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!