Something WiMAX this Way Comes

SUPERCOMM Previews 802.16 Systems, Support

The fledgling metro broadband wireless standard got another needed shot in the arm when heavy-hitter Motorola Inc., a vendor of proprietary broadband wireless systems under the Canopy brand, announced at SUPERCOMM it had joined the WiMAX Forum as a principal member. Motorola claims license-exempt deployments in more than 85 countries around the world. Its products based on the 802.16 standards are scheduled for availability in early 2005, and will initially support the 3.5GHz frequency bands.

Meanwhile, earlier converts to the 802.16 fold announced their products based on the specification. Redline Communications Inc. introduced enhancements to what it is calling the world’s first IEEE 802.16-compliant broadband wireless offering. “Everyone is waiting for Intel chipsets,” says Keith Doucet, vice president of product marketing and management. “We made our own.” In fact, the Canadian company claims to have spent some $20 million developing its chipset.

“To be pre-WiMAX, you have to have 802.16 [silicon]. We say, let’s see your MAC and PHY,” Doucet says, referring to the media access control and physical layers. Doucet adds the company is considering issuing a challenge to competitors. “If you have it, let’s do interoperability testing.”

Interoperability testing is integral to the WiMAX Forum’s certification testing planned for early 2005.

Redline’s product, the AN-100, was introduced in October, and now includes TDM capabilities, the company announced at SUPERCOMM. The AN- 100 is designed for the licensed 3.5GHz wireless access band initially. Support for 2.5GHz will come in early 2005, and 5.8GHz and 5.4GHz are to come later in the year, he says.

Intel, which announced last summer its intentions to deliver 802.16a silicon, expected to have its 802.16 chipset completed by the end of this year, but insiders say that has been postponed to mid-2005.

Intel announced in June it is working with Proxim Corp. to develop a reference architecture for base and substations for 802.16a revision d for fixed services. The two also will be collaborating on shaping the 802.16e standard, which has not been ratified by the IEEE but specifies the mobility aspects of the WiMAX protocol. The reference architecture combined with Intel silicon will be available to OEMs for incorporation into standardsbased broadband interoperable wireless solutions.

Intel also previously announced development agreements with Alvarion Inc. and Alcatel.

Like Redline, Alvarion also says it developed its own chipset for its new WiMAX platform, BreezeMAX, which it announced in June and showcased at SUPERCOMM. BreezeMAX 3500 operates in the 3.5GHz frequency band, and has already successfully passed testing with operators in Europe and the Asia Pacific, some of which plan to deploy the system commercially starting in third quarter 2004, according to Alvarion.

“While [BreezeMAX] is designed around 802.16, it’s not certified,” says Carlton O’Neal, vice president of marketing for Alvarion.

“It doesn’t have the Intel chip,” he adds. He told xchange the company embarked on building the 802.16 system two years ago and then in summer 2003 entered a strategic development agreement with Intel. “The chips will not be ready until sometime next year at the earliest,” he says. A spokesperson for the company clarified that when the chips become available in second quarter 2005, BreezeMAX will incorporate them and be submitted for certification testing.

Alvarion’s BreezeMAX

Full-scale WiMAX deployment hinges on the availability of the Intel chipset, say analysts at ABI Research, explaining that volume production makes for lower-cost equipment. As vendors await the lower-cost chips, demand for proprietary systems is set to grow by about 50 percent from 2003 to 2004 in unit terms, ABI reported in late March.

Meanwhile, other silicon developers are coming out in support of WiMAX. In June, WiMAX Forum member Wavesat Inc. announced a deal with Murandi Communications Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta, to develop WiMAX-compliant reference designs and to support OEM product development. Murandi will work closely with OEM customers to develop custom products from concept-tomanufacture. The first reference design will be available in fourth quarter 2004. In addition, WaveRider Communications Inc. announced in June it will use Wavesat’s 802.16 chipsets as the basis for WaveRider’s WiMAX-certified products. WaveRider has successfully trialed Wavesat’s 802.16 technology.

Proxim, which also is working with Intel, plans to deliver its fixed WiMAX-certified broadband wireless solution in early 2005, and portable WiMAX-certified solutions in late 2005.

Aperto Networks also revealed its roadmap for WiMAX Forum certification and shipment of IEEE 802.16 WiMAX-compliant systems. Aperto Chairman and CEO Reza Ahy says the company has been working with silicon suppliers and is already integrating their compliant components into its PacketWave broadband wireless solution. “Demonstrable WiMAX systems will be available for interop testing by December 2004,” he says. “We will be part of the WiMAX Forum’s Plugfest in January 2005, and expect to begin commercial delivery by mid-2005.”

Aperto Networks also announced it will build its first generation of WiMAX Forumcertified systems with 802.16-compliant chips in 3.5GHz frequency band systems and has plans to move into 2.5GHz and 5GHz bands.

Other vendors are saying, “Why wait for WiMAX?” One vendor, startup SkyPilot Networks Inc., for example, just introduced at SUPERCOMM its proprietary system based on cheap 802.11 silicon. The hardware/software system synchronizes 802.11’s asynchronous technology so that it acts more like a WiMAX system. “It’s WiMAX before WiMAX,” says Mark B. Johnson, SkyPilot CEO. “Service providers have two choices. They can solve customer problems today or wait for WiMAX and let competitors take their customers.”

Johnson says the system supports both widearea and last-mile applications, and both can be running at the same time on the same network since it supports point-to-point, point-tomultipoint and mesh configurations. Available in August, the SkyPilot System includes the SkyGateway base station, SkyExtender antennas, user-installable SkyConnector indoor or outdoor units and the Sky Provision provisioning system. An optional element management system, SkyControl, also is available.

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