chips ahoy

intel, fujitsu commercially launch wimax chips

IN A MUCH-ANTICIPATED MOVE, INTEL CORP. this spring officially made available its first WiMAX product, the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116. Just days later, at Broadband Wireless World in Las Vegas, Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. commercