efforts with a fully functional development system available later. A mobile emulator for base station testing will follow shortly after. Delivery of the WiMAX 802.16e protocol conformance test solution is planned for the second half of 2006.

“Protocol conformance test for WiMAX 802.16e devices is a critical requirement to support the dynamic growth of WiMAX during 2006,” said Andres Moreno, CETECOM Wireless Division Director. “As the world’s only WiMAX Forum approved certification laboratory, we will also be using the WiMAX 802.16e protocol conformance test solution to certify the first wave of WiMAX 802.16e devices expected late 2006.”

The success of the joint Aeroflex/CETECOM WiMAX 802.16e bid will result in an even closer collaboration between the two companies in what they both see as an important new market for them.

View the entire press release.

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Part 2, WiMax Market Update from the Field

March 04, 2006

Part 2, update by Alan J. Weissberger.

WiMax Forum Status Update, by Mo Shakouri of Alvarion (WiMax Forum Board Member and Vice President Marketing Working Group).

WiMAX Forum Charter:

- Promote and accelerate WiMAX deployments to achieve leadership in the global wireless broadband market.
- Develop a framework for a high performance end-to-end IP network architecture supporting stationary, portable, and mobile users (a flat IP network that serves many different types of customers is envisioned).
- Deliver a trusted certification process (recently completed first product certifications).
- Evangelize business model, including favorable IPR policy.
- Foster a thriving ecosystem, including application and content players as well as telecom companies.

WiMAX Forum Participation: Some 500-600 delegates attended last week’s WiMax Forum meeting in Paris. The largest group attending now is operators, with over 120 operator company members. The leading companies in communications, computing, Internet, and content are participating in the WiMax Forum.

WiMax Forum’s 2005 Accomplishments:

- More than 150 WiMAX trials and early commercial deployments
- Membership doubled to 350+ companies
- Successfully bridged Korean WiBro service to become part of mobile WiMAX standard
- IEEE 802.16e standard ratified due to Forum company collaboration
- Mobile WiMAX network specification phase one completed
- Opened first independent WiMax Forum certification lab in Spain
- Executed two successful Plug Fests
- Completed three global member conferences

WiMAX Forum Message for 2006:

- WiMAX Delivers on its Promise
– Certified 802.16-2004/HiperMAN products (at 3.5 GHz) will be available in Q1’2006
- WiMAX is gaining market acceptance. Fixed WiMax will succeed, if only because there are many parts of the world which do not have a broadband infrastructure and WiMax will level the playing field for those countries.
– Over 150 operators are trialing and deploying WiMAX
– 802.16e lab on track to open in Q3’2006

A new white paper is now available which provides a vision for Mobile WiMax.
All white papers are available for download at Wimax Forum.org.

That concludes Part 2 of this WiMax Market Update. Due to the length of this report, we will be bringing this to you in three parts over the weekend, ending on Sunday.

Part 3 will cover some of Heavy Reading’s WiMax findings.

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Part 1, WiMax Market Update from the Field

March 03, 2006

Part 1, update by Alan J. Weissberger.

Trendsmedia and Heavy Reading have just provided new insights into the future of WiMax. In separate reports, they examine WiMax market dynamics, vendor positioning, service provider plans, and WiMax Forum activities. On March 1st, Trendsmedia held a webinar for analysts, while Heavy Reading provided selected results of their WiMax service provider study via email. Both organizations announced the availability of their new WiMAX market research reports.

The WiMAX Vendor Map 2006-7, by Caroline Gabriel, Research Director, Rethink Research Associates (author of Trendsmedia’s WiMax report):

- Traditional fixed WiMax applications include: backhaul, rural access, developing nations without a broadband infrastructure, some metrozone/municipal (but WiFi dominates this space), SME services that would otherwise need T1/E1 access.

- Competing technologies: Lots of proprietary WiMax-like broadband wireless systems and extended range WiFi. Longer life predicted for proprietary technologies, e.g. Motorola’s Canopy.

- WiMax Spectrum: Most popular frequencies are 2.1-2.3GHz, 3.5Ghz (most trials use this), and 5.8GHz.

- Factors that are contributing to an emerging market for WiMax: Start of Certification and Harmonized Profiles from WiMax Forum, Increased R&D, Performance enhancements (many start-up vendors with unique intellectual property), Promise of portability and eventually mobility.

- Considering that IEEE 802.16e will support fixed, portable and mobile, and has major vendor support, how will 802.16-2004 (WiMax fixed) survive? The answer was a suprise: Most operators that deploy 802.16-2004 will not upgrade to 802.16e! They are focused primarily on fixed wireless applications to homes and SME or on enterprise T1/E1 access replacement via WiMax backhaul. They don’t need higher performance, mobility or new handsets for their targeted applications, and therefore do not have a need to move to 802.16e.

- Vendor strategies for 802.16-2004 (fixed WiMax): Improved economics for traditional markets, Extension to consumer markets, New backhaul partnerships, Combination with Wi-Fi, Low cost CPE, Coexistence with proprietary versions of WiMax, start-ups partnering with larger OEM vendors. The key driver to extend WiMax to consumer markets will be availability of low cost laptop add-in cards and USB plug-in cards.

- Other fixed WiMax applications include: DSL extension, Cellular backhaul, Portability, and Hybrid models which combine WiMax with WiFi.

- Despite the large vendors who will enter IEEE 802.16e market (e.g. Motorola, Alcatel, Samsung), the startups are expected to dominate... initially. The leaders are expected to be IP Wireless and Navini Networks. Other new players: ArrayCom, NexNet, Flarion and Soma. Fixed market leader Alvarion is expected to migrate to IEEE 802.16e for portability and eventually mobility.

- The operator view of IEEE 802.16e: gradual shift from portability to mobility: 60% of current top 20 BWA deployments are in developing countries (but all mobile broadband operators have a presence in developed countries). Operators are more interested in portability then true mobility!

- Chip Makers: While Intel remains the quintessential cheerleader, the start-ups are now leading the market. Likely that most will not survive as independent entities, but will be acquired for their intellectual property.

- Due to the dynamic nature of the market(s), it is predicted that in one year’s time there will be a dramatic change in the WiMax vendor map.

That concludes Part 1 of this WiMax Market Update. Due to the length of this report, we will be bringing this to you in three parts over the weekend, ending on Sunday.

Part 2 will include a WiMax Forum Status Update, by Mo Shakouri of Alvarion and Part 3 will cover some of Heavy Reading’s WiMax findings.

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Intel goes WiMAX in Saudi Arabia

March 03, 2006

Intel's operations in Saudi Arabia have achieved a regional first by adopting WiMAX technology to support their communication needs through Integrated Telecom Comapny. ITC, the second licensed data services provider in Saudi Arabia, has started the deployment of their unique WiMAX network infrastructure early this year.

All of the company employees in Riyadh will now use the fixed WiMAX infrastructure (IEEE 802.16-2004) on a 3.5GHz frequency, provided by Saudi-based data service provider Integrated Telecom Company, which has linked the office with the Internet backbone of local ISP Nesma Internet. The office's WiMAX set-up uses an Intel-enabled CPE (Customer Premise Equipment), delivering on-demand access to high-speed Internet broadband services and connect to the wireless LAN in the office.

"Saudi Arabia is making major strides to increase IT adoption and grow the technology sector, and Intel is committed to its role as an enabler, working to help provide the latest systems and infrastructure. To have Intel's Riyadh office using WiMAX is a reflection of Riyadh's determination to become a genuine digital city," said Intel's GM for the GCC Samir Al-Schamma.

Riyadh aims to become the first Middle East city to integrate wireless capabilities through WiMAX, and the Saudi Government began issuing fixed WiMAX (IEEE 802.16-2004) licenses on a 3.5GHz frequency recently, the first Middle East country to do so.

The move follows a visit to the Kingdom last November by Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, who announced a series of bold initiatives to support Saudi Arabia's efforts to expand the use of Information Communication Technology in key sectors of its economy.

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Arraycom and TI team up on MIMO for WiMAX

March 02, 2006

ArrayComm and Texas Instruments have agreed to combine ArrayComm's smart antenna technology with TI's high-performance digital signal processing for WiMAX and other wireless infrastructure applications.

The combined solution will provide system operators with four-fold improvements in wireless system coverage. Data rates will be more than doubled. Capacity may increase by as much as 10X, all with better coverage quality for 802.16/WiMAX and WCDMA/HSDPA networks.

The combination of ArrayComm's Network MIMO smart antenna software and TI's family of high-performance DSPs on a single reference design provides base station equipment manufacturers with critical differentiation including shorter time to market, higher equipment performance and greater flexibility as wireless standards evolve.

The first step is a reference design for WiMAX infrastructure applications that incorporates ArrayComm's Network MIMO software. It will support multiple input / multiple output (MIMO), adaptive antenna system (AAS) and combined MIMO/AAS modes.

ArrayComm's Network MIMO software implements all the antenna processing aspects of the WiMAX profiles approved by the WiMAX Forum Mobile Task Group (MTG) for IEEE 802.16e. MIMO and AAS, used in combination, increase subscriber data rates, improve cell-edge link budgets, manage interference, and maximize overall network capacity.

For the first time, ArrayComm' Network MIMO software has been ported to TI's 1 GHz TMS320TCI6482 DSP. This optimized DSP performs at nearly twice the clock speed of other available solutions, yet consumes only three watts of power, making it the industry's most power efficient DSP for wireless infrastructure systems.

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Alvarion Announces Availability of BreezeACCESS 4900 for U.S. Public Safety Use

February 28, 2006

Alvarion Ltd., announced the commercial availability of BreezeACCESS 4900, an extension of its market leading wireless broadband platform using the 4.9 GHz frequency band, developed specifically to meet the secure broadband communications needs of the U.S. public safety market. With advanced OFDM technology and wide coverage capabilities, BA 4900 scored several successes during its pre-release field trials throughout the U.S.

In the past few months, the BreezeACCESS 4900 system has been installed for various live public safety applications, such as to provide secure voice communications using VoIP, manage traffic lights, and perform remote video surveillance including for crime fighting purposes. In one instance, real time wireless video transmitted by a BreezeACCESS 4900 system enabled police to uncover a drug smuggling operation, resulting in the seizure of illegal narcotics and several arrests.

"We are very excited about this product and its support of the many diverse and extensive public safety applications," commented Dan Carr, president of Electronic Technologies, a trained and certified Alvarion AIR Partner engaged in extensive public safety projects in the Midwest. "For some time, our customers have been eager to migrate their most sensitive network services to a licensed band product featuring secure communications. BreezeACCESS 4900 is the best system to implement the numerous scaled projects we have pending, even including those within a single market."

See the entire release on Alvarion's new site.

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Texas Instruments Extends into WiMAX Market with New Offerings

February 28, 2006

Extending its leadership in wireless infrastructure applications, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) announced a new portfolio of digital and analog products for WiMAX applications. By addressing the complete signal chain, TI enables OEMs to leverage their existing 3G designs to quickly develop WiMAX products. The availability of field-ready infrastructure products will spur deployment of WiMAX-enabled services into the market. These products will also support other applications built around OFDM technology.

"TI has played a key role in growing the wireless infrastructure market," said Kent Novak, worldwide manager of TI's high speed communications business unit. "Our WiMAX portfolio further demonstrates our leadership and these new products allow OEMs to leverage their own intellectual property while reducing the cost, risk and lead time for entering the WiMAX market."

"Manufacturers anticipated that the move to 3G would lead to a single standard for wireless infrastructure technology," said Jagdish Rebello of iSuppli Corporation. "However, multiple standards continue to flourish today, leaving wireless operators and OEMs with a wide variety of air interface technologies to support. OEMs look for ways to extend their technology investments and establish leadership positions in emerging markets, like WiMAX. TI is well positioned to provide customers with a portfolio of products, enabling them to re-use their common platforms in emerging and future markets."

TI's WiMAX portfolio is also attractive for infrastructure vendors, who now can leverage components used across a wide variety of technologies. This applicability for multiple markets translates into high volumes, which drive down their cost and helps create a low-cost alternative for emerging vendors to enter the burgeoning WiMAX sector.

TI demonstrated its ongoing commitment and support to the WiMAX industry by joining the WiMAX Forum earlier this year. As a WiMAX Forum member, TI will collaborate with other companies to understand the needs and concerns of the growing WiMAX industry while helping to drive standards.

TI announced its first WiMAX products last year and plans several additions to its portfolio of WiMAX products throughout this year.

Learn even more about TI's involvement in this stand-alone site.

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Thomson signs WiMax agreement with US-based WiNetworks

February 28, 2006

France-based Thomson said it has signed an agreement with US-based WiNetworks to deliver its triple-play (video, voice and high-speed internet) mobile services using WiNetworks' WiMax technology, which allows long-distance broadband connections.

Thomson said that the technology would allow broadcast satellite operators to expand their services to include high-speed internet, voice over IP, video on demand and interactive TV.

Financial details were not disclosed, but Thomson said the partnership will further its 'two-year plan to broaden its products and solutions offering to its media and client base.'

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AUSTAR Selects Navini as Core Vendor for WiMAX Network

February 27, 2006

AUSTAR United Communications has announced that it has selected Navini Networks as the core vendor partner for its WiMAX-based regional network rollout. The initial rollout is planned for two regional markets in Australia in coming months.

AUSTAR will deploy a WiMAX-capable network in many of its regional Australian markets using its wireless broadband spectrum.

"Regional Australians will be at the forefront of the worldwide WiMAX revolution as AUSTAR introduces broadband wireless technology to its customers," said John Porter, Chief Executive Officer of AUSTAR. "We are pleased to be working with Navini, whose portable wireless broadband network solution is unique and proven." The network will provide non-line of site coverage, easy plug-and-play activation and a seamless upgrade path to 802.16e.

"We are delighted to provide AUSTAR with the ability to deliver wireless broadband to their customers today AND the opportunity to take advantage of the recently-ratified 16e standard," said Roger Dorf, chief executive officer, Navini Networks. "Australia is well on its way to becoming a world model for the deployment of wireless broadband to the mass market and Navini is very proud to be a part of that."

AUSTAR plans to develop WiMax for 25 regional locations by the end of 2007. "This will deliver a world-class broadband network to approximately 750,000 homes," said Mr. Porter.

In addition, AUSTAR will work with Unwired Australia to allow roaming between the regional AUSTAR and metropolitan Unwired networks.

Navini's experience in providing the world's largest portable broadband wireless network with Unwired Australia, has led to numerous customer wins in Asia South Pacific.

"Navini's Ripwave systems are already successfully delivering portable wireless broadband around the world with key deployments in Europe, Australia, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the Americas," said Dorf. "It's a proven commercial system that allows operators to use retail channels for customer acquisition."

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WiMAX Forum commissions protocol tester

February 27, 2006

A bid submitted jointly between Aeroflex and Cetecom Spain has been successful in winning the contract from the WiMAX Forum to develop the protocol conformance test solution for the new WiMAX 802.16e technology standard.

The first product that Aeroflex and Cetecom will bring to market is a basestation emulator for the protocol conformance testing of mobile stations that will execute ETSI approved TTCN-3 test cases.

Early functionality will be available to support development efforts with a fully functional development system available later.

A mobile emulator for basestation testing will follow shortly after.

Delivery of the WiMAX 802.16e protocol conformance test solution is planned for the second half of 2006.
Commenting on the success of the joint bid, Pete Nicholson, business unit manager for Aeroflex Test Solutions, Wireless Division said: 'The success of the joint bid is a clear demonstration of our leadership role in protocol conformance test'.

'It brings unique strengths to the WiMAX arena combining Aeroflex's global presence and protocol conformance expertise with Cetecom's RF conformance testing capability and ongoing involvement in the development of the WiMAX standards'.

WiMAX 802.16d technology is currently delivering last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL.

The introduction of WiMAX 802.16e devices will provide portable and, eventually, mobile wireless broadband connectivity without the need for direct line-of-sight with a basestation.

It is expected that WiMAX technology will be incorporated in notebook computers and PDAs by 2007, enabling urban areas and cities to become 'metro zones' for portable outdoor broadband wireless access.

The success of the joint Aeroflex/Cetecom WiMAX 802.16e bid will result in an even closer collaboration between the two companies in what they both see as an important new market for them.

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WiMax holds promise to help narrow digital divide

February 24, 2006

Wimax has plenty of potential in rural areas, as described in this interesting analysis and report on the impact of this imperfect technology.

WiMAX is touted as the tool that will bridge the "digital divide", providing areas that lack affordable telecommunication infrastructure with a critical tool for the future economic and social development of a community, region or nation. The United Nations is pushing for access to broadband across borders. Its challenge, "Information Society for All," resulted from the World Summit on the Information Society in 2003.

A driving reason for the development of WiMAX is its potential to reduce the cost and time to deploy and sustain high bandwidth access to phone, video and data networks to areas too remote for traditional wired telecommunication. This is not just a third world issue; we have communities in our own region that are grossly under served. We may have dial-up access or even a form of DSL or cable. But without the ability to achieve speeds higher than 2Mb/s download and 256kb/s upload, we will never be able to use new tools available.

The advantages of WiMAX are widely noted:

- A single station can serve hundreds of users.
- Endpoints can be installed far faster than wired connections.
- Data rates as high as 280Mb/s and distances up to 30 miles are possible.
- Users can operate mobile within three to five miles of a base station at up to 75Mb/s.
- No Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensing is required for its use.
- It is a Worldwide standard and same frequency equipment should work together.

But where there are PROs, there are also CONs, and certain disadvantages to WiMax:

- Line of site is required for connections five miles or further.
- Rain and weather can disrupt the service.
- Other wireless equipment in the vicinity can interfere with WiMAX.
- Multiple frequencies will be used to deploy WiMAX.
- WiMAX is a power intensive technology and requires strong electrical support.
- Realities of WiMAX data rates are more like 72Mb/s, less as you add distance.

The applications of WiMAX will be different for every provider and user of the technology. Some will use it as a replacement of copper lines; some for backhaul to a central point; others will simply use the longer distance instead of Wi-Fi. Its deployment should prompt competition and competitive rates among the Incumbent (ILEC) and competitive local exchange carriers (CLEC).

Patrick Malley, general manager at Superior Broadband in Duluth, said 150 markets are being tested worldwide with the pre-certified WiMAX equipment, but his company will wait to evaluate the benefits until certified equipment is available from manufacturers. “WiMAX will benefit both the providers and end users when it comes available, and the customer equipment costs are below $250,” he said.

Meanwhile, a recent report by European communications consultant IDATE titled, “WiMAX: Ready for Deployment?” forecasts the worldwide WiMAX market will hit $3.5 billion by 2010. That's a 4 percent share of all broadband use. This growth will be driven by new equipment from an expanding list of hardware suppliers and an increasing number of WiMAX trials and deployments.

Will WiMAX change the world? Its proponents certainly believe it will. Can we use it in our U.S. regions right now, even as we contemplate fiber optic networks in some communities? Absolutely!

A Special Focus by Brian Fitzgerald
For Business North

See the entire article.

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Wireless provider Alvarion targets Africa

February 24, 2006

Wireless broadband provider, Alvarion Ltd. has gained traction in the African market with recent deals in Ghana and Madagascar.

Ghana Telecom, that country’s incumbent carrier, has announced that it will be using Alvarion’s eMGW -- a point-to-multipoint fixed wireless system -- to offer data and voice services to SoHo and residential users. It will also build a broadband wireless network in Accra, Ghana’s capital, to provide broadband data and toll-quality voices services. Alvarion’s eMGW system supports Internet services, corporate network access and carrier-class telephony in a single system.

African broadband provider Gulfsat Madagascar will expand its current network using Alvarion’s OFDM system operating in 3.5 GHz. The company’s strategy is to target residential subscribers with greater coverage and increased capacity. Initially, this network will offer broadband services to residential subscribers in the capital city of Antananarivo.

Wireless executives stressed at last week's 3GSM Congress that they would be targeting emerging markets like Africa for future growth.

Alvarion CEO Tvika Friedman forecasts first quarter sales of between $46 million to $51 million. Girding for growing competition in the mobile WiMAX market, the company expects to have a commercial product by early 2007. It also hopes to leverage its 30 percent market share in fixed WiMAX to be a player in mobile WiMAX.

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Wireless Broadband Gathers Momentum with New Certification Lab

February 23, 2006

South Korea’s Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) became a WiMax Forum certification laboratory to provide testing and certifying services for WiMax, the wireless Internet.

The WiMax Forum picked the TTA as its second certification lab earlier this week at its annual meeting in Paris, said a source participating in the four-day event.

"In recognition of Korea’s significance in accelerating the development of the wireless Internet, the WiMax Forum provided the certification right to TTA for the second time ever," the source said.

The WiMax Forum selected Cetecom Spain in Jan. 2005 as its first official certification lab and has never added another one, other than Korea’s TTA despite continual requests.

The state-backed TTA, the country’s standardization organization, was not available for comment.

The measure is expected to help Korea’s WiBro make inroads into global markets easily because the nation’s TTA is entitled to provide the certification for the Korean version of WiMax.

WiMax, spearheaded by the world’s foremost chipmaker Intel, is a wireless offering for people at a standstill. It is broadly similar to Wi-Fi as both are based on hot spots, or areas around points in which people can share data or access the Internet without landlines.

In comparison, WiBro enables people on the move to remain hooked to the Internet and KT, Korea’s top telecom firm, plans to launch commercial services of the homegrown service in June.

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picoChip and Wintegra Announce 802.16e Development Platform

February 22, 2006

picoChip and Wintegra advance their partnership by announcing a development platform for mobile WiMAX that integrates picoChip's PC102 picoArray(TM) multi-core digital signal processor (DSP) running its IEEE 802.16e PHY with the Wintegra WinMax(TM) access processor programmed with 16e MAC software for transport and backhaul functionality.

In addition to providing complete and efficient 16e functionality, the development platform offers support for Advanced Antenna Systems (AAS) and Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), which is enabled by means of an optional software upgrade from ArrayComm.

WinMax features a programmable datapath that offers the ability to support multiple MAC entities on the same device. This allows simultaneous support for multiple sectors and thus dramatically simplifies Full Mobility Handover and reduces the latency as required by operators. The multiple MAC support also provides an important advantage in its ability to scale the access capability, allowing the support of both 16d and 16e on same platform.

CPRI variants and OBSAI RP3-01 control for remote antenna operation can also be supported by the architecture. WinMax's integrated transport and MAC capability allows for capacity growth. This means that the technology is scalable, making it suitable for any size basestation from picocell up to multi-sector, multi-protocol macrocell capability.

The new development platform offers direct connectivity between MAC, PHY, RF and antenna subsystems for basestation design. A key advantage is that both companies offer fully tested software and vendor-independent APIs that permit rapid integration of these components, as well as additional system software with optional licensing of tools and source code. The picoChip and Wintegra platform offers a modular, scalable, open approach that allows OEMs freedom of choice in customizing and differentiating their systems, while maintaining the benefits of reduced time to market and field upgradeability.

Colin Alexander, Director of Wireless Marketing for Wintegra, commented, "We believe this is the first reference platform to provide a rapid and optimized route to bringing 16e to market."

Added Rupert Baines, VP Marketing for picoChip, "These designs are based on standard components, thus allowing equipment manufacturers to rapidly implement a wide range of 802.16e compliant basestation products. This reduces both cost and time to market, while still enabling flexibility and programmability to cover pico, micro and macro basestation architectures."

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Mobile WiMax plays leapfrog

February 21, 2006

We’re already seeing a competition between mobile 3G, Wi-Fi Mesh, and Metropolitan WiMax as governments and service providers decide which will make best sense to the demographic they serve.

Among the above mentioned technologies, WiMax has been the slowest to role out and may end up being used in territories where wired networks have no reach because of its large coverage footprint’s ability to reach the last mile.

Surprisingly, its cousin, Mobile WiMax--a portable Internet service with QoS--is almost ready to hit the streets in South Korea where broadband uptake is highest in the world.

Known as WiBro the service by KT Corporation is set for launch in June 2006. In fact, traction on this technology has been so good the same is slated for commercial launch in Italy in Q1 2007. Korean technology supplier Samsung is capitalizing on the interest and has formed a technology partnership with Telecom Italia.

Taking a cautious stance, a news brief by NWT Consultant, Yong Kuan Loong in an IDA Singapore report said, “Critics may point to the fact that WiBro, being a home-grown Korean standard, will not enjoy the same international acceptance and economies of scale as WiMAX, touted by Intel to be ‘the global standard’.”

But the flip side shows that “fans of mobile WiMax--which is designed to provide broadband access over a radius of up to several miles--claim the technology will cover exponentially larger areas than today’s Wi-Fi networks and cost less to use than 3G mobile-phone services,” reported Wired News (In an article titled 'A Word to the Wise on WiMax').

Originally in Convergence TechPlanet by Benjamin Koe.

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WiMAX Telecom first to market telephony via WiMAX

February 21, 2006

WiMAX Telecom Group, the only multinational WiMAX service provider in Europe, is the first in the world to offer telephony via WiMAX technology. "WiMAX FON" is the cheapest comprehensive last-mile connectivity solution in Austria. Its offers the sound quality of a fixed network and works with ordinary telephone handsets. Thanks to number portability, customers can simply take their existing telephone number with them when switching to WiMAX FON.

WiMAX is the new broadband wireless standard with a transmission range of up to 15 km. To date, customers are able to use this new technology for all their Internet requirements. With WiMAX FON, they can now also use WiMAX for voice telephony – with their existing telephone handsets and the same quality as calls over the old fixed network. WiMAX Telecom is thereby one of the first providers in the world to offer customers mobile broadband data and voice services.

More Information.

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Southern Europe Set to Receive WiMAX Commercial Network

February 21, 2006

Codium Networks, an independent integrator specializing in 'WiMAX-driven' network solutions, has announced that it will use equipment from Navini Networks to deploy a broadband wireless network in South Eastern Spain.

Thousands of subscribers for the alternative telco Voz y Datos, SL will receive service via the new network. Voz y Datos is considered the number one alternative service provider in the region with many years of wireless experience.

Kiriako Vergos, chief executive officer of Codium Networks stated that making a Broadband Wireless Access network profitable is all about avoiding both the elevated costs of professional subscriber terminal installation and the extremely slow market penetration rate that such an installation process entails.

With Codium Networks’ technology and network design formula, Vergos added that the company is finally permitting small to medium-sized operators, such as Voz y Datos, to develop their own broadband access infrastructure not only affordably, but more importantly, in a profit-guaranteeing manner.

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How to Build a WiMAX Network

February 21, 2006

We have heard many things about WiMAX, the new long haul wireless technology, that it almost seems as though you are just a phone call away from having your own network designed and installed. Well before you start assuming things like we all do, we should share the experiences of colleagues from around the world, in a manner that is direct, helpful, educational, and certainly reality based. This is a backpocket Primer for anyone now dealing with the implementation of a WiMAX network:

Continue on to the 5 page demo.

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RapidCloud to supply WiMAX products in sub-Saharan Africa

February 19, 2006

RapidCloud, a sub-Saharan distributor of Redline Communications broadband wireless equipment, has announced that it will supply WiMAX Forum-certified WiMAX systems in the region. The Canadian-owned provider received the industry mark for its RedMAX Subscriber Unit, an integrated customer premise device that enables broadband connections to business and residential subscribers, as well as its RedMAX Base Station. The company said that the move gives its customers a guarantee that Redline products conform and to a framework of open standards.

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Two Firms Join to Focus on WiMax

February 17, 2006

A leader in silicon for fixed IEEE 802.16d WiMax gear, UK-based picoChip has turned to Cambridge Consultants to develop reference designs for the emerging 802.16e mobile-WiMax standard. Many view the mobile flavor of WiMax as potentially more lucrative than the fixed flavor. The technology could become the de facto fourth-generation cellular implementation delivering broadband service to mobile users. Such a service could be a compelling offer everywhere, whereas fixed WiMax may win major business only in regions in which service providers haven't already deployed wider broadband.

The partnership between picoChip and Cambridge Consultants will deliver designs for both the base-station and the client sides of the wireless link. The two claim that the software-centric nature of the implementation will minimize risks associated with deploying a product based on any emerging standard. The plan is for the design to be field-upgradable to meet tweaks in the standard's development. Indeed, picoChip also just signed a partnership with ArrayComm to add that company's MIMO technology to picoChip's physical-layer portfolio.

The mobile-WiMax reference designs will rely on picoChip's picoArray silicon. The massively parallel multi-instruction, multiple-data architecture delivers an array of DSP cores to the communication task. The partners are pledging delivery of the reference designs early this year and hope to participate in 802.16e plugfests starting in June.

By Maury Wright for EDN

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PMC says device meets FCC WiMax rules

February 17, 2006

A Canadian company says its new digital pre-distortion engines are the first in the industry to meet stringent FCC requirements for WiMax applications.

PMC-Sierra this week unveiled it Paladin 10 and 15 Digital Pre-Distortion (PDP) engines and touted them as the first to demonstrate compliance with FCC performance requirements.

"Our ability to migrate our proven DPD solutions to the demanding WiMax standard will enable customers to be first to market with low cost WiMax products," said PMC Vice President Robert Yung.

WiMax offers wireless access to broadband and is seen as "the next wave in wireless technologies," said Yung.

The FCC's 04-258 WiMax standards are similar to those used for pre-distortion in cell phones only are much more stringent so that the signals are clean and free of distortions that can foul up Internet traffic.

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ApaceWave to begin volume shipments of WiMAX chips in 2007

February 17, 2006

ApaceWave Technology, a Silicon Valley-based broadband wireless solution provider, is expected to start production of WiMAX chips by the end of this year, with volume shipments slated to begin in 2007, according to company sources.

The development of the company’s WiMAX chips is expected to gain momentum, now that the company has received all of its first round of venture-capital funds, totaling US$12 million, from investors who include Venrock Associates and Doll Capital of the US, as well as WK Associates and the Fortune Consulting Group of Taiwan, the sources indicated.

To accelerate its development projects, the company plans to expand its R&D team in Silicon Valley from 12 to 30 members in the near term. It also plans to establish R&D teams in Taiwan and China, with a combined staff of about 80 persons, the sources noted.

With Gwong-Yih Lee, the company’s president and CEO, having recently been elected an independent director of Taiwan-based CyberTAN Technologies, ApaceWave is expected to tie up with local makers to promote its WiMAX chips, according to sources at Taiwan broadband network-equipment makers.

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Europe lags behind on WiMax

February 15, 2006

Europe is likely to be one of the last regions to get WiMax, or wireless broadband, with services not expected until 2008.

Asia will be the first region to get WiMax services, and Korea Telecom has already signed up to provide a mobile WiMax (802.16e) service by the end of the year.

In the longer term the US is likely to be the next earliest adopter, followed by Europe.

But Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel's broadband wireless division, told vnunet.com that the timeframe is fluid.

"Our view is to see that by the end of 2008 there will be city coverage in most of the major markets in all three regions [US, Europe and Asia]," he said. "But that's not fixed. There's a lot of activity in Europe at the moment on the 3.5GHz spectrum."

There are currently over 100 WiMax trials going on around the world, of which a third are being run by commercial concerns like Korea Telecom. In the latter case the company had been purely a fixed line telecoms provider but is using WiMax to move into new areas.

The bulk of trials have been in areas with low broadband penetration, such as developing nations and rural areas.

Richardson explained that Intel is fixing its development of WiMax radio components around 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz frequencies. The company expects to have a WiMax PC card for laptops by the end of the year.

In the longer term Intel wants to have Wi-Fi and WiMax on the same chip so that users can switch between services.

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picoChip receives strategic investment from ATT

February 15, 2006

picoChip, a leading supplier of wireless silicon solutions, has announced that AT&T Corp., a subsidiary of AT&T Inc., has made a strategic investment in the company. The amount of the investment is undisclosed. picoChip was already ranked as the best-funded private WiMAX company following the $20.5 million previously raised in its third round of funding, which was announced in June last year. Other third round investors were Scottish Equity Partners, Rothschild, Intel Capital, Pond Venture Partners and Atlas Venture.

picoChip has developed the world’s highest performance DSP tuned for wireless, and is a supplier of complete reference designs for WiMAX and HSDPA. WiMAX systems using picoChip are available from Airspan, Intel, Ericsson, Nortel, Marconi and a number of other manufacturers. The company recently announced an extension of its products with the first solutions for 802.16e basestation and mobile stations, to make picoChip’s WiMAX portfolio the most complete available. In addition, picoChip has a number of strategic customers and partners, including Tier One manufacturers, and is fast becoming the industry standard for next-generation wireless infrastructure.

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Innovative Carriers Demonstrate Pan European WiMAX Services

February 13, 2006

While activity bustles on the show floor at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, three innovative carriers, who currently operate commercial WiMAX networks using Alvarion's BreezeMAX system, will be demonstrating the delivery of pan European multimedia services over wireless broadband. Iberbanda (Spain), Irish Broadband (Ireland) and MobileCity (Sweden) -- all of whom have also deployed the BreezeMAX PRO CPE using the Intel WiMAX chip -- are linking up their networks to give a glimpse of WiMAX services to press and government authorities.

"This is another significant WiMAX milestone for Alvarion as the first vendor to support continent-wide commercial WiMAX services," said Tzvika Friedman, CEO and President of Alvarion. "Participants will witness first hand the quality of service, reliability, and product quality that has made BreezeMAX the WiMAX platform of choice in more than 150 deployments worldwide. 'Broadband everywhere' services enabled by WiMAX will improve everyone's lifestyles and productivity, and this demonstration is the start of that reality and part of our all IP, Personal Broadband vision for the telecommunications industry going forward."

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Atmel rolls out new transceiver for WiMAX apps

February 13, 2006

Atmel Corp. announced the first of its MAX-Link series of transceivers designed for WiMAX applications. The AT86RF535A is a single-chip radio operating at 3.5GHz with multiple bandwidth options. Additional members of the MAX-Link family are being developed to cover other WiMAX frequency bands and will interface with multiple baseband vendors. These devices combine a low-noise amplifier, power amplifier driver, receive/transmit mixer, receive/transmit filters, voltage controlled oscillator, synthesizer, receive gain control and transmit power control.

Jeff Leasure, Atmel's wireless connectivity product line manager, commented that WiMAX technology will revolutionize the way people communicate. "The MAX-Link family of radios is specifically designed for WiMAX. Our transceivers will allow operators and service providers to cost-effectively reach millions of new customers with broadband access. They cannot achieve this with an off-the-shelf radio," Leasure said.

The AT86RF535A transceiver is already available to select customers. Production volumes will be available in early Q2 2006. Pricing is $18 in quantities of 10,000. Modules incorporating the transceiver, baseband and media access control are being added to the roadmap.

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Schools give WiMax and wi-fi top marks

February 11, 2006

Schools are turning to wireless networks - especially WiMax - as a more cost effective way of providing internet access to more locations.

As a result, global spend on mobile and wireless by education authorities will rise from $827m last year to a healthy $6.5bn by 2010, according to predictions from Juniper Research.

This figure includes the spending on handheld and portable wireless devices, hardware, software and services.
The research house said independent wireless networks capable of interoperating with 2G and 3G systems are "central to the mobile future for education".

Jupiter said wi-fi has been widely used for the past four years by major educational institutions for wireless broadband campus networks, and that the greater power of WiMax will make it attractive as well.

The company said: "The much greater range and higher data-transfer speeds of WiMax/802.16 are driving its emergence as a wide-area broadband infrastructure solution for educational networks."

The author of the Jupiter report Dr Douglas Houston said operators including AT&T and BT have been testing WiMax to see how effective it is at extending services into remote areas, and said the technology will have a "wide market impact" over the next five years.

He said in a statement: "The standard's ability to provide wireless broadband backbones is making it of considerable interest for government and education in developing countries."

Spending on mobile and wireless software will reach $987m in 2010, while hardware spending will reach $825m, according to Jupiter.

Portable and handheld devices will form the largest component of overall expenditure on mobile and wireless systems in education - sales of more than 12 million units will generate revenues of $2.756bn by 2010, the research company estimates.

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Asia Pacific may hold 44% of WiMAX market by 2009

February 11, 2006

As per the latest market research report “WiMAX Market Forecast (2006-2010)” by RNCOS, the subscriber base in the Asia Pacific region is expected to cross the 80,000 mark in 2005 and swell to over 3.78 million subscribers through 2009. WiMAX subscribers in the Asia Pacific region would constitute 44% of the worldwide subscribers by 2009.

The leading cellular service provider and mobile handset manufacturing company Alcatel is taking various measures to consolidate its position in the Indian handset market. Alcatel is going to utilize its wireless technology for providing high-speed telecommunications all over the world. It is also going to increasingly shift its major portion of R&D activities to India and China.

The implementation of WiMAX networks may be impeded due to the regional variations in spectrum regulations and competition from other new emerging mobile technologies.

The report gives an in depth analysis of the equipment revenue and unit sales forecasts for the South East Asian region through 2009. It reveals that South Korea is expected to provide the highest regional WiMAX equipment income of 41% in 2009, followed by China at 33% and Japan at a mere 18%. High average revenue per unit (ARPU) resulting from a large subscriber base developed by competitive wireless service providers, will assign the highest WiMAX service revenue to South Korea in 2009.

WiMAX and its different versions will provide high speed connectivity at speeds up to 70Mb/s over a range of 31 miles around the point of access. WiMAX is primarily built around broadband data, rather than voice, while 3G is primarily build around voice, with support for data services. Third generation (3G) cellular networks, such as GSM which are being rolled out worldwide, allows accessing the Internet at the speeds of up to 2Mb/s. The analysts are of the opinion that WiMAX equipment expenditure in the Asia Pacific region will amount to $2.0 billion by 2009. Existing mobile operators who want to provide broadband data and voice services could also utilize the technology.

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How to Reality Series on WIMAX Networks Gets Too Much Attention

February 10, 2006

NetworkAnatomy announced today that because of the overwhelming response to its reality series, "How to Build a WIMAX Network," which is a component of its eMagazine called OnLine-CTO, the first issue of the eMagazine including this Primer will be complimentary to the public.

"Wow! We have received a great deal of interest from the public and interested advertisers in our eMagazine and educational series. The great response has driven us to consider, in light of the enormous need, how best to offer this reality series within our eMagazine," said Gina Smith, Editor of OnLine-CTO eMagazine.

Smith mentioned that many are interested in supporting and sponsoring the on-line education portion of the eMagazine because in many countries this education is very costly, not well documented and not easily obtainable. NetworkAnatomy will give the February issue including the WIMAX Primer to all interested for free. Beginning with the March issue, NetworkAnatomy will offer OnLine-CTO for only $12/month with no yearly contract required, making it affordable for everyone.

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Telkom to make most of WiMax

February 10, 2006

Recent media reports stated that the SNO (second national operator -Telkoms future competitor) will be well advised to use WiMax to gain market share, but Telkom might be in an even better position to utilize this technology.

Telkom has already trialed WiMax, and the results were very promising according to Alphonzo Samuels, Telkom's Broadband Officer. Speeds of up to 10 Mbps were achieved, but Samuels pointed out that the performance was very reliant on signal strength and related issues like line-of-sight.

Telkom has also successfully applied for spectrum from ICASA. They will be using the 3.5 GHz band for their WiMax deployments. This is the same frequency that was used in their recent WiMax trials in Pretoria and Durban.

The recent certification of WiMax equipment by the WiMax Forum further makes it a much safer technology to invest in.

Samuels said that Telkom's initial plans for WiMax are to use it in both underserved and urban areas as a complimentary technology to their existing fixed line infrastructure. It will be used for both telephony and broadband provisioning.

This technology may prove to be a saving grace for many people living in both new gated villages and other urban areas where ADSL is not available.

Samuels said that Telkom is specifically looking at deploying WiMax in these settings to bring broadband to people who do not have access to ADSL.

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Pipex downplays role in race for wireless service

February 10, 2006

BT is considering bidding for the right to produce an ultra-fast wireless broadband service using a new and much-hyped technology called WiMax. But Ben Verwaayen, the BT chief executive, yesterday played down talk that he is planning a bid for the internet service provider Pipex Communications.

Pipex has one of only two UK licences for the spectrum that could be used for such a service, but it emerged last night that unlike the other owner, UK Broadband, which is controlled by Hong Kong-based PCCW, Pipex does not actually have the right to run WiMax over its airwaves.

Pipex, which has seen its shares rise by 40% over the past three months on the back of hopes for WiMax, is hoping that the telecoms regulator Ofcom will relax the conditions attached to its licence, which are connected with legacy issues surrounding potential interference with other users of the airwaves. Pipex insiders are confident it will get the go-ahead.
Recent speculation has centred around BT making a bid for Pipex to get its hands on the spectrum but Mr Verwaayen said yesterday the company did not "per se" need an acquisition to get involved.

WiMax is a recently ratified wireless technological standard which allows fast internet access over a much longer range than existing services. Its supporters believe it could present a serious challenge to mobile phone companies as a WiMax-enabled handset would be able to circumvent mobile phone networks.

Richard Wray - The Guardian

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Alcatel, Samsung Team on WiMax

February 09, 2006

Alcatel and Samsung Electronics announced that they agreed to cooperate on interoperability between Alcatel’s Mobile WiMAX infrastructure based on the IEEE 802.16e standard (referred to as WiBro in Korea) and Samsung’s mobile WiMAX terminals. This strategic cooperation will allow both companies to accelerate the introduction of Mobile WiMAX (WiBro) solutions for the global market.

The interoperability tests will target the second half of 2006 for the introduction of a fully interoperable Mobile WiMAX (referred to as WiBro in Korea) solution. This will enable the world-wide audience to access the high speed broadband services from a mobile device at multi-megabit speeds as a complement to fixed and mobile networks.

Furthermore, Alcatel and Samsung will jointly collaborate on standardization activities within the WiMAX Forum, IEEE and 3GPP.

“Samsung is leading the way to Mobile WiMAX (WiBro) and contributing to the standardization of IEEE 802.16e,” stated President Kitae Lee of Samsung’s Telecommunication Network Business. “Through the cooperation with a leading telecommunication player such as Alcatel, Samsung will speed up the commercial availability of powerful Mobile WiMAX solutions for the global market.”

“Alcatel has always stood at the forefront of WiMAX, which is one of the key pillars of our user-centric broadband strategy,” added Marc Rouanne, Chief operating officer of Alcatel’s mobile communications activities. “Our new strategic cooperation with Samsung reinforces our Mobile WiMAX ecosystem and will accelerate the end user’s ability to experience seamless broadband connectivity on the move.”

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First wave of WiMAX products go mainstream

February 09, 2006

After WiMAX Forum's recent announcement of the successful passing of some companies' equipment in the 'first wave' of WiMAX certification for 802.16-2004, WiMAX is finally going mainstream.

Among the products that are 'first wave' approved are Aperto Networks' PacketMAX 5000 base station, Redline Communications' RedMAX AN-100U base station, Sequans Communications' SQN2010 SoC base station solution, and Wavesat's miniMAX customer premise equipment (CPE) solution.

According to ABI Research, a long line of companies are now waiting to undergo the same certification process. After the 'first wave' certification, these companies hope to proceed to 'wave 2', covering security and quality-of-service.

ABI Research projects the line to grow, with larger numbers of products reaching the market. Aside from market expansion, wireless ISPs deployment of certified fixed WiMAX solutions will also be available for some time. Early on, several initial deployments of pre-WiMAX networks are under way across the globe, including a growing number from South America.

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STMicroelectronics Offers Turnkey Mobile WiMAX Solution

February 06, 2006

Following the IEEE's ratification of the new mobile WiMAX standard (802.16e), STMicroelectronics has announced its turnkey solution for 802.16e basestation modems.

The company's WiMAX offering, based on the market's first SoC baseband processor for wireless infrastructure applications (STW51000), couples unequalled levels of silicon integration with optimized software libraries, opening a path to next-generation mobile broadband services.

Worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX/IEEE 802.16) is a global standard-based technology for broadband wireless access. The new mobile 802.16e standard, ratified in January 2006, ushers in a seamless, nomadic phase of WiMAX, where basestations can communicate with moving devices, allowing users to move around and maintain their broadband connection.

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Aspen Communications Offers WiMAX Network in Major Texas Cities

February 04, 2006

Aspen Communications has announced the rollout of a city wide infrastructure for wireless broadband service providers beginning in mid-March. The company is hoping to further capitalize on the spread of the popular WiMAX wireless technology which, among other features is bringing broadband access to rural communities where conventional cable and dsl is not currently available.

Aspen has created an initial network of 12 buildings and towers (all having higher elevations and/or roof-tops to provide for a more expansive coverage area) and connected these sights with over 380 miles of fiber across Dallas and Fort Worth. The initial network rollout will use the Gigabit Ethernet protocol to provide up to 1000 Mbps speeds. They hope to have twice that many buildings online by fourth quarter 2006.

By bundling a turn-key solution that includes back-haul, Internet access, network services, co-location, and WiMAX tower sites all with one vendor, Aspen thinks that they can attract some of the exploding Dallas Fort Worth WiMAX market. One exciting feature for wireless service providers is they will be able to allocate bandwidth anywhere across the Aspen network with only incremental charges, as opposed to having to purchase new circuits at every location. Currently, Aspen has six wireless service providers using their network.

"Running fiber between high rise buildings, carrier hotels and potential WiMAX tower locations is not the core focus of our wireless service provider clients," says Aspen's Sales & Marketing Director Rocky Ahmann. "Our turn-key solution takes care of the back end and lets them focus on what they do best -- servicing their customers."

Aspen's network of fiber and wireless facilities currently spans Dallas, North Dallas, Fort Worth and East Texas; and in February they will light McKinney, Grapevine and Frisco.

"In a few months, we will be able to deliver a 10 Mbps connection on a 300 foot tower in McKinney for under $1500 per month which is unheard of today," says Ahmann.

The cities of Philadelphia, Addison and Anaheim are also currently deploying a WiMAX infrastructure for their cities.

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Docomo to evaluate WiMax

February 04, 2006

NTT Docomo Inc. (Japan) will begin evaluating Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) this month.
"Docomo will be in charge of the test among the NTT group and landline companies will join the test," said Masao Nakamura, president and CEO of Docomo.

"I've been interested in WiMax as an intermediate technology between fixed line and mobile. We'll begin the test quite soon," added Nakamura.

Docomo will evaluate WiMax performances such as throughput and intervene.

WiMax activity is accelerating worldwide. Tokyo based Yozan Inc. entered into a commercial service based on IEEE 802.16-2004 last December, which the company claimed to be the world’s first. Samsung Electronics plans to launch WiBro service the first half of this year.

Three new carriers will begin mobile phone services this year in Japan using newly available 1.7 GHz and 2.0 GHz bands. Some also plan to incorporate WiMax in their service networks.

[Yoshiko Hara for EE Times]

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UA Unwires Melbourne

February 03, 2006

Unwired Australia confirmed it is building a wireless broadband network in Melbourne this year.

Unwired, which already operates a network in Sydney, commenced its network build in parts of Melbourne today. The company will announce more details closer to launch date.

“Our focus is on achieving maximum growth for minimum cost so it makes sense to pool our efforts in one geographic location. As Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne is the obvious choice for us,” said Unwired CEO David Spence.

“Our research shows there is significant pent up demand for our service in Melbourne. Not only from consumers wanting a fast, flexible and portable broadband service but also businesses who want the ability to roam between Sydney and Melbourne.”

Unwired launched its Sydney network in August 2004 and announced 36,600 Sydney customers at the end of September 2005. Its network covers more than 3.5 million people across the greater Sydney metropolitan area.

The company has large amounts of spectrum in the 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz Mobile WiMAX standard bands in Australia’s major population centres including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Newcastle and Geelong.

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Shipments of WiMAX equipment to reach 7.2M in 2010

February 02, 2006

The recent certification of commercial WiMAX gear represents a major milestone for the 802.16 industry but competition looms from existing and evolving IP based wireless technologies, according to a new study from Research and Markets. Alternatives to WiMAX such as FLASH-OFDM, UMTS-TDD and in some cases TD-SCDMA or HSDPA are being considered worldwide, the newly-published Emerging Wireless 2006 study also reports.

"Right now the competitive scenario suggests a fragmented market with diverse opportunities for vendors and operators alike," said report author Andy Fuertes. "WiMAX backers are expected to establish a healthy marketplace in the fixed marketplace and also within certain mobile segments, particularly in those nations deploying basic telecommunications infrastructure. Many opportunities still remain outside of WiMAX in both the fixed space and in the next generation of mobile networks. Some of these will bring more dollars to the table than we see WiMAX bringing in."

Shipments of WiMAX customer premise equipment is expected to reach 7.2 million units in 2010, according to the study, but these shipments will be dwarfed by TD-SCDMA shipments. The Chinese standard is expected to be up and running in networks by year-end 2006 and will serve 100 million subscribers in China by 2010.

The study also reports that FLASH-OFDM subscribers are expected to exceed 13 million in 2010, while UMTS FDD radio shipments are projected to be valued at $2 billion that same year.

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First WiMAX Products Using Intel Technology Receive WiMAX Forum Certification

February 01, 2006

Redline Communications, a leading provider of standards-based broadband wireless equipment, today announced it has received the WiMAX Forum(TM) Certified mark for its RedMAX Subscriber Unit (SU-O). The RedMAX SU-O is the first WiMAX system based upon the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 5116 Broadband Interface to receive the WiMAX Forum(TM) Certified mark.

With this certification, Redline offers the first complete wireless broadband system in the world to be WiMAX Forum Certified. Redline's RedMAX Base Station (AN-100U) was one of the first three base stations to receive the WiMAX Forum Certified mark on January 19, 2006. Redline's SU-O is an integrated customer premise device that can be easily installed by the subscriber. The unit can be used for indoor or outdoor installations in most countries, enabling broadband connections to business and residential subscribers.

"Redline is proud to be the first in the world to be able to offer carriers a complete WiMAX Forum Certified wireless broadband system," said Majed Sifri, President and CEO, Redline Communications Inc. "Companies are choosing Redline for the performance of our RedMAX equipment, and our expertise in large-scale wireless deployments. With this certification, our customers will have the confidence that they have chosen a technology partner that is truly leading the WiMAX revolution."

Redline's RedMAX family also includes an indoor subscriber unit (SU-I), which will be submitted to Cetecom this year, and the RedMAX management suite, which enables operators to easily integrate and manage the RedMAX products in their networks. The RedMAX family will also include 802.16e mobile WiMAX products, which are currently under development.

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WiMAX relying on Government, says wireless pioneer

February 01, 2006

The success of WiMAX wireless broadband will be decided by government determination to provide broadband access for all, according to the co-founder of Qualcomm, Dr Andrew Viterbi.

“I wouldn’t bet on it [WiMAX] being a big player. It comes down to economics," said Viterbi, speaking at the IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium in San Diego.

"If there’s a big push from government towards universal service then it could happen, but I don’t see it. It’s not a technology issue it’s an economic issue."

According to Fawzi Behmann, director of strategic marketing at Freescale Semiconductor’s networking and computing systems group, the next two years will be “crucial” in determining the success of WiMAX.

"It’s long range, it’s got security and it’s high speed – all things that cellular stopped short of," said Behmann. "It comes down to how much service providers [cable, telco and mobile operators] invest to make it happen.

"There’s a lot of elements to make it compelling but adoption will come down to the resolution of business issues."

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Nokia takes its Time with Mobile WiMAX

January 31, 2006

Even with the new mobile WiMAX specification confirmed by the IEEE, and the first compatible products already gaining approval, Nokia has elected to wait a couple of years before making its entrance into this advanced new market.

Nokia executives believe that the WiMAX technology as a whole, which is complementary to the shorter range Wi-Fi standard, is beginning to take off, but that the 802.16e mobile WiMAX standard likely won’t take off until the year 2008.

“Wide area coverage with WiMax from a cost perspective is tricky, and the business case is not there yet,” said Nokia’s VP of radio networks marketing, Robin Lindahl.

Another executive, Mikko Salminen, compared the market for mobile WiMAX to that of Wi-Fi, which Nokia began promoting back in 1999. Many believe that this was a mistake, as the large-scale demand for Wi-Fi hardware didn’t really pick up until about 2003.

If the market for mobile WiMAX develops well over the next two years, Nokia plans to begin seriously working with this technology. Until then, however, they are content to watch and wait until the timing is just right.

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Wavesat announces CPE certified by WiMAX Forum

January 30, 2006

The WiMAX Forum, a non-profit corporation formed to promote and certify compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products, last week announced the first fixed wireless broadband network products to achieve the designation of 'WiMAX Forum Certified'. Montreal-based Wavesat is the first supplier worldwide to receive this certification for a customer premise equipment (CPE) solution.

Wavesat's Minimax CPE passed extensive tests related to protocol conformance, radio conformance and interoperability testing in order to attain the WiMAX Forum Certification seal. The Minimax CPE solution, part of the Evolutive WiMAX Series, is available to manufacturers and operators worldwide to accelerate the design of 3.5 GHz WiMAX certifiable CPE compliant with the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard and its Corrigendum.

Minimax is the subscriber platform included in Wavesat's Evolutive Reference Kit to guide and support the design of 3.5 GHz WiMAX certifiable wireless systems using Wavesat's DM256 integrated circuit. Wavesat's Evolutive Series consists of a range of standard-based integrated circuits, software and reference designs compliant with IEEE 802.16-2004 and intended for forward compatibility with the IEEE 802.16e mobility amendment. Wavesat products fit design requirements for CPE as well as base station infrastructures, providing wireless connectivity for a range of network sizes and coverage.

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WiMax regulation debated in Peru

January 30, 2006

Peru's transport and communications ministry (MTC) is currently considering a proposal to regulate WiMax services, while the country's telecoms regulator Osiptel weighed in against the proposal, local daily El Comercio reported.

In Peru WiMax is only used to transmit data at present, and "this is not regulated in any part of the world," Osiptel general manager Jaime Crdenas was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Osiptel believes that until the country's WiMax infrastructure is expanded from its current level, there is no need for the government to establish regulations for its use.

If it does become necessary to introduce WiMax regulation, Osiptel will need to analyze the issue in order to determine whether this should be done at the infrastructure or final service level, Crdenas said.

Tele-Cable and Americatel operate WiMax networks in Peru.

(BNamericas.com Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)

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WiMax finally emerges; faces fight with rival standard

January 26, 2006

WiMax will start to "get real" after the recent announcement from the WiMax Forum that some companies' equipment has successfully passed the "first wave" of 802.16-2004 certification.

But analyst firm ABI Research has predicted that the technology still faces a battle with the rival 802.20 standard.

Products now certified as 'wave one' approved include Aperto Networks' PacketMAX 5000 base station, Redline Communications' RedMAX AN-100U base station, Sequans Communications' SQN2010 SoC base station solution, and Wavesat's miniMAX customer premises equipment solution.

"This is a major milestone," said Philip Solis, senior analyst for wireless connectivity at ABI Research.

"There is a long queue of companies waiting to undergo the same certification process. They can then proceed to 'wave two', covering security and quality-of-service. When they too are certified, we can expect to see larger numbers of products actually reaching the market."

At this 'wave two' stage the market will begin to heat up with "real interest " from wireless ISPs in deploying certified fixed WiMax services, rather than the proprietary systems that have been available for some time, according to Solis.

However, the analyst firm warned that the rosy WiMax picture is complicated by a resurgence of the rival 802.20 wireless broadband access technology based on frequency-division duplex technology developed by Flarion.

"With the closing last week of Qualcomm's acquisition of Flarion, 802.20 may get a new lease of life," said Solis.

"Qualcomm will almost certainly attempt to rally support from other industry participants, but many companies abandoned 802.20 to support 802.16e."

Story by Robert Jaques, vnunet.com 25 Jan 2006.

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WIMAX designers keen on open architecture

January 26, 2006

The Open Base Station Architecture Initiative, (OBSAI) reports that nearly one third of its members actively work with WiMAX technology and that the initiative's WiMAX integration will be completed soon.

"A chief benefit of the OBSAI open interface specifications is that they have been devised to go beyond existing technologies so that they are virtually future proof," said OBSAI Chairperson Tero Mustala.

"Evolving technologies, like WiMax can be successfully integrated into these specifications. We expect to have WiMax fully integrated into the full range of OBSAI specifications, by the first half of this year."

First launched in 2002 with only three members OBSAI's membership has now reached 130.

OBSAI is a comprehensive set of open internal interface specifications for base station architecture and module specifications covering the areas of Transport, Control, Base band and Radio. First version specifications can be downloaded from the public web site at OBSAI.org.

Story By Jack Shandle
Courtesy of Wireless Net DesignLine

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Intel's WiMAX Debuts at Sundance

January 25, 2006

A roving PodCast reporter informs us about a host of new technologies coming from Intel. Setting up at a local restaurant in Park City, Utah, Intel was showing off its WiMAX-based broadband wireless network, built in collaboration with Alvarion and Mountain Wireless. The network, covering 55 miles, reached an area from Salt Lake City to Park City. To showcase how the new dual-core chipset powers the network, Intel streamed a live film premier to an audience at a remote ski lodge.

Listen to PodCast from this link: Intel's WiMAX Debuts at Sundance.

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First WiMax Products Officially Certified

January 21, 2006

The first fixed WiMAX products have received official certification from the WiMAX Forum, the trade organization said Thursday.

The approvals are something of an anti-climax since more than 150 deployments and trials of WiMAX have already been launched, the trade group said. Still, the certifications mark the official launch of the wireless broadband technology.

The 802.16-2004 standard for fixed WiMAX was approved last year and the process of certification testing started last summer. The first products to be officially certified as adhering to the standard and as interoperable with other standardized products come from Aperto Networks, Redline Communications, Sequans and Wavesat, the group said. These first products to be certified operate in the 3.5 GHz range.

In addition, the certification laboratory, Cetecom Spain, has confirmed its testing another 26 products, the WiMAX Forum said.

"Through an expanded and rigorous conformance and interoperability testing in our certification program, we believe there are more robust fixed WiMAX systems coming to market than what was originally expected," WiMAX Forum president Ron Resnick said in a statement.

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Aperto Networks Earns WiMAX Forum Certification

January 20, 2006

Aperto Networks, developer of the world's most advanced WiMAX base stations and subscriber units, announced today that its carrier-class, PacketMAX (PM) 5000 base station has been declared WiMAX Forum Certified for IEEE 802.16-2004 by the WiMAX Forum.

Certification confirms that a WiMAX device has complied with test documents generated by the WiMAX Forum, based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 and the ETSI HiperMAN standards. This status is granted only when a WiMAX device has satisfactorily passed a series of authorized conformance and interoperability tests. Cetecom in Malaga, Spain, is the official certification lab for the WiMAX Forum.

Aperto's PacketMAX 5000 base station, among the very first WiMAX industry products to be designated "WiMAX Forum Certified," is now market-approved and is authorized to carry the "WiMAX Forum Certified" logo.

"Aperto is proud to be among the first to earn certification by the WiMAX Forum, and we believe that certification will be a catalyst for major service provider deployments in the market," said Aperto chairman and CEO, Reza Ahy. "This is an important milestone for Aperto, the WiMAX Forum and the wireless industry."

The new, standards-based WiMAX products, built predominantly with off-the-shelf components, are expected to lower the cost of vendor equipment to service providers, ultimately serving as a catalyst to ignite the global market demand for WiMAX solutions.

"The WiMAX era starts today!"

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Redline's RedMAX Product Receives WiMAX Forum Certification

January 20, 2006

Redline Communications, a leading provider of standards-based broadband wireless equipment, today announced it has received the WiMAX Forum Certified mark for its RedMAX Base Station (AN-100U). Redline's RedMAX offerings are among the world's first WiMAX products to complete the WiMAX Forum Certified process at Cetecom in Malaga, Spain.

The RedMAX products enable carriers and other service providers to establish or build out large-scale WiMAX deployments to make faster connections and more advanced communications applications available to more countries around the world.

"WiMAX is here. Redline's RedMAX products are enabling carriers and other service providers in International markets to bring affordable standards-based broadband access to more people," said Majed Sifri, President and CEO, Redline Communications Inc. "We have worked hard to be among the first to receive WiMAX Forum certification. We submitted both our base station and Outdoor Subscriber Unit (SU-O) for certification in the spring of 2005 and we expect our SU-O to be WiMAX Forum certified towards the end of the month."

Redline's RedMAX family also includes an indoor subscriber unit (SU-I), which will be submitted to Cetecom Spain in 2006. Redline's next generation of WiMAX equipment will also include solutions based on the IEEE 802.16e standard, which will support mobility in the WiMAX networks.

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WiMAX (Finally) Arrives

January 20, 2006

After years of delays, the first products based on the WiMAX broadband technology finally hit the United States market on Thursday.

Aperto Networks, Redline Communications, SEQUANS Communications, and WaveSat announced their products at the Wireless Communications Association convention in San Jose, California.

The products add credibility in the U.S. for the technology, which already has a growing market in Eastern Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Its growth in the U.S. market has been stymied by delays in setting standards and overcoming uncertainties.

“WiMAX is real,” said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. “There are products with the seal of the WiMAX Forum in the marketplace.”

Mr. Resnick said that there would be 30 more products certified in the first quarter of this year, and many more in the future.

These early products are only for the “fixed standard,” the first of two WiMAX standards that will be used for stationary wireless connections. It will compete with technologies like DSL.

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Intel On Track For Centrino WiMAX; Doubts Remain

January 20, 2006

When asked for his take on the nascent wireless broadband technology known as WiMax, Brett Galloway put it like this: "WiMax is at the peak of its hype cycle and also at the peak of its confusion," said Galloway, vice president and general manager of the wireless networking business unit at Cisco Systems Inc. in San Jose, Calif.

There are several factors casting doubt on the prospects of WiMax, including delays in certification testing, lack of definite carrier commitment, competition with other wireless technologies and expensive equipment.

But with promises of a Centrino notebook chip set that supports WiMax by 2007, Intel Corp. is leading a group of companies that continue to be WiMax champions.

The road map for WiMax calls initially for wireless, fixed last-mile connectivity and then eventually for mobile broadband connectivity that allows roaming among base stations.

Both fixed WiMax and mobile WiMax promise a range of several miles between client and base station and an average speed of as much as 40M bps per channel.

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Beceem Releases Chipset Based on Mobile WiMAX Standard

January 20, 2006

Beceem Communications, a provider of chipsets for the mobile broadband market, said today at WCA it has released a terminal chipset with features based entirely on the new IEEE 802.16e Mobile WiMAX standard.

Beceem’s MS120 Mobile WiMAX terminal chipset contains:

- A digital baseband chip that includes the entire physical layer and media access control (MAC) functionality. An embedded RISC processor implements the MAC functionality, minimizing processing load on the host processor.

- An integrated radio chip for multiband operation containing multiple transmit/receive chains, minimizing cost, footprint and power consumption for Mobile WiMAX implementations.

- A reference design kit for the “WiMAX modem,” including host driver software and radio frequency calibration tools to enable terminal OEMs and ODMs to produce WiMAX-compliant devices.

The MS120 chipset is designed to operate in the low signal to noise environments prevalent in hand-offs and the edge of wireless networks.

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First WiMAX Certs Could Be Issued This Week

January 19, 2006

The WiMAX Forum may announce its first certifications this week, a spokesman for the Forum said Wednesday.

So-called "fixed" WiMAX equipment has been in testing since mid-2005 at the CETECOM laboratory in Spain. The first pieces of equipment designed to the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard are expected to receive official approval from the Forum on Thursday, indicating that they have been deemed interoperable with three other pieces of equipment.

Since last-minute clarifications to a standard delayed its first product certifications, the WiMax Forum has asked a task group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to put off clarifications that may come for the upcoming mobile WiMax standard, according to the head of the forum.

Though it's possible some certifications will be announced then, the group can't commit to it, said Jeff Orr, the WiMax Forum's director of marketing.

Dan Guitteau, a spokesman for the WiMAX Forum, said that the Forum would release an announcement concerning certification Thursday morning, although he declined to comment on the substance. A report by the UK magazine PC Advisor, however, indicated that final IEEE specifications may not yet be put in place.

The initial certifications are expected; last week, executives at Aperto Networks indicated that they believed that their PacketMAX 5000 carrier-class WiMAX base station would be one of the first out of the gate.

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U.S. to open WiMAX spectrum

January 19, 2006

Looking to stay ahead of Asian and European rivals in broadband deployment, the U.S. is making an aggressive bid to open up spectrum for emerging WiMAX technology, according to a Bush administration official.

The U.S. is moving to open up WiMAX spectrum on several fronts, including the 700-MHz frequency band, said Michael Gallagher, assistant secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. Gallagher also serves as administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The move is part of the Bush administration’s effort to stay “one or two steps ahead of other countries” and provide “universal, affordable access for broadband by 2007,” Gallagher said during a presentation at the WCA’s 12th Annual International Symposium and Expo on Wednesday, January 18th.

Washington is looking to expand the spectrum to satisfy what could be enormous demand for the technology. This year and next, the U.S. government is expected to auction off the separate 1,710- and 2,110-MHz frequency bands for WiMAX applications.

By 2008, it will auction off the long-awaited 700-MHz band, which is currently occupied by analog TV. The U.S. hopes to shift the TV market to digital by 2009, thereby freeing up the spectrum for WiMAX, Gallagher said.

“I think you will have an opportunity for WiMAX in those frequencies,” he said

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TDS Metrocom Launches Commercial Broadband Wireless Services

January 18, 2006

Alvarion Ltd, the world’s leading provider of wireless broadband solutions and specialized mobile networks, announced that TDS Metrocom, a major U.S. competitive local exchange carrier and part of the Telephone and Data Systems family of telecommunications companies providing local, long-distance, and Internet services to more than six million people in 36 states, has begun commercial rollout of wireless broadband services in its markets beginning with Madison, Wisconsin.

Following successful field trials in Appleton, TDS will offer broadband wireless Internet services at symmetric speeds of up to 4Mbps using Alvarion’s BreezeACCESS VL solution operating in 5.8 GHz. TDS, recently ranked number one overall in customer satisfaction among major carriers by J.D. Power and Associates, is building a broadband wireless network as part of efforts to reduce its reliance on leased lines from incumbents, enabling it full control of its broadband service offering.

Alvarion’s BreezeACCESS VL offers enhanced features such as OFDM for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) connections, extended reach of more than 20 kilometers (12.5 miles), high capacity, encryption, and quality of service (QoS) for carrier-class broadband data and voice services. With its support of 10 and 20 MHz channels and automatic clear channel selection (ACCS) using a built-in spectrum analyzer, BreezeACCESS VL offers extensive flexibility in frequency planning.

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Azonic Systems Unveils WiMAX-Compliant Products

January 18, 2006

Azonic Systems announces the availability of its WiMAX-Compliant MAXGear Family of Products. MAXGear WiMAX-Compliant Family of Products include: base stations, subscriber stations, associated radios and antennas in the 5.8, 3.5 and 2.5 GHz frequency bands for both point-to-multipoint and point-to-point deployments.

Azonic Systems' MAXGear products are designed to allow ISPs and WISPs to deliver high performance, secure, reliable broadband connectivity to residential and business users by leveraging existing networks and "last mile" wireless links providing uninterrupted access to high bandwidth applications and real-time online services.

"As a technology innovator, Azonic Systems' solutions are based on our extensive experience developing and integrating leading-edge networking solutions," said Steve Chen, CEO of Azonic Systems. "We are committed to delivering innovative, high quality and cost-effective broadband wireless communication solutions to meet the growing demand for wireless broadband."

MAXGear products will initially offer Fixed WiMAX (IEEE 802.16-2004) capability in the 5.8 GHz frequency band. Azonic Systems' unique Base Station accelerator technology increases Base Station performance resulting in higher end-user data rates. Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) products will follow pending WiMAX Forum certification.

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Finnet Group Operators Building WiMAX Network

January 17, 2006

Alvarion Ltd., and its partner Daimler Finland announced that two Finnet Group operators have begun deployment of a WiMAX network using Alvarion’s BreezeMAX 3500. Savonlinnan Puhelin (SPY) and Mikkelin Puhelin (MPY) will offer broadband data services to permanent residents and the large influx of summer tourists in the Saimaa Lake District, in the South Savo region of southeast Finland.

As part of the government’s commitment to ‘universal broadband’, up to 29 percent of funding for the network, known as the eSavo Project, is derived from the various municipalities in the region and the European Union. The Finnet Group consists of 37 telephone operating companies focuses primarily on local telecommunications services.

With these new deployments, we have now implemented more than ten BreezeMAX networks with Finnet Group operators throughout Finland,” said Janne Paldanius of Daimler Finland. “Our partnership with Alvarion has been instrumental in closing the gap of our country’s digital divide by increasing the overall number of homes and businesses that benefit from broadband services in rural areas and we plan to continue to offer WiMAX technology to operators delivering broadband to the unserved in Finland.”

Over the years, Scandinavia and especially Finland, have been at the forefront of adopting innovative wireless technologies. Alvarion’s strong local partnership with Daimler Finland has yielded significant additional deployments in Finland with the eSavo Project demonstrating the success of public, private partnerships for broadband deployments. The overall target is to increase the broadband service coverage of households and businesses in the South Savo region from its current level of 70% to 96%.

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Sprint and Clearwire Avoid WiMAX War

January 16, 2006

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel, the biggest holders of 2.5GHz WiMAX spectrum in the US, are both planning significant network expansion over the coming years.

For the meantime, however, there is a big enough market available for the two companies to steer clear of direct competition, and each focus on their own areas of the spectrum. This is a similar arrangement to the alliance between Austar and Unwired in Australia.

Clearwire has chosen the route of providing service to lower-density suburban and semi-rural areas in hopes of unhampered expansion, with very little competition.

Sprint Nextel, meanwhile plans to aggressively move into dense population centers, and recruit as many customers as possible. Part of the reason for this strategy is Sprint’s agreement with the FCC, which obligates them to make WiMAX service available to at least 30 million Americans by the end of the decade.

Of course, by choosing the high-density areas, Sprint could potentially face competition from 3G cellular networks, which now use EV-DO and HSDPA technology to provide data access for laptop computer users. The fact that these networks now exist might lower demand for WiMAX technology in cities, unless it is priced very competitively.

In these crucial formative years for the WiMAX standard, companies will have to do all they can to effectively promote the standard, and convince consumers that it is worth using. There simply isn’t time to deal with excessive competition. That seems to be the main reason why Sprint and Clearwire have decided to keep out of each others’ way, even if only for the time being.

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WiMax Solution For India's Telecom Divide

January 13, 2006

The government and the industry agree that WiMax is the way to go, as it can build on BSNL’s fibre-optic network and can be used in inaccessible areas.

WiMax, the faster, longer-range version of WiFi might just turn out to be something that will allow India to harness broadband for its objectives. This was the message sent out at the one-day Indian Wireless Broadband summit held in New Delhi.

Government and industry were in rare agreement that WiMax was the way to go, if the hardware was available at an affordable price. J.S. Sarma, Telecom Commission secretary, said that Wimax could build on the huge base of copper-wire and fibre-optic connectivity available with BSNL and extend its reach to inaccessible areas by using wireless for the `last mile'.

Leading Indian providers, Sify, Reliance and Tata/VSNL, expressed their readiness to deploy WiMax as soon as spectrum and regulatory issues were in place. But they felt that the solution would first emerge in the fixed personal computer arena before being adopted for mobile platforms.

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WiMAX Spectrum, a Much Cheaper Deal than 3G

January 12, 2006

The price paid per Hz for WiMAX spectrum is as much as 1,000 times lower than for 3G spectrum according to the latest report from leading research firm Maravedis titled "Spectrum Analysis - The Critical Factor in WiMAX versus 3G". This white paper provides an in-depth review of the economics of spectrum for both 3G and WiMAX around the world.

"The low cost of BWA/WiMAX spectrum compared to 3G is a clear driver for service providers to enter the field of wireless services with WiMAX" explained Adlane Fellah, author of this new research.

The much lower cost of WiMAX/BWA spectrum resulted in a high number of licensees with a total 721 license holders were awarded for BWA/ WiMAX against 106 licensees for 3G.

North America is by far the leading region in terms of the number of BWA/WiMAX licenses awarded with a total of 394 BWA/WiMAX license holders, against 186 licensees in Europe, 97 licensees in Asia, and 49 licensees in the CALA (Caribbean and Latin America) region.

Maravedis' latest research also revealed that, contrary to 3G licenses, the BWA/WiMAX licenses awarded across the world are essentially regional licenses. North America is a perfect example of a situation where 100% of its WiMAX/BWA licenses are regional. In Europe and the CALA region the proportions are 78% and 71% respectively.

Maravedis predicts that this crowded environment will result into a highly fragmented, unpredictable and more competitive marketplace with smaller and cost-aggressive players.

On the other hand, a low-cost spectrum has also attracted players with more modest pockets than large mobile operators. “One should remember that BWA spectrum was initially allocated for fixed only applications and remains so in many countries,” Fellah added.

The report also suggests that most regulators have not kept pace with the progress of technology that makes fixed-mobile convergence a reality. Whether it is fixed applications with CDMA technology or mobile applications with WiMAX, the two fields are converging and will be competing for a share of the one billion mobile subscribers market.

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picoChip integrates ArrayComm’s Network MIMO software for WiMAX

January 12, 2006

picoChip and ArrayComm today announced that they have forged an alliance, under which ArrayComm’s Network MIMO software will be incorporated into the PHY of picoChip’s flexible wireless solution. picoChip will offer this solution as a software option to its customers to add smart antennas and MIMO to their advanced WiMAX basestation and subscriber station designs.

ArrayComm’s Network MIMO software implements all the antenna processing aspects of the WiMAX profiles approved by the WiMAX Forum Mobile Task Group (MTG) for IEEE 802.16e. The ArrayComm solution includes support for MIMO, adaptive antenna systems (AAS) and combined MIMO/AAS modes on both subscriber terminals and basestations. These provide operators the optimized user data rates, cell range, and network capacity they need to meet their business objectives for mobile broadband services.

MIMO and AAS, used in combination, increase subscriber data rates, improve cell-edge link budgets, manage interference, and maximize overall network capacity. The result is a significant performance advantage for WiMAX. ArrayComm provides Network MIMO software that integrates with picoChip’s WiMAX PHY and picoArray processor.

Commenting on the new agreement, picoChip’s CTO and Co-founder Doug Pulley said, "Adaptive antenna technology and MIMO are key distinguishing features of the WiMAX specification; they will be critical in assuring WiMAX success. This functionality, as an option for the picoChip software, will be a major advantage to picoChip’s customers, giving them the flexibility to easily incorporate smart antenna technology into their designs. picoChip believes that ArrayComm is the leader in this space and we want our customers to have the best."

"picoChip has demonstrated that it is ahead of the game in providing innovative and flexible solutions for wireless broadband access systems. Future applications will need smart antenna technology to deliver the cost and performance advantages that WiMAX promises. This partnership is a significant step toward realizing our shared vision for the future of WiMAX technology," added Martin Cooper, ArrayComm’s executive chairman.

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India Seen as Major WiMAX Market

January 12, 2006

Beceem Communications, a leading provider of chipsets for Mobile WiMAX technology with significant R&D operations in India, says it plans to accelerate WiMAX deployment in India to capture the huge potential it sees there.

Beceem believes that there are at least three reasons why WiMAX is a great fit for India:

— The demand for broadband connectivity from urban homes and small/medium businesses is growing rapidly and this cannot be met effectively by the existing wireline technologies. Wireless will be the dominant delivery mode for broadband services just as wireless now dominates voice services. Thanks to its true broadband performance, early availability and cost advantages, WiMAX is best-positioned to serve this huge Indian market.

— Several Indian service providers have already acquired suitable spectrum licenses to deploy wireless broadband services and are planning early rollouts in 2006. WiMAX is the first truly broadband technology available to meet Indian market needs.

— The presence of leading WiMAX technology vendors like Beceem Communications and other system integrators in India, will for the first time, usher significant local high technology value additions, and working with service providers also help fine tune WiMAX deployment in the country.

"Significant portions of Beceem Communications' technology is grown in India," said Professor Arogyaswami Paulraj, Stanford University Professor and CTO/Co-founder of Beceem. "Our highly scalable, power-efficient terminal chipset products for mobile WiMAX with cutting-edge signal processing represent a new level of technology innovation to emerge from India."

Beceem isn’t the only high tech company that sees a potential WiMAX bonanza in India.

"India is quickly emerging as a major market for WiMAX," said Vinod Khosla, Co-founder of SUN Microsystems. "With a population of more than one billion and a growing economy, India is a huge market for broadband and needs rapid deployment of such services, which in turn will further accelerate GDP growth."

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Samsung shows off first WiMAX notebook

January 08, 2006

Samsung already made one of the widest splashes today with its first US demonstration of Korean-style WiMAX wireless broadband service on a mobile handset. Yet there could be an even more remarkable development at CES: TGDaily caught a glimpse of a WiMAX-enabled Samsung notebook. A full notebook broadband demo of the WiBro Korean wireless broadband standard, which in its native country, enables transmission rates of up to 300 Mbps from a cellsite transmitter up to 5 km away.

WiMAX notebooks and handsets are shipping now in Korea, though efforts by Samsung and the other members of the WiMAX Forum to reach a final, global standard, have not always proceeded with broadband-like efficiency.

A Samsung representative said, given the company's best estimate, we might see a system like this available in North American retail markets by late 2007, if not 2008.

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Samsung M8000 WiMAX Handset

January 07, 2006

Samsung unveiled its M8000 WiMax handset at the CES. M8000 is a Windows Mobile handset with a built-in sliding QWERTY keyboard and supports the WiMax technology which is branded as WiBro in Korea. Touted to be one of the world's first mobile handsets to support the WiMax technology, the Samsung M8000 is an ideal mobile tool that will provide entertainment and communication on the go using the high speed broadband connectivity offered by WiBro.

2006 is expected to be the year of WiMax and Samsung's lead in introducing a WiMax handset ahead of competition places it in an advantageous position. With WiMax, the marriage of mobile telephony with multimedia content services become a reality, offering the end user with seamless broadband connectivity that can provide VoIP telephony, multimedia on-demand services and location and telematic services at the push of a button.

WiBro service is expected to be available in Korea from the first half of this year.

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Samsung to demonstrate WiBro at CES on first mobile WiMax phone

January 06, 2006

Samsung will be showing off WiBro at CES this week. The Korean wireless broadband standard, which allows transmission while you are moving at speeds up to 120km, will be demonstrated using the Samsung M8000, one of the world’s first mobile WiMax phones. The first commercial WiBro service will be available in Korea in the first half of 2006.

Mobile WiMAX, on which WiBro is based, is praised by Koreans as a solution for home, office and the vehicle. It can offer service to rural areas not serviced by current solutions.

Samsung will be demonstrating the technology, network infrastructure and devices that they will be rolling out in Korea this year at CES. The immediate interest of this to North American consumers is little more than to satisfy curiosity. It becomes more interesting when you consider that Samsung has ambitions to eventually roll out the technology across the U.S. as their entry in the highly competitive wireless segment.

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Alcatel To Launch WiMax in India and Asia By 2006

December 29, 2005

For it’s mobile communications Alcatel will bring out the beta version of WiMax technology, sometime in the second half of 2006. It wil commercially be available by the end of next year.

Alcatel is taking various steps to strengthen its foothold in India. It is positioning its wireless networking as platform for telecommunications across the globe. In addition it is also planning to increase its R&D to Asia of which the major share will go to India and China.

It is planning to make India one of its major manufacturing hubs and increase R&D outsourcing to its Indian subsidiary, Alcatel India. The company’s present R&D budget is of around $1.8 billion with 17,000 engineers across the world, of which 1,000 are based in India.

The company intends to market its WiMax technology to both international and domestic operators from its R&D facility in Chennai, C-DOT Alcatel Research. Wimax is the cheapest option for providing connectivity in the rural areas as fixed lines are costly with their high maintenance costs. It aims to win over infrastructure hurdles, as wireless could be cheaper and efficient than fixedline.

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Alcatel to ready WiMax beta by 2006

December 27, 2005

French telecom solutions major Alcatel will be ready with the beta version of WiMax technology for mobile communications by the second half of 2006, while it will be commercially available by the end of next year.

The company is positioning the wireless networking standard that is being developed at its Chennai centre as an ideal platform for telecommunications across the globe and specially for the rural foray of Indian telecom operators.

The company was also planning to increase its quantum of research and development (R&D) outsourcing to Asia, of which India and China will get the lion’s share. Alcatel is to increasing focus on R&D and the outsourcing, to be made to its India subsidiary Alcatel India.

Sharma also said that Alcatel was planning to make India one of its major manufacturing hubs and increase R&D outsourcing to its Indian subsidiary, Alcatel India. The company’s present R&D budget is of around $1.8 billion with 17,000 engineers across the world, of which 1,000 are based in India.

However, he did not divulge the exact quantum of increase to the country. “We are making rapid progress in WiMax R&D and are hoping to launch beta version by mid-next year. The research has reached an advanced stage and have completed the standardisation process, and we expect it the technology to be available for commercial operations in the next six months of beta launch,” Ravi Sharma, MD and president (South Asia), Alcatel told Business Standard here today.

The company intends to market the technology to both international and domestic operators from its R&D facility in Chennai, C-DOT Alcatel Research.

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First WiMax Products Will Soon Get Nod

December 26, 2005

Long-awaited product certifications due from the WiMax Forum will soon see the light of day, a little bit later than expected, according to the industry organization.

The group expects to announce the first certifications of WiMax products in mid-January at a conference in San Jose, California, said Mo Shakouri, board member and vice president of the WiMax Forum and chairman of its marketing working group. Testing may be completed by the end of the year or the early part of January, he said. The forum had been predicting the first stamps of approval would be handed out by the end of this year.

The latest delay, though expected to be brief, comes on top of a series of missed expectations and extravagant claims that have helped raise skepticism about the technology's potential. WiMax is designed to deliver speeds comparable to DSL and cable modem services over a wireless network that reaches at least a few miles. With Wi-Fi networks already available in many locations and third-generation cellular data systems being rolled out across metropolitan areas in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, some industry observers think it may be too late for another emerging technology to stake a claim.

Organizing WiMax product testing, which will be divided into several waves and require interoperability of products from multiple vendors, played a role in the delay, Shakouri said. With the groundwork now in place, he expects subsequent waves of certification to go more quickly.

The certifications due next month are strictly for fixed WiMax products based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 specification, which isn't intended for use while in motion. The standard that will bring mobility, IEEE 802.16e, was approved less than a month ago, and certified products aren't expected until at least 2007.

See Complete Article by Stephen Lawson (IDG News Service).

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Airnet Deploys WIMAX Networks in New Zealand

December 24, 2005

Airnet NZ Ltd, Hawke’s Bay leading wireless Internet Service Provider yesterday began deploying WiMAX technology throughout its local network.

Airnet breaks new ground in the New Zealand communications industry as they work with Intel to deploy one of the country’s first WiMAX networks.

WiMAX is a standards-based wireless technology that provides high-throughput broadband connections over long distances. WiMAX doesn’t require line-of-sight to provide broadband wireless Internet access.

Airnet is one of around twenty carriers worldwide who are collaborating with Intel to deploy the WiMAX technology.

“The industry momentum behind WiMAX is remarkable and to have innovators like Airnet working to bring its benefits to rural New Zealand is very encouraging” said Philip Cronin, general manager, Intel Australia and New Zealand. “Standards-based wireless broadband helps enable technologies which facilitate better education, healthcare, agricultural productivity and incomes while improving small businesses and eGovernment access”.

Airnet’s CEO Cecil Averill said “WiMAX will enable us to provide a communication service that requires less infrastructure to reach more customers. As the world goes wireless, WiMAX provides the best technology to offer customers greater access and innovative services. For example, Airnet will be able to provide customers with added value by combining Voice and more robust Internet services in attractively priced packages.”

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Alvarion Receives $7 Million Order With Major Latin American Operator

December 21, 2005

Alvarion Ltd., the world’s leading provider of wireless broadband solutions and specialized mobile networks, today announced that one of its major customers, a large operator in Latin America, has placed an initial $7 million order under a new frame agreement covering both BreezeMAX and eMGW products for several countries in Latin America.

The revenue impact of this order is expected to occur in 2006. Depending on the mix of products ordered, the frame agreement could be worth up to $15 million, including the order already received.

“We are gratified by this important customer’s continued confidence in Alvarion,” said Tzvika Friedman, CEO and President of Alvarion. Our industry-leading products coupled with outstanding service serve as the foundation for our ongoing partnership. We are pleased to support the enhancement and expansion of this strategic customer's networks.”

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WiMax Forum Adds Two

December 21, 2005

he WiMAX Forum, an industry-led, non-profit corporation formed to promote and certify compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products, announced the appointments of Jeff Orr to director of marketing and Matt Wangler as director of operations.

“On behalf of the WiMAX Forum, the board and our 350+ member companies, we are pleased to have Jeff and Matt join our newly established management team as we move toward the next phase of growth,” said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. “We will rely on the talents and deep experience that Jeff and Matt bring to us, especially as we near our next milestone for beginning certification of fixed WiMAX products and as momentum builds from the recently ratified IEEE 802.16-2005 specification for mobile WiMAX.”

In his role as WiMAX Forum’s director of marketing, Orr will oversee global marketing strategy and day-to-day marketing operations. Orr will work hand-in-hand with these member teams to educate the market and motivate suppliers and operators to promote the worldwide adoption of WiMAX Forum Certified products.

In Wangler’s role as director of operations for the WiMAX Forum, he will oversee daily activities of program management of the WiMAX Forum working groups, event planning and information technology infrastructure to meet the needs of member companies.

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Samsung to deploy Mobile WiMax in Venezuela

December 21, 2005

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. signed an agreement Friday with Venezuelan pay-TV and telecommunications operator Omnivision C.A. to deploy a mobile broadband service in the South American country, Samsung said Monday.

Samsung will begin deploying a Mobile WiMax-compatible network in the third quarter of 2006 and Omnivision plans to start offering service from the fourth quarter of the year in Caracas, the companies said in a statement. The service will be expanded to cover Venezuela's 7 major cities during a three-year roll-out, they said.

The South Korean company has been a leading developer of the WiBro wireless broadband standard. WiBro has been folded into the recently standardized Mobile WiMax 802.16e standard and is a subset of the technology. Whereas Mobile WiMax specifies a number of frequency bands and transmission bandwidths, WiBro covers just the 2.3GHz band and an 8.75MHz bandwidth, said Samsung. WiBro devices will be compatible with Mobile WiMax systems, the company said.

Commercial WiBro service in South Korea is due to begin in the middle of 2006. Samsung recently demonstrated the technology to regional leaders at the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting that took place in Busan, South Korea, in November.

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Verso trials VoIP on South Africa WiMax

December 18, 2005

Atlanta-based Verso announced that a trial enabling WiFi-compatible PDAs to access a public telephone network using WiMax to backhaul the signal to Telekom South Africa.

The trial employed Verso's Class 4 and 5 softswitching and gateway technologies and was run with Telekom and South African IT firm Saab Grintek.

"This trial demonstrates Verso's ability to provide carrier grade VoIP solutions and applications and specifically demonstrates that Verso can successfully deliver voice and data over a WiMAX network," said Verso CEO Monty Bannerman.

Bannerman said WiMax was particularly attractive in Africa due to its far-flung populations and lack of the copper-wire infrastructure needed for standard broadband and VoIP service.

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Samsung invests in WiMAX chip developer

December 17, 2005

Samsung's venture capital investment subsidiary, Samsung Ventures America, was the primary investor in a $20m round of financing for WiMAX start-up Beceem Communications. The US-based company claims to be the leading provider of chipsets for WiMAX technology.

With this new round of capital, Beceem will accelerate its chipset product development with the goal of becoming the first company to deliver a chipset that is fully compliant with the new Mobile WiMAX standard. The company has reportedly demonstrated its prototype chipsets to leading telecom equipment manufacturers.

Beceem was founded in 2003 in Silicon Valley to offer semiconductor solutions to the wireless broadband market. The company is a contributor to the IEEE 802.16e standards effort and is a member of the WiMAX forum.

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NextPhase Wireless Expands Pre-WiMAX Reach

December 17, 2005

NextPhase Wireless launched its pre-WiMAX broadband wireless network in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, extending its wireless footprint in Southern California.

The company also offers services in Orange County. In total, NextPhase has built out its network to serve roughly 135,000 businesses in the three California counties.

The expansion was made possible through the previously announced acquisition of Blazen Wireless.

The company is offering pre-WiMAX services for as low as $299 per month for T-1's and is touting installation times of three to five business days.

NextPhase made news in August when it partnered with Viper Networks. The alliance teamed NextPhase's pre-WiMAX wireless network with Viper's VoIP products and services to provide customers with integrated voice and data systems.

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Digicel to provide Pre-WiMax service in the Caribbean

December 17, 2005

After a successful three-month WiMax pilot program in the Cayman Islands, Digicel announced last week it would roll out the service in other Caribbean countries, including Barbados and Jamaica.

Digicel Caymans Head of Business Solutions John Byrne said the field trial here took place during July, August and September, a period of higher weather-related stress for a wireless network.

The current broadband offerings rely heavily on fixed lines making it expensive and limited in choice for Cayman consumers and businesses, he said. The market conditions have provided Digicel Group with an opportunity to create competition by offering a better solution and lowering the cost to consumers.

Byrne said there had already been a soft launch of the product in Cayman, and that there is already 100 per cent coverage on the island for businesses. By next February, it is expected there will be 100 per cent coverage for residents as well.

The hardware for WiMax is self-installed, similar to a plug-and-play device, Byrne said. As a result, the lead time for installation is significantly reduced, he said.

Byrne called the quality of the signal fantastic. Each antenna has a 25km transmission radius, so it will not take many sites to thoroughly cover Grand Cayman.

Instead of having WiFi hot spots, the island itself becomes a WiFi hot spot, he said.

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WiMAX Chipset Market Faces Uncertainty

December 14, 2005

WiMAX technology has enormous potential, as it promises to satisfy a strong demand for ubiquitous mobile broadband, but competing technologies are significant threats, reports In-Stat.

While much uncertainty remains in this market, the high-tech market research firm foresees the WiMAX chipset market reaching as high as $950 million in 2009. Another plausible, more conservative scenario, pegs this market at $450 million in 2009.

"Competing technologies include 3G technologies on the cellular side (EV-DO, HSDPA) and Wi-Fi (coupled with wireless mesh networking) on the networking side," says Gemma Tedesco, In-Stat analyst. "Persuading the large service providers to build infrastructures to support WiMAX will be the key for WiMAX boosters, especially convincing cellular operators, who already have built out expensive 3G infrastructures."

A recent report by In-Stat found the following:

- Despite tremendous hype around WiMAX, the WiMAX chipset market has a relatively small number of players, as the market is quite nascent.

- There has been much innovation in WiMAX chipsets this year. Heavyweights Intel and Fujitsu released WiMAX PHY and MAC System-on-a-Chip (SoC) solutions this year, along with start-ups Sequans and Wavesat. Signal processing specialist, picoChip, powered the market for macro base stations chipsets, with its software reference designs.

- Intel, perhaps WiMAX’s biggest cheerleader, has the power to drive mobile WiMAX into becoming a standard embedded feature within mobile PCs, as Intel did with Wi-Fi in its Centrino mobile platform.

Released by In-Stat.

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Natcom Starts WiMax Trials in Auckland

December 14, 2005

Natcom plans to begin trials of its WiMax Airthernet service in Auckland from January 2006 and is seeking trial customers to check the viability and quality of the service. The trial is open to small and medium sized business customers. Interested companies can register their interest on-line.

Airthernet is the brand name for Natcom's new wireless broadband services. Natcom says the service is for those who want Internet cost savings and a leap from their existing wired or wireless service.

Any company that is selected to be a trial customer will obtain free installation of required WiMax equipment and be provided with the Internet bandwidth at a low nominal charge on a flat rate regardless of how much is used. It is hoped that an outcome of this trial is to demonstrate cost savings and increased efficiency by using this service for the businesses picked.

The company expects to provide customers with speeds between 2Mbps to 10Mbps depending on which trial plan was selected.

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WiMAX Certification to Boost Rollout of WiMAX Networks

December 12, 2005

Amidst all the new hype surrounding the ratification of the Mobile WiMax protocol - and despite some vendors claiming to provide WiMAX products - at present, only a pre-WiMAX solution exists and most vendors are undergoing the WiMAX Forum certification testing for 802.16d (the fixed wireless broadband standard). Conformance testing procedures will be held towards the end of 2005 to determine if the specifications of a vendor's equipment comply with the Protocol Implementation Conformation Statement (PICS).

One research analyst believes that, "Once fixed WiMAX i.e. 802.16d equipment get WiMAX certified, service providers would be more forthcoming in rolling out a nationwide WiMAX service in the licensed bands", says Luke Thomas, Senior Research Analyst at Frost and Sullivan (http://wireless.frost.com).

However, the time-to-market issue challenges the success of the WiMAX market, with the first WiMAX certified 802.16d product anticipated to penetrate the market only by the first half of 2006.

"Also, with continued delays in the certification process with 802.16d and issues pertaining to spectrum allocation, other competing technologies such as Wi-Fi and 3G will gain more momentum within the European wireless industry," cautions Mr. Thomas.

The mobile standard, 802.16e is the major driver in the European WiMAX market, which has succeeded in creating the hype that surrounds WiMAX. Using scalable orthogonal frequency division multiple access (S-OFDMA) technology, it will offer an immediate portable solution, and ultimately a full-scale mobile solution, unlike the 802.16d standard.

However, the 802.16e - ratified over the last few days of 2005 - and the subsequent certification testing will only take place in the third or fourth quarter of 2006. "As the mobile WiMAX, 802.16e, will be a published standard only by the end of 2005, there are growing concerns if service providers need to immediately roll out a fixed 802.16d network or wait for the fixed/portable 802.16e standard," explains Mr. Thomas. "Also, as 802.16d is not compatible with 802.16e, the business model would vary considerably, depending on which standard the service provider decides to deploy."

Therefore, the researchers believe that this delay in the rollout of certified 802.16e products will spur the usage of WiMax as a cost-effective backhaul solution to Wi-Fi hotspots. Moreover, a backhaul solution in the licensed spectrum will result in inefficient usage of the available spectrum and service providers will find it uneconomical to deploy a WiMAX solution in the presence of a third generation (3G) network rollout.

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Unwired boasts service to rival Telstra in 2007

December 12, 2005

In a continuing press battle between Australia's two biggest broadband providers, Wireless broadband company Unwired annouces it will offer a faster and cheaper portable broadband service than Telstra when the new WiMAX service becomes available in 2007.

"It is anticipated that laptops with embedded Mobile WiMAX chips will be available to internet users in 2007," Unwired chief executive David Spence said.

"WiMAX technology has been specifically developed to allow a lot of high speed mobile data at a very low cost.

"It is all very well to have expensive networks delivering high speed data, but if the cost is too high then they don't work."

Unwired plans to use the WiMAX service, while bigger rival Telstra has chosen to offer its mobile broadband products on an updated version of its current 3G, or third generation, network.

"(Telstra's) is a different product - it works on a much more expensive network, and it has limited spectrum capabilities," Mr Spence said.

Asked if Unwired's broadband service would be cheaper than Telstra's, Mr Spence said: "Absolutely, and the realities are that our average customer today - if we were to place them on (Telstra's) network - they would blow it apart.

"I think we are doing about 47 megs (megabytes) per day per customer and Telstra's 3G combination voice/data is doing about two (megs)."

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Mobile Wimax Standard Finally Approved... Now What?

December 09, 2005

A mobile WiMax standard has been approved by the IEEE and will be designated 802.16e-2005.

Approval by the IEEE’s Standards Board was expected since the 802.16e spec was finalized two months ago, but the formal announcement brings the advent of mobile broadband a significant step closer.

Mobile WiMax trials and certification testing are expected to start in the first quarter of 2006, organized by the WiMax Forum. Products will likely follow late 2006 and services by early 2007.

The formal announcement Wednesday (Dec. 7) brings to a close the work of a 802.16 Task Group and its project that began with the approval of the original 802.16e spec in December 2002.

However, this could just be the beginning of a new wave of marketing hype surrounding Wimax. One of the first offenders, Navini, has already claimed the lead in what it terms "pre-mobile WiMax".

Navini reckons its has 100,000 customers for its "802.16e-like" portable broadband product, including 36,000 with Unwired Australia. Its product is based on a different radio technology, but Navini has promised that in future it will stick a WiMax radio in its product alongside the proprietary one, to offer "dual-mode" devices.

The distinction between the two published WiMax standards is not, in fact as simple as the difference between "fixed" and "mobile", said Paul Senior, vice president of marketing at wireless broadband vendor Airspan, and a board member of the WiMax Forum. "802.16d (or 802.16-2004) is fixed and nomadic, and designed to work in regulated spectrum. 802.16e will include fixed and mobile WiMax."

While the mobile WiMax market could ultimately be much larger than fixed WiMax, that should not distract people from the big opportunity in fixed WiMax said Senior - especially when fixed WiMax is now close to real delivery.

The issue is not unique to WiMax - the Wi-Fi Alliance has taken a similar stance against "pre-n" as a term for proprietary fast Wi-Fi products produced in advance of the IEEE's 802.11n standard.

Still, Roger Marks, IEEE working group chairman, cautioned that "IEEE standards are not mandatory, and the IEEE logo is not by itself going to convince anyone to adopt our standards and put them to use."

He added: "What will make a difference is an IEEE logo earned the hard way, based on a diligent and largely successful effort to recruit the participation of the world's interested parties, coupled with the dedication to building a team and driving a consensus."

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Large WiMax Network Slated For Canada

December 09, 2005

A WiMAX wireless broadband network covering 8000 square miles of southeastern Alberta will be rolled out in 2006, equipment vendor Nortel and a Canadian governmental body said this week.

The network will cover a large area in rural southeastern Alberta, according to the Alberta Special Areas Board (SAB) and Nortel. SAB and Nortel said they were teaming with a new wireless ISP, NETAGO, to provide the service. In addition, the network also will serve the Alberta government.

"This WiMAX network will support our goal of bridging the digital divide through affordable broadband wireless Internet services to users located in rural areas of Alberta," Jay J. Slemp, SAB's chairman, said in a statement.

The network will operate in the 3.5 GHz portion of spectrum. It will provide access at speeds between 1 Mbps and 3 Mbps. In addition, Nortel said the equipment that will be used for the initial fixed access deployment is easily upgradeable to mobile WiMAX when that technology is available. The mobile WiMAX standard, 802.16e, is expected to be ratified early in 2006 with non-certified equipment available shortly after that.

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VCom Signs Major WiMAX Agreement with MRO-TEK

December 08, 2005

VCom Inc. has been selected by Bangalore, India headquartered MRO-TEK Ltd., to supply
VCom's WiMAX-ready Base Stations and Customer Premise Equipment to serve market
needs for WiMAX technology in India.

Subsequent to achieving domestic regulatory approvals for India and compliance,
MRO-TEK will offer VCom's 3.3-3.4 GHz WiMAX-ready products domestically in
India under the MRO-TEK brand label via a multi-year supply agreement totaling
$10,000,000 USD.

This supply agreement represents one of the largest commitments to WiMAX
technology in the South Asia region to date and recognizes VCom's design
leadership for WiMAX, the surging demand for broadband in India and India's
rapidly advancing economic growth. The agreement also opens the door for other
VCom products, including an expanded WiMAX product family, to be added over
time based on market demand.

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WiMAX Network Planned for Finland

December 08, 2005

Omnitele says that it has been contracted by two local Finnet group telephone companies, Mikkelin Puhelin and Kajaanin Puhelinosuuskunta, to carry out the radio network planning of the first two extensive WiMAX-implementations in the world.

Mikkelin Puhelin in cooperation with Savonlinnan Puhelin is building broadband wireless access to rural areas in Finland. The network will be built over WiMAX technology and will consist of almost 100 WiMAX base stations on an area of 10,000 sq km, covering around 50,000 summer cottages. Omnitele is responsible at the first stage for the radio network planning of 45 base stations.

"Mikkelin Puhelin has a long and good relationship with Omnitele and together we are able to form a winning team of pioneers for WiMAX, just like in the early days of GSM technology." - Mauri Valkonen, Director of Network Department, Mikkelin Puhelin Oyj.

Kajaanin Puhelinosuuskunta is also developing broadband wireless access to rural areas in Finland with WiMAX. The future network will consist of 65 WiMAX base stations and Omnitele is responsible for the whole radio network planning.

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Access to provide WiMax for resellers

December 06, 2005

This article and interview was originally published without the copyright permission of the authors. They requested we remove the article and refer you directly to this website where you may find the story in its entirety: Access to provide WiMax for resellers. By Dahna McConnachie. Sorry Dahna!

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As the Hype Clears, ABI Research Sees a Complementary Role for WiMAX

December 06, 2005

When ABI Research's last annual study of WiMAX was published at the end of 2004, the hype around the new wireless broadband technology was flying thick and fast. Performance claims of 75 Mbps speeds at distances up to 30 miles (48 km) were common.

Fast-forward a year, and, according to ABI Research's latest WiMAX study, much of that hype has been replaced by a more realistic assessment of WiMAX's performance and role. According to the study's author, senior analyst Philip Solis, "Those who made extravagant performance claims were just trying to get the wheels of the WiMAX bandwagon moving. Today, most commentators have no problem admitting that real-world speeds, depending as they do on the number of users per base station sector and their distance from the base-station, will be far slower than media reports had previously suggested."

Given this new sense of realism, some question the need for WiMAX, certainly for 802.16e mobile WiMAX. In a recent press release, another ABI Research analyst, Alan Varghese, noted the nagging question: since they appear to meet many of the same demands, do we really need both cellular services and WiMAX?

In reply, Solis says that "Mobile WiMAX will eventually form part of cellular providers' networks, alleviating network congestion in urban areas. Providers will use it to offload part of the data traffic. At the same time, WiMAX is becoming a stepping-stone to 4G mobile services, which will be based on related technologies."

WiMAX: The Market for 802.16-2004 and 802.16e examines the important drivers and inhibitors of this market, explaining mobile broadband technologies and how the WiMAX market will evolve.

"WISPS such as TowerStream and Clearwire will start offering services first," says Solis. "When they change to it, that will kickstart the competition for cellular operators. However, these companies will only begin their migration when the cost of WiMAX equipment drops below that of the proprietary solutions they use now."

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Telecom firms gear up for rural foray

December 06, 2005

Global telecommunication giants are gearing up to take a deep plunge into the domestic rural segment, where, they believe, the next battle for telecom supremacy will take place.

Handset majors like Motorola and Nokia and infrastructure provider Alcatel, and Indian companies such as Reliance Infocomm and Tata Indicom have already taken the first step to venture into the unchartered territories.

“Over 70 per cent of India’s 1 billion-plus population lives in villages and considering that telephones have not yet reached most of the villages, this is where the scene of action is going to be. The challenges are many, but the rewards would also be high,” Benhur Mesfin, Motorola, told Business Standard, on his recent visit to India.

However, connecting rural areas is not going to be a cakewalk for telecom firms, as they will be targeting the sub-$5 subscriber, while appointing distribution channels - being the most difficult of the phases, he said.

Global infrastructure major Alcatel is banking on WiMax, a wireless networking standard, for its rural foray. According to Alcatel president (South Asia) Ravi Sharma, WiMAX is the cheapest option for providing connectivity in the rural areas as fixed lines can be a costly affair and its maintenance is slated to cost more. This could help in tiding over the infrastructure hurdles, as wireless could be cheaper and efficient than fixedline.

The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with C-DOT to manufacture broadband products based on WiMAX technology.

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Wi-Lan jumps 50-percent

December 06, 2005

Wi-Lan Inc.'s battered stock soared more than 50 per cent Monday to its highest prices since February, in the first trading since the Calgary-based company announced a major patent-licensing deal with Cisco Systems Ltd.

Wi-Lan's shares were at $1.23 at midday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, up 42 cents from before the deal was announced Friday.

Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest communications equipment vendor, has signed a deal to buy several issued and pending patents from Wi-Lan in an agreement that settles a patent dispute between the companies.

Financial details of the deal were not released.

But under the agreement, Cisco bought Wi-Lan's patents related to WiMax and antenna technology and then granted Wi-Lan a licence to use the patents in its products.

Wi-Lan retained ownership of the rest of its patent portfolio, with Cisco receiving a licence to use the patents.

Calgary-based Wi-Lan is a provider of broadband wireless communications products and technologies, which are becoming more mainstream as consumers increasingly download music, video and surf the Internet with cellphones and hand-held devices such as the BlackBerry.

At the height of the tech-stock bubble, Wi-Lan's shares spiked to as high as $94 in March 2000 but, like many stocks in the sector, they have since lost most of their value.

Even with the huge increase in its stock Monday, after the Cisco deal, Wi-Lan's shares were lower than a year ago. They closed on Monday, Dec. 6, 2004, at $1.55 at the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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Why WiMax certification can wait

December 01, 2005

Peter Judge at Techworld, gives us this opinion and insight article about why WiMax certification can wait. After all, with the fuss about WiMax certification, how come some leading vendors aren't bothering with it?

WiMax certification is long overdue. The technology is ready for wireless broadband, and the market is supposed to start next year. Service providers wanting to buy WiMax products need to know that what they buy from different vendors can work together, and while everyone claims to conform to the standards, it's not enough to take people's word for it.

That's the reason the WiMax Forum has been holding plugfests (such as the one earlier this month in Beijing) and working overtime to try and get a set of tests ready. Pass the tests - including a test of interoperability with other products - and you can put a WiMax certificate on your product.

But not everyone agrees. Alvarion, for one, has said that it will not bother to certify its products at the level available this year. "There are people saying there is no point in doing certification at this stage," crows Senior. "Perhaps they don't have a product that is ready at this time. Some people's roadmaps try to do other things - and they got caught out."

It's not that simple, says Carlton O'Neal, vice president of marketing at Alvarion. Due to the delays, WiMax certification got divided into different waves. Airspan is keen to get certified in Wave One, and Alvarion is skipping it, but promises to get certified for Wave Two.

"It's a crawl, walk run process," says O'Neal. "If someone is walking already, then they don't need to do a test to show they can crawl." The difference between the two, he says, is that Alvarion has an existing fixed wireless product that it is migrating to WiMax, while Airspan is a new entrant to the market.

Wave One tests that a product is handling the primary air protocol according to the 802.16-2004 (fixed WiMax) standard, but it does not test the voice and data services delivered over that protocol.

In other words, "Wave One is a great place for people to start," says O'Neal. "They can get in early and influence the test procedures. But the Wave One certified products won't actually be sellable."

The next wave, the outdoor services specification, is due in the first half of 2006, and O'Neal says Alvarion's existing BreezeMax products will be migrated to meet that test.

Wave 3 will follow on from that, in the second half of 2006, and support indoor services - which will allow self-install WiMax products that are portable. This will also be the start of 802.11e, the mobile version of WiMax, and companies like Navini, which are majoring on portable WiMax will join the caravan at this stage.

Then finally, at some point in 2007, Wave 4 will support mobile services. At this stage, Motorola and Nokia, who intend to only support 802.11e mobile WiMax will get in on the act.

The organisation of WiMax into waves should also clarify the overlap between fixed and mobile WiMax, which has been much overstated, says O'Neal: "Chip manufacturers and base stations will do both, but I can't think of CPE [customer premises equipment] that is both mobile and fixed."

Base stations will support both - although not many service providers will offer both services, as they tend to provide either fixed or mobile services, says O'Neal.

In CPE, indoor WiMax devices will be created, which can be moved to a different location and switched on there, but that is "nomadic" usage, a half-way house between fixed and mobile, says O'Neal.

Laptops won't get WiMax till the mobile version is finished, because: "You never put fixed wireless in a mobile device."

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Akron builds Wi-Fi/WiMAX mesh network

November 30, 2005

The City of Akron (Ohio, USA) is planning to build a 62-square-mile wireless network that will anticipate future technology advancements. The city is starting with a Wi-Fi rollout and will have the capability of adding WiMAX and additional advancements in the future.

In an interview Wednesday, Rick Leu, chief technology officer for the city of Akron, said that, although the initial rollout is still viewed as a pilot, the overall plan is for the network to be upgradeable. "We don't want to get tied into Wi-Fi," he said.

MobilePro Corp. said that its NeoReach Wireless Division has been chosen to design, deploy and operate the metro-wide network. The firm said wireless access will be available for both fixed and mobile uses.

The plan, which still needs approval from the Akron City Council, calls for the multi-spectrum Wi-Fi /WiMAX mesh network to offer a range of free and fee-based services with data, voice and video capability.

Karrie Rockwell, spokesperson for NeoReach, said its hardware partner on the project, Strix Systems, has card slots in its radios that will enable easy upgrading from Wi-Fi to WiMAX when the latter technology becomes more widely available.

"We've taken a proactive approach," she said. "When WiMAX becomes available, we'll be able to easily (upgrade)." WiMAX, which covers wider areas than Wi-Fi, is hitting the market now in the form of "pre-WiMAX" equipment. Formal standards approved by the WiMAX Forum are expected soon, even though the technology is being rolled out in installations across the world.

NeoReach is also installing its networks with Strix in other communities including Tempe, Ariz., and Sacramento.

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Australian Access Providers dives in the deep end

November 30, 2005

Wireless broadband minnow Access Providers will unveil plans to plunge into a new technology Telstra has dismissed as overly complex.

BusinessDaily has learned the company will reveal a plan to build what it claims is Australia's first WiMAX network at this morning's annual shareholder meeting.

Such a move would pip rivals such as Austar and Unwired who have similar plans.

Sources yesterday speculated Access Providers would argue that their technology -- possibly to be provided by a third party -- would be well down the path to becoming certified as part of the WiMAX standard.

Locally, Unwired and Austar did a deal in July to share the spectrum needed to support WiMax. However, their network is not expected to be up and running until sometime next year.

Telstra is a notable sceptic, publicly distancing itself from the technology after chief executive Sol Trujillo dismissed WiMAX as difficult to use.

After revealing Telstra's multi-billion dollar plans to refurbish and upgrade its networks Mr Trujillo said WiMAX suffered from "all kinds of complexities that are associated with making it work for what I would call the masses".

That has not stopped industry heavyweight Intel from pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into developing the technology, along with a host of heavyweight backers made up of 320 companies from across the world, called the WiMax Forum.

Add one minnow to that sea of investors... Or are they all just fishermen?

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AirSpan Intros Nomadic WiMax

November 22, 2005

Airspan Networks Inc. announced the commercial availability of the world’s first fixed and nomadic WiMAX product range that links desktop PCs, laptops, internet-ready telephone sets and other broadband devices directly to telecommunications networks.

The AS.MAX product range consists of Macro and Micro base stations and indoor and outdoor customer premises equipment (CPE), and has been extensively tested world-wide by “Beta” customers over a five-month period.

Product verification and system proving is complete and the product is now “Generally Available” and ready to ship to customers on standard lead times directly from Airspan or via its WiMAX partners.

The AS.MAX products are currently being tested by Cetecom, the WiMAX Forum Certification Laboratory, as part of the laboratory set-up activities and as a platform for the development and verification of the WiMAX Forum Certification conformance test scripts. Airspan also participated in the 2nd WiMAX Forum Public Plugfest, where AS.MAX achieved interoperability with equipment made by three other vendors. AS.MAX CPEs and base stations were successfully shown to support video streaming at speeds greater than 7Mbit/s.

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Taiwan accelerates WiMAX development

November 22, 2005

The Executive Cabinet of Taiwan’s government is taking broadband on board as a national infrastructure challenge and has budgeted $NT1.1 billion ($33m US) in spending on the development of what many say is the real future of the service: WiMax.

The cabinet had originally bugeted NT$300m ($10m US) for WiMAX development. The funds were increased after the National Information and Communications Initiative (NICI) Committee, which administers the development plan, expressed concerns about Taiwan falling behind global wireless technology trends.

As part of the new plan, developers for the 802.16e chips required for WiMAX will be selected by the Taiwan government next month. Local chipmakers Mediatek, Realtek Semiconductor, VIA Networking Technologies and Ralink Technology are all interested in competing for the contract, the paper reported.

Report from Taiwan Economic News.

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WiMax player buys into Wi-Fi, spurns mesh

November 21, 2005

WiMax vendor Airspan plans to pull WiMax and Wi-Fi together, by buying Radionet of Finland for $1.9 million. The company has also branded mesh hotzones an expensive delusion, and delivered a scheme to avoid the early security troubles of Wi-Fi.

"What we've recognised over the last year or so, is that the integration of Wi-Fi and WiMax is even more interesting than Wi-Fi or WiMax on its own," said Paul Senior, vice president of marketing at Airspan. "We've been searching for the right acquisition."

As a start-up, Airspan will also benefit from the fact that Radionet is very well established in providing metropolitan coverage, with its own sales force and several successful installations. These include the Redkite network in London, which provides wireless leased lines from £395 per month, and Zonet, a hotzone the size of New York City (800 square km) that serves 60,000 people, set up in the Mäntsälä region of Finland by the local power utility.

So far, Radionet has been describing itself as "WiMax ready", using its own technology in the 2.4GHz spectrum for backhaul in its hotzones. "It's a point to point solution that allows us to build 80 Mbit/s links, based on tweaked 802.11," said Senior. While WiMax is going to be the long term strategy, this is "something we didn't have in our portfolio," he said.

Radionet and Airspan both agree that Wi-Fi with WiMax backhaul is the way to go for hotzones, and although Airspan already has a Wi-Fi / WiMax product, Radionet's technology promises to add in seamless roaming between the stations. The company has also got solutions for putting Wi-Fi on trains, in factories and down mines.

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Questions Raised About WiMAX Certification

November 21, 2005

A presentation by the CETECOM laboratory responsible for WiMAX testing this week raised additional questions about the viability of the certification process.

Several vendors appear prepared to skip the first wave of compatibility testing, only applying for logo certification when the tests themselves meet their customers' needs, according to industry executives and analysts. Meanwhile, the procedure of the tests themselves leaves some doubt whether the first wave will produce meaningful results, given the number of products submitted and CETECOM's methodology.

The WiMAX Forum, which will rubber-stamp the certification testing performed by the Spanish laboratory with its logo, is concerned that a random base station will not connect to or interoperate with customer-premise equipment (CPE), the WiMAX router that will be installed in a customer's home or office.

Since the very first WiMAX products will use fixed antennas similar to a television aerial, the need to test a base station designed for the 3.5-GHz frequency used in Europe and Asia with a CPE intended for the U.S. market isn't necessary. But as lower-cost "nomadic" devices become available, the test parameters will widen, until a second system profile for the next-generation 802.6e mobile standard will have to be developed.

One of the problems is that, at least initially, the number of WiMAX devices will be limited. Moreover, the number of devices that CETECOM is testing is far less than other standards like Wi-Fi, even when compared to the earliest days of the 802.11 specification, when the number of devices on the market was small.

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Stirring the Mobile Wimax Straw-man

November 17, 2005

Analysts are again fueling the fires with mobile Wimax.

A research note put out by Lehman Brothers today suggests that a mobile WiMax standard may be "set in early 2006" yielding trials in the second half of 2006 and on into 2007. The analysts forecast the timelime for mobile WiMax after a customer meeting with equipment maker Alvarion Ltd.

While certainly Alvarion is the leader in development on this standard, the problem is that claims about the IEEE 802.16e standard only add to the confusion. Despite vendor hype -- genuine, standards-compliant hardware has yet to appear, even for fixed WiMax (the approved IEEE 802.16d standard). And it will take years to build out the WiMax infrastructure (see report: Don't Skip Fixed WiMax).

However, Lehman proceeds with the following; "With respect to upcoming technology timelines, Alvarion estimates the 802.16e standard (the core of Mobile WiMax) will be certified in the first quarter of 2006 with demo products available in 2006," write wireless equipment analysts Jeff Kvaal and Tim Luke in the note.

This is expected to lead to trials in 2007 with commercial deployments in 2008. Read the fine print: "soon" is now sometime in 2008, and most likely not until 2009 or 2010.

The ratification of the 802.16e standard is the first big step on the road to mobile WiMax, yet folks at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) were suggesting that it would be done towards the end of September, but the trail went a little cold after that.

Of course, interoperability testing by the WiMAX Forum also takes time. The first certified fixed WiMax (802.16d) products aren't now expected before the end of this year or on into the next.

So, how come the stock analysts suddenly feel now that mobile Wimax is so close, while Alvarion stock itself has been floundering?

To learn more about this topic, see this earlier report on Wimaxxed.com: Don't Skip Fixed WiMax - October 10th, 2005.

Also see: Doubts over WiMax's mobile future - May 29th, 2005.

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BellSouth expands Georgia Pre-WiMax service

November 17, 2005

BellSouth said Thursday it is expanding the "Pre-WiMAX" wireless broadband service it has been offering in Athens, Georgia.

The company said that it has installed a third radio tower in Athens, which will expand the availability of the service. Besides Athens, BellSouth has also launched Pre-WiMAX service in Palatka, Florida and New Orleans.

"Athens shares a milestone with BellSouth as the home of our first commercial launch of wireless broadband service," Ron Frieson, president of BellSouth's Georgia operations, said in a statement. "I am delighted that we can now offer it to even more consumers and businesses.

BellSouth does not require that wireless broadband subscribers also subscribe to their standard voice service, although the company does offer discounts for the service to its wireline customers as well as Cingular Wireless subscribers. BellSouth is a co-owner of Cingular.

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Aperto Claims WiMax QOS Kudos

November 17, 2005

Aperto Networks, a leading WiMAX systems provider serving over 200 operators in 65 countries, said today that a growing number of its customers are using Aperto’s products to deliver business-quality Voice-over-IP (VOIP) services, often at service prices that are significantly more competitive than those of existing service providers.

TransAria is using Aperto Networks’ solutions to offer business-grade Voice-over-IP services throughout the state of Montana. The service allows enterprises of any size to significantly reduce their telecommunications expenses by shifting from leased T1 circuits to transporting voice over packet networks.

Aperto has come up with an efficient solution for operators concerning the vexing issue of offering voice and data. While voice traffic is characterized by low bandwidth and a low tolerance for error and latency, data traffic is quite the opposite – high-bandwidth and more tolerant of bit errors and latency. Aperto’s patented technology can treat voice and data traffic uniquely, allocating appropriate levels of bandwidth to account for low latency requirements for voice services. Furthermore, the upcoming Software Release V5.4, due out later this week, will enhance the QoS (Quality of Service) system to support over-subscription of VOIP services, enabling operators to further optimize their wireless bandwidth and fine-tune their business models.

“Delivering solutions to high-end enterprise users, Aperto Networks is known to have an advanced VoIP delivery platform, said Adlane Fellah, Senior Analyst with Maravedis Research.

In Europe, Aperto customer, Iberbanda, Spain’s largest broadband wireless carrier, is in the process of deploying Aperto’s PacketMAX solution and is anticipating a robust voice services offering.

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Alvarion Building Island-Wide Broadband Wireless Network in Hokkaido, Japan

November 16, 2005

Alvarion announced additional orders to extend the BreezeACCESS VL network, following a successful initial deployment in the town of Koshimizu, located on Hokkaido Island, Japan. Hokkaido Seiko Time Systems, Alvarion’s local partner and the system integrator, is responsible for extending the network to additional municipalities throughout the island.

“We are pleased to be part of bringing the broadband revolution to northern Japan,” said Mr.Yasumasa Ito, President of Hokkaido STS. “We began deployment in Koshimizu with a 2.4GHz wireless network, but we soon realized that the band had too many limitations preventing access to many of the city’s residents, including line-of-sight, coverage, and slow speeds. Alvarion’s BreezeACCESS VL solved these challenges for us, due to its advanced OFDM technology for non line-of-sight operation (NLOS) and its use of the less congested 4.9GHz band where the channels are larger. Since this deployment, several other major cities in Hokkaido have contacted us to understand how they could take advantage of the system, and we are now following through on deployments and plans with each of them. We look forward to continued successful network launches with Alvarion,” Mr. Ito-san added.

Within the next three years, Hokkaido Seiko Time Systems plans to deploy thousands more Alvarion CPEs throughout Hokkaido Island and expand its installation in and around the city of Koshimizu to supply residences with broadband data services as well as provide connectivity among the municipality’s offices, libraries, schools, and in and around the train station.

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Airspan Uses VeriSign's Custom Device Certificate Service

November 15, 2005

VeriSign and Airspan Networks today announced that Airspan has selected the VeriSign Custom Device Certificate Service to help prevent the pirating of broadband wireless services. Airspan will embed VeriSign digital certificates in its WiMAX-certified customer premises equipment devices (CPE), allowing them to meet security requirements for 802.16-2004 and 802.16e WiMAX standards, and to prevent device cloning and service pirating. Airspan is the first company to deploy these VeriSign services in its 802.16 WiMAX platform.

The VeriSign Custom Device Certificate Service will enable Airspan to centrally generate cryptographic keys and corresponding digital certificates, which are burned into the read-only memory of WiMAX devices prior to shipment. The digital certificate then authenticates the identity of each individual WiMAX CPE to the service provider before permitting a user to access wireless broadband services.

Paul Senior, Airspan's Vice President of Marketing and Product Management said, "Industrial strength authentication is a key part of 802.16-2004 and 802.16e WiMAX, and is a mandatory part of any indoor, self-installable, 'plug and play' WiMAX solution. Airspan's use of VeriSign's device certificate services gives service providers, network operators and end-users confidence that Airspan's AS.MAX product suite can deliver secure broadband wireless services."

Airspan will leverage VeriSign's highly-scalable and industry leading infrastructure to generate digital certificates in volumes adjusted to their production schedule to keep up with varying levels of customer demand. Additionally, VeriSign will provide Airspan with the expertise to integrate the certificate provisioning process with Airspan's existing manufacturing operations, providing a more efficient means to generate certificates during the manufacture of the CPEs.

See full release: PrNewswire.

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WiMAX Feasibility Study for California Released

November 15, 2005

Tellus Venture Associates, in collaboration with Coast2Coast Technologies, completed a study for the City of Folsom, California that determined that a citywide WiMAX system is financially and technically feasible, and would help drive economic development.

The conceptual system design and business case evaluation envisioned a low cost WiMAX system with a multi-layered business model that would enable public WiFi access, next generation municipal and corporate networking solutions, entrepreneurial ventures, and innovative applications for new communities of users, such as health care providers.

"A WiMAX system can potentially provide a significant competitive advantage to businesses in Folsom, and offer residents more convenience and flexibility in their lives," said Joseph Luchi, Economic Development Coordinator for the City of Folsom. "We're excited that local companies are already involved in the pilot project approved by the city council, and we're looking forward to beginning the test."

As a next step, the study recommended establishing a pilot project that would bring together interested organizations to deploy a pre-WiMAX network as a proof of concept for the system itself, as well as for various new technologies. The Folsom City Council reviewed the study and approved the recommendations on November 8th, 2005.

The study is available at Tellus Venture Associates.

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KT and Samsung to Demo First WiBro Phone in Korea

November 14, 2005

South Korea's largest fixed-line telecommunications company, KT Corp, together with Samsung initiated a test-run of a WiBro phone during the APEC Conference 2005 in Korea.

The limited test-run is now underway in Busan with a limited roll-out using 500 handsets for Pacific Rim leaders, senior government officials and foreign journalists.

Samsung will introduce the H1000 WiBro mobile phone and the Samsung M8000 PDA with WiBro and a WiBro interface card for laptops.

The demonstration is aimed to collect feedback on how the new technology would work. It is also aimed at publicizing the up-to-date technology during the APEC which gets global media attention.

WiBro is one of KT's ambitious and costly projects to find a new revenue stream for the former state telephone monopoly, which is struggling with a shrinking wired telephone market as more customers rely on their mobile phones to communicate.

KT will also start its commercial WiBro service as early as June of 2006 with the aim of attracting as many as 4 million subscribers to the service by 2010.

WiBro, the Korean based "Wimax", is competing with the WiMAX wireless broadband technology heavily pushed by Intel.

The technology, named WiBro - short for wireless broadband - is designed to deliver high-speed Internet connections to mobile phones, promising to allow people to watch high-definition television programs via handsets in a moving vehicle or on a street.

KT hopes the new technology would help provide speedier and cheaper connections for mobile phones, thus helping develop a new revenue source for it.

On Saturday, a KT technician said the new technology can send data at a speed of up to one megabit per second, which is equivalent to conventional fixed-line broadband Internet.

In reality, however, the speed was slower than expected, though the technician said he was unable to measure it.

And the phone's screen size, which measures about 3 inches diagonally, is too small to surf the Internet. What's worse, only specially designed Internet sites for smaller screens can be properly accessed by the phone.

KT has not given a price for the WiBro phone and service, but they are expected to be more expensive than current technologies.

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WiMAX Forum Says 150 Nets Deployed

November 12, 2005

More than 150 pilot and commercial deployments of WiMAX networks are currently in use and the first group of certified fixed network products is expected to become available by the end of the year, the president of the WiMAX Forum reported late Thursday.

"WiMAX products are shipping and we expect to see strong momentum of rapid deployments around the globe," said Ron Resnick, who is also an Intel executive, in a statement. "The growing list of 350-plus WiMAX Forum members--comprised of operators, equipment and chip suppliers and content providers--continues to unveil new products and solutions."

While the first group of WiMAX Forum-certified products is slated to be for fixed outdoor networks, Resnick said that the WiMAX Forum is on track also to provide certification of equipment supporting not only fixed, but portable and mobile WiMAX applications.

In product tests at Plugfest, this week's WiMAX-oriented meetings in China, the WiMAX Forum said average throughput of equipment tested ranged from 2.8 Mbps to 7.2 Mbps. The implementations were conducted in the 3.5 GHz frequency spectrum.

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WiMAX Plugfesters Celebrate Interoperability

November 11, 2005

Airspan Networks, Axxcelera, picoChip and Sequans announced that they had successfully achieved Interoperability during the week long WiMAX Plugfest held in Beijing, China at the CATR Labs.

The Base Station from Airspan, Axxcelera, picoChip and Sequans interoperated successfully with the CPEs from Airspan, Axxcelera and Sequans. Their integrations were based on:

- Airspan's AS.MAX MacroMAX Base Station, and Indoor, Self-Install EasyST CPE

- Axxcelera's Excel Max Base Station and ExcelMax Outdoor CPE (Full Duplex FDD, Half Duplex FDD, TDD)

- picoChip's 8250 WiMAX Base Station Reference Design

- Sequans's SQN2010 WiMAX Base Station and SQN1010 CPE Reference Designs

Paul Senior, from Airspan networks, said, "It is very exciting to see our AS.MAX products interoperate with three other WiMAX FDD-based solutions, and quite surprising that we can support such high traffic speeds after only one week of plugfest integration and testing".

Sanjay Nagpal, from Axxcelera Broadband Wireless said, "Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) WiMAX Solutions deliver the best price per Mbit/s, the best frequency re-use and the best spectrum band usage efficiencies. This interoperability test has shown that FDD WiMAX is ready for mass deployment in 2006".

Rupert Baines, from picoChip said, "Our flexible, Software Defined Radio enabled us to rapidly adapt as we worked through the different stages of Interoperability Testing. Having achieved this baseline interoperability we now look forward to adding in the more advanced features at the next plugfest in 2006".

Bernard Aboussouan, from SEQUANS concluded, "We are excited by the outcome of the Beijing event, having demonstrated that products based on our Base Station and CPE System-On-Chip (SoCs) can interoperate with products from leading system vendors in FDD as well as in TDD mode. We are confident that WIMAX Forum Certification for FDD-based products will be achieved very quickly ".

See our previous article WiMax Applications Make a Leap to the Front Burner for more on these developments.

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WiMax Applications Make a Leap to the Front Burner

November 10, 2005

In a sure sign that certified WiMAX wireless broadband products are close to appearing, vendors have started to tout their interoperability as proven at a "plugfest" that ended this week in Beijing.

And at last month's WiMax World conference -- another conference with an exploding attendance -- users had a clear focus : They wanted to know more about cost-effective, reliable, licensed wireless broadband for applications such as backhaul, access to wireline network services and data backup/recovery.

These conferences, and more directly the "plugfest" are just part of the certification process, which has been focused in the CETECOM testing laboratory in Spain. When the interoperability testing process is fully completed, WiMAX products will be certified as being interoperable with each other and compliant with the 802.16-2004 standard.

But other just "can't wait". In the UK, a London ISP has started testing mobile WiMAX technology, at the same time that Intel has announced that thirteen carriers from around the world "are now deploying the world’s first fixed WiMAX networks based on Intel Corporation WiMAX technologies" - pre-empting the IEEE's current tests on standards compliance.

According to one analist, Intel's recent announcement is designed to show that it hasn't been left behind by Radionet of Finland, whose hardware has also been seen "live" in commercial installations, such as Red Kite's in London.

But in other parts of the world, such as Korea, WiBro experiments are also under way. While these have been dismissed by most members of the WiMAX consortium as irrelevant, WiBro is far more like the mobile 802.16e standard than Intel's 802.16d version, or Alvarion's Breezemax which was launched June 2004.

And if it has a track record of success in Korea by the time the IEEE starts defining final specifications of 16e, history suggests that it could easily become a de facto standard which has to be accommodated by the paper standard.

It's clear that the frenzy is officially heated up, yet it remains to be seen if promises such as those made by Intel, will take hold, and in what timeframe? The recent press by Intel quotes Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel’s Broadband Wireless Division, saying: "As WiMAX gains momentum in full deployments, homes and businesses gain the ease and power of cost-effective wireless networking. We are now delivering the promise of WiMAX -- high-speed, cost-effective wireless broadband access -- to businesses and consumers in cities and suburbs around the world."

And at Plug-fest, Aperto Networks -- along with a number of others, including Airspan Networks, Axxcelera Broadband Wireless, Picochip, Redline Communications, Sequans Communications and Wavesat said -- Wednesday that it had achieved interoperability between its products and the products of other vendors at the plugfest.

Therefore, according to all of the expectations of these companies, it's certain that WiMax products will soon start to roll of the assembly line now that conformance testing is truly underway. Looks like the fire is getting turned up on WiMax!

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Samsung to build WiBro network in Brazil

November 10, 2005

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has won a contract to supply a high-speed wireless broadband network based on the WiBro standard to TVA Sistema de Televisao SA in Brazil.

WiBro can support data transmission at speeds of around 3M bps (bits per second) for devices traveling at up to 120 kilometers per hour, according to Samsung. It was largely developed in South Korea and is compatible with the 802.16e mobile WiMax system being developed by a handful of major networking companies.

The network Samsung will build in Brazil is due to start trial service in the second quarter of 2006, the company said. Due to regulatory restrictions the initial service won't support the mobility aspect of WiBro but that is expected to be added later in the year when approval is received, said Shin Jung, a spokeswoman for Samsung in Seoul

Samsung has been working on WiBro system development for some time. Commercial networks based on WiBro are due to enter service in South Korea in the middle of 2006 and Samsung has already demonstrated the system working. It will do so again later this month to regional leaders when they gather for the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting in Busan, South Korea.

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Intel-Based Commercial WiMAX Networks Under Way With 24 Carriers Worldwide

November 09, 2005

Thirteen carriers from around the world are now deploying the world’s first fixed WiMAX networks based on Intel Corporation WiMAX technologies, delivering high-speed broadband access to businesses and residences from Germany to Guatemala. Eleven more carriers are preparing to deploy additional Intel-based WiMAX networks by year’s end.

Building on the success of WiMAX trials worldwide, carriers are now rolling out full commercial deployments in cities as well as suburban and rural communities, allowing broadband wireless networks to reach locations where previously they were either impossible or too costly for carriers to pursue.

“As WiMAX gains momentum in full deployments, homes and businesses gain the ease and power of cost-effective wireless networking,” said Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel’s Broadband Wireless Division. “We are now delivering the promise of WiMAX – high-speed, cost-effective wireless broadband access – to businesses and consumers in cities and suburbs around the world.”

In collaboration with Intel, and using equipment based on the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface, commercial networks have now been deployed by the following carriers: Altitude Telecom (France), AXTEL (Mexico), BEC Telecom, S.A. (Dominican Republic), Dedicado (Uruguay), Globe/Innove (Philippines), Iberbanda (Spain), Irish Broadband (Ireland), SferaNET (Poland), Mikkelin Puhelin (Finland), Telgua (Guatemala), Ukrainian High Technologies (Ukraine), and WiMAX Telecom (Austria and Slovakia).

These deployments support a range of uses, from basic high-speed access for homes to Internet telephony, business connectivity and support for schools and government offices.

In addition, several carriers are in the process of deploying WiMAX networks that are expected to be up and running by the end of the year.

The new WiMAX networks will deliver broadband services to consumers, businesses, schools and public offices, using Intel-based customer premises equipment from Airspan, Alcatel, Alvarion and Redline Communications.

These full deployments build upon growing momentum toward widespread WiMAX availability, including a pledge by the government of Taiwan to invest NT$37 billion [US$1.12 billion] on mobile initiatives, including WiMAX, and Intel’s Asian Broadband Campaign ... to spur WiMAX development in Southeast Asia.

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Aperto Delivers on the Promise of WiMAX Interoperability

November 08, 2005

Aperto Networks, a leading WiMAX systems provider serving over 200 operators in 65 countries, announced that it had successfully interoperated with four other WiMAX equipment vendors at the WiMAX Forum's second public "plugfest" which began on October 30 and ended on November 6, in Beijing, PRC.

The event, which was co-sponsored by Cetecom, ETSI and CATR, provided WiMAX equipment suppliers the opportunity to test and interwork their respective pre-certified products and equipment in advance of final certification.

"Aperto continues its tradition of WiMAX leadership on the basis of proven results by demonstrating interoperability with four other WiMAX systems," said Aperto chairman and CEO Reza Ahy. "Aperto has been a key contributor and a founding Board member of the WiMAX Forum leadership since its inception. We have been a committed WiMAX advocate inclusive of being the Chair of the Service Provider Working Group, and an active member of the Certification Working Group, the Marketing Working Group ... a leader and major contributor to the 802.16-2004 standard, and a key advocate of the IEEE-802.16e standard. The successful Beijing public plugfest is a critical milestone accomplished towards the formal WiMAX Certification of our products by the end of 2005."

Aperto Networks shipped its WiMAX product portfolio to the CETECOM certification labs in Malaga, Spain, in August. Aperto Networks' PacketMAX products will be among the first wave of WiMAX fixed network system products to be WiMAX Forum Certified -- those that are certified as conformant to the standard and interoperable with other vendors' products.

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Fujitsu to Demonstrate WiMAX Reference Design

November 08, 2005

Fujitsu Microelectronics will demonstrate video streaming, web browsing and file transfer using its new WiMAX Reference Design Kit at the Global WiMAX Summit in China 2005, Beijing, November 10-11.

The Fujitsu demonstration will show a base station communicating with a subscriber station built using the Fujitsu WiMAX Reference Design kit, which has been developed using the company's industry-leading WiMAX SoC, the MB87M3400. The demonstration features video streaming between the two stations, along with web browsing and file transfer using FTP. The kit incorporates all the required hardware and software features to enable designers to develop WiMAX-compliant base station and subscriber station equipment. It is now available for customers worldwide.

Keith Horn, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Fujitsu Microelectronics America, will provide an update on the pivotal role of semiconductor technology in the WiMAX industry in a keynote speech scheduled for Thursday, November 10 at 3:35 p.m.

See Our WiMax Events Pages for more.

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ITC starts Saudi WiMax delivery

November 07, 2005

Trials are beginning this month in Saudi Arabia for what will be the Kingdom’s largest wireless broadband network.

The multimillion-dollar project, which is being implemented by Integrated Telecom Company (ITC), will also be the first such network in Saudi Arabia to be based on WiMax technology.

The network will be installed using a turnkey solution from Intracom and IP solutions from Cisco, and will be based on WiMax technology from Redline Communications.

ITC, which was set up last year and is a sister company of Saudi’s Orbit media firm, will provide high-speed wireless, voice, video and data services on a countrywide scale.

The first phase of the deployment will cost US$22 million and will be completed in April. It will involve the setting up of an infrastructure to support the network, including the installation of base stations and access points.

In the second phase, which will be completed in 2007, ITC will focus on establishing the metro Ethernet, voice capability and voice solutions on the network.

A rival service provided by Mobily does provide broadband access in four cities — Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Khubar and Dahran — following the telco’s deployment of Aperto Networks’ PacketWave broadband wireless systems in September.

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The WiMax car whips up a frenzy

November 05, 2005

Monoco-based car maker Venturi Automobiles unveiled the Fétish -- the world's first production electric sports car to have a "pre-WiMax" box inside -- at the 2005 Geneva International Motor Show.

Intel has put an Alvarion pre-WiMax wireless connection box inside to improve the car's telemetry, and allow the car to communicate with the owner wherever they happen to be.

Venturi also sees WiMax as a means of remotely monitoring vehicle operation, diagnosing the engine and even updating onboard applications.

For Venturi this addresses the most worrisome aspect of owning a battery-powered car. "The stressful days of not knowing whether or not your vehicle is charged are over," the company crows.

The Fétish achieves 0 to 60mph in 4.5 seconds, has a top speed of 105mph and a range of 240 miles. The power comes from 7,200 lithium-ion batteries, weighing a total of 350kg, managed by two Intel XScale processors.

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xMax sparks low power wireless revolution

November 05, 2005

A little-known start-up has demonstrated wireless broadband 1000 times more efficient than WiMax – and claims the technique could also make wireless LANs that will run for years on watch batteries.

xG Technology, based in Sarasota, Florida, used a transmitter not unlike a cordless phone base station, operating in the unlicensed - and crowded - 900MHz band, to send a 3.7Mbit/s data signal to a radius of 18 miles across the suburbs of Miami, using 50mW and an omnidirectional antenna.

The data rate and specifications don't exactly match xG's original plan, which we reported in July, as the demo uses a narrower band and a lower data rate. However, with an omnidirectional antenna, the demonstration appears to have transmitted a signal at a power density other schemes would find impossible. The company's xMax technology uses a novel modulation scheme, described at xG's own site.

"xMax is unconventional," said Stuart Schwartz, professor of electrical engineering at Princeton Universithy, who has scrutinised xG's demonstration set-up, speaking at the xMax demonstration. "It is clever and innovative, but it is not magic. It uses single cycle modulation, and needs much less power than other technologies."

xG has promised to have commercial systems ready by the second half of next year, which can be sold off-the-shelf. "We're in discussion with channel partners, to make a shrinkwrapped package that would allow anyone to set up as a wireless ISP," said Mooers."In the longer term we see it rolling out to chips that will be in millions of different units."

The same technology could also make licensed broadband services more efficient, said Professor Schwartz: "WiMax would require 90 base stations to cover the same area."

Before any of this happens, more demonstrations are needed, to show the system is robust against interference and multipath, and can operate in an area more crowded than 18 miles of swamp. It will also need to be approved by the FCC and other regulators round the world.

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Leading Customers Select Fujitsu's WiMAX System-on-Chip Sets

November 04, 2005

Fujitsu's pacesetting WiMAX System-on-Chip (SoC), which was introduced in April 2005, has emerged as an industry leader in broadband wireless semiconductor technology, following the recent announcements by two leading system developers of indoor, self-install subscriber station equipment.

MiTAC Technology, a global leader in PC, networking and communications products, has introduced a new indoor subscriber station based on the Fujitsu MB87M3400. The indoor subscriber station, which complies with the IEEE 802.16-2004 and ETSI HiperMAN standards, supports network routing, WiMAX-based Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), and voice over IP (VoIP). It connects with a WiMAX base station using a 3.5GHz wireless link to deliver high-speed voice, data and multimedia content. The subscriber station incorporates a built-in antenna along with the option of an external antenna, providing maximum flexibility.

Aperto Networks, a leading WiMAX systems provider serving more than 200 operators in 65 countries, has announced that its indoor, self-install WiMAX broadband wireless products for consumers will be available in the first quarter of 2006. The company's intuitive WiMAX equipment will be marketed as the PM500 series product line, part of Aperto Networks' PacketMAX family. The products in this series, which feature the latest advancements in chip, radio, and antenna technologies, will facilitate broadband wireless access of a wide range of services, such as video, data, and voice, including VoIP.

MiTAC and Aperto Networks will continue to expand their strong relationships with Fujitsu Microelectronics in the development of state-of-the-art, WiMAX-compliant broadband wireless access systems.

"...The companies are working together to bring WiMAX-compliant equipment to the market," said Manish Gupta, vice president of marketing and alliances for Aperto Networks. "Our decision to build the indoor CPE using the Fujitsu WiMAX SoC technology adds another dimension to this relationship."

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Motorola, Trendsmedia Survey Reveals Predictions for WiMAX Applications

November 04, 2005

In a survey conducted by Motorola Inc and Trendsmedia, 45% of respondents predict that the ability to achieve seamless mobility through interoperability among various devices and networks will be the "tipping point" to WiMAX success.

Motorola and Trendsmedia conducted the survey with attendees from WiMAX World, the largest-ever gathering of service providers, equipment manufacturers, operators and software makers meeting to further the understanding and advancement of WiMAX, the wireless broadband technology standard 802.16.

The survey also revealed that more than half of the respondents -- 57% -- believe that the principle reason a service provider would wait for 802.16e instead of deploying 802.16d or proprietary solutions is the technology's ability to support mobility as well as fixed or nomadic services.

More than 50% of survey respondents believe that the most attractive or breakthrough application that will drive this use of WiMAX will be last-mile data connectivity. Although it will be used to quickly bring Internet access to communities that are not yet served, WiMAX also will augment or replace existing cellular and wireline assets. Although some confusion exists on the role the technology will play within existing infrastructures, 63% anticipate that WiMAX will serve as a complementary technology to networks such as 3G and Wi-Fi.

The survey was conducted online with registered show attendees and included 424 respondents. 33% of the participants were service providers, 19% component vendors, 18% system manufacturers, and 30% fell under other organization descriptions.

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picoChip and Wintegra Partner on WiMAX Basestation Designs

November 03, 2005

picoChip and Wintegra recently announced joint development of reference designs for a new generation of WiMAX basestations. These designs, based on standard components already on the market, provide a framework from which equipment manufacturers can implement a wide range of 802.16e compliant basestation products. This dramatically reduces the time and cost for OEMs to develop systems, while still enabling complete flexibility and programmability.

The solutions combine picoChip's picoArray family of massively parallel DSPs and industry-leading software for the WiMAX PHY with Wintegra's WinMax processor and software for a complete MAC solution. Coupled with Wintegra's WinPath family of access packet processors and software for transport and backhaul functionality, the joint reference designs offer unmatched flexibility for both radio (air) interface access cards and network interface transport cards, with scalability to cover pico, micro and macro basestation architectures.

To date, most WiMAX reference designs have focused solely on "closed" board-level solutions, providing benefits for those seeking to directly manufacture the design, but provide little flexibility for those seeking to add their own features. The picoChip-Wintegra design offers the same benefits of complete integration and interoperability testing, while retaining a programmable, scalable, open approach enabling OEMs to customize and differentiate their offerings.

The design will initially target the 802.16e standard, and will provide a flexible, scalable, software-based upgrade path as new requirements appear in this emerging market. Operators will also benefit from the scalability and flexibility of the Wintegra and picoChip architecture as it will allow them to undertake field software upgrades, avoiding the need for expensive hardware improvements or replacement programs.

The joint reference design is targeted for completion in late 2005.

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Nexcom Wins WiMAX License in Bulgaria

November 03, 2005

Nexcom Bulgaria confirmed today that it has won a 3.5GHz point-to-multipoint wireless broadband license in the just-completed WiMAX tender in Bulgaria. The award of this license gives Nexcom "last mile" access to the customer doorstep in Bulgaria, a key ingredient in building market share in what is already a $1.9 billion telecom market in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian telecom market is one of the fastest growing in Europe and according to Pyramid Research is expected to increase by 10.5% annually over the next 5 years. The rapidly expanding telecom market is one of many recent positive economic developments in Bulgaria, which has been selected to join the European Union in 2007.

"Nexcom is uniquely positioned in Bulgaria to take advantage of the promise of WiMAX, which is to stimulate competition by giving alternative operators the ability to directly reach their customers without relying on the infrastructure of incumbent carriers" said Emil Nikolov, President of Nexcom.

Nexcom is currently the leading alternative provider of fixed telecom services in Bulgaria. With the introduction of WiMAX services, Nexcom will be able to leverage its existing national infrastructure and sales and distribution network to quickly roll-out the types of low-cost, high-quality voice and Internet services Bulgarian customers are clamoring for.

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Wimax Firms Try to Tone Down the Hype

October 31, 2005

Few tech concepts generate as much buzz as WiMax, the long-coming long-range wireless Internet technology.

But promises that WiMax alone will revolutionize the broadband world and push out existing Internet services are overblown, top technology executives said at the Telecom '05 annual conference last week.

Instead, they see WiMax as one part of a complex wired and wireless future.

AT&T also did its bit to puncture the WiMAX hype, while providing an update on three of its trial WiMAX deployments.

Behzed Nadji, AT&T's Chief Architect, debunked stories about 70 Mbit/s throughput over distances of 70 miles for WiMAX. "There's little reality to that," he said.

A range of 3 to 5 miles and 2 Mbit/s was closer to reality. In fact, one of AT&T's three deployments rarely saw throughput rise above 500 kbit/s, he said.

WiMax trials in Colorado by Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc. found average signal ranges of two or three miles and speeds similar to cable modems and fast DSL connections.

Where WiMAX would prosper, AT&T predicted, was in moving backhaul traffic. But its potential users had slightly surprising desires and concerns.

AT&T's existing business customers were looking for improvements in cost, diversity, reliability, availability and provisioning time. Speed came well down their list of reasons for deployment. Their main concerns were security, reach and the fact that WiMAX is an unproven technology.

Additionally, whether WiMax complements or competes with existing technologies is important, because the major carriers have invested heavily in "3G," the long-promised third generation of cellular phone networks that has just begun to deliver fast Internet access and mobile entertain- ment.

Other major WiMax hurdles include figuring out which slices of the radio airwaves WiMax will use and the current high cost of the equipment and installation.

Intel Corp., a leading WiMax supporter, plans to roll out chips using the technology in 2007. Intel and Motorola Inc. said last week that they would work together to advance the tech- nology.

However, telecom and technology leaders at the Las Vegas conference, including WiMax backers, tried to cool what they called enormous hype surrounding the technology. WiMax has acquired a misleading reputation involving the ability to send an Internet connection across great distances at speeds that eclipse existing services, executives said.

Verizon Communications Inc. experimented with WiMax technology about 18 months ago and is now looking at it for rural connections and providing urban and suburban hot spots similar to the Wi-Fi networks found in coffee shops and airports, Chief Technology Officer Mark Wegleitner said. He said Verizon is weeks away from deciding how it will proceed with WiMax.

Analysts predict that ultimately consumers will be able to use one device to switch between all the wireless networks, and that further in the future the descendants of 3G and WiMax may converge.

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picoChip first to demo advanced features of WiMAX

October 29, 2005

picoChip is the first company to have implemented the advanced options of 802.16-2004 WiMAX and is demonstrating them at WiMAX World 2005. picoChip is showing both basestation and subscriber station reference designs with multi-user subchannelization and multiple antennas for both input and output. According to the WiMAX Forum, these features can increase area covered twenty times compared to a standard WiMAX chipset and are critical for indoor CPE. Both systems are programmable and software-upgradeable from 802.16d to 802.16e.

Multi-user subchannelization is a technique in 802.16d that shares the uplink tones and allows many subscriber stations to transmit simultaneously. The advantage is that uplink power can be ‘concentrated’, increasing effective power and hence range. This is essential if CPE are to be self-installed indoors, as opposed to the traditional outdoor fixed wireless systems that needed expensive installation (“truck-roll”), dramatically impacting the economics of a network.

Several OEMs have announced SS products that support subchannelization: picoChip’s is the first solution to offer this capability for full end-to end operation - for both basestations and subscriber stations.

Although distinct from the OFDMA mode of 802.16e there are a number of similarities; in particular, while both techniques improve uplink performance they significantly complicate the task of the basestation, which now must be capable of recovering multiple signals transmitted on different channels at the same time. The software release to add these features demonstrates the upgradeable nature of the picoChip solution.

picoChip’s PC6520 is the industry standard basestation reference design for ‘fixed’ WiMAX, with more than 15 major licensees.

See full story (with network diagram): picoChip Press Release.

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Motorola and Intel Partner on Mobile WiMAX Technology

October 29, 2005

Motorola Inc. and Intel Corporation announced their plan to collaboratively foster greater industry momentum for WiMAX and to advance the use of mobile WiMAX technology, based on the proposed IEEE 802.16e standard, for both fixed and wireless broadband applications.

Intel and Motorola plan to collaborate on specification efforts within the WiMAX Forum in an effort to ensure that network and device interoperability issues are addressed adequately.

In addition to working jointly to advance WiMAX standards, the companies plan to work together on interoperability testing of Motorola mobile devices, network equipment, and customer premises equipment with Intel products.

"We believe 802.16e is going to be the way to go for both fixed and nomadic applications,” said Dan Coombes, chief technology officer, Motorola Networks. “With its robust specifications and ability to support high-value services like voice over IP and mobility, 802.16e is an ideal choice for many applications. Teaming with Intel to work on 802.16e standards and interoperability matters will complement our strategy of using 802.16e with our MOTOwi4 WiMAX solutions.”

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Alavarion Leads in Commercial Deployments

October 28, 2005

Alvarion announced it has shipped 5,000 BreezeMAX PRO subscriber units, out of 10,000 ordered since it became available in September 2005. As the market’s first customer premise equipment (CPE) integrating the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface chip with Alvarion’s enhanced WiMAX technology, BreezeMAX PRO’s advanced features offer a high level of modem performance plus a full suite of networking capabilities. This CPE is part of the BreezeMAX commercially available system, designed according to the 802.16-2004 standard, for which Alvarion intends to seek certification from the WiMAX Forum as quickly as possible.

Alvarion’s BreezeMAX platform has been designed from the ground up according to the IEEE 802.16 WiMAX standards and will support fixed, nomadic, portable and mobile applications. Alvarion has leveraged its full range of technical and market expertise to become a strongly positioned vendor offering comprehensive, feature-rich solutions with fixed, nomadic, portable and mobile capabilities from a single platform. More than 130 operators have deployed Alvarion’s BreezeMAX infrastructure in its first year on the market, another clear indication of operators’ confidence in WiMAX technology.

As a founding member of the WiMAX Forum with a position on the Executive Board and active participation in many technical working groups, Alvarion has been involved since 2002 in advancing the WiMAX standards, including 802.16-2004, which was ratified in June 2004 and the 802.16e standard, which is nearly ready for ratification.

It is the advanced state of our current platform, our well-defined roadmap and our strong financial condition that has given dozens of operators the confidence to move forward with commercial deployments over the past several months,” said Tzvika Friedman, CEO of Alvarion. “The initial orders for the BreezeMAX PRO aptly represent the latest example of this confidence in action.”

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RemotePipes Partners With RedMoon in Texas

October 28, 2005

RemotePipes, Inc., a leading provider of worldwide mobile Internet access solutions; and RedMoon, Inc., a leading provider of mobile data networks, have completed interoperability testing for the integration of their respective networks. As a result, users of the RemotePipes IP Roamer branded service will be able to roam onto the city-wide WiFi mesh network in Addison, TX installed and operated by RedMoon.

RedMoon's client list includes the City of Grand Prairie (TX), City of Burleson (TX), City of Corpus Christi (TX), Town of Addison, TX, Mountain Communications (Alamogordo, NM) and the North Central Texas College District.

RemotePipes has developed a base of over 200 multi-user accounts comprising corporate, government, non-profit, education and military organizations with from one to over 2,200 subscribers per account. These organizations are headquartered in the United States, Canada, and the UK.

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Altera, Wi-LAN Partner on WiMAX

October 27, 2005

Altera Corp. has teamed up with Wi-LAN Inc. to deliver a programmable, low-cost WiMAX compliant base transceiver station modem.

The system lets base station developers create WiMAX products that can be upgraded in the field by service providers, enabling response to changing customer requirements and market conditions.

And the programmability, inherent in Altera’s FPGAs, allows developers to quickly make design changes without missing their time to market goals.

“With the impending commercialization of WiMAX services, OEMs need solutions that allow them to reduce their design cycle, while service providers require the ability to easily implement and update emerging WiMAX applications,” said Arun Iyengar, senior director of Altera’s wireless business unit, in a statement.

“We partnered with Altera because their comprehensive product portfolio is ideal for addressing the varied needs of WiMAX applications, including performance-intensive digital signal processing, cost optimization and high integration,” said Jo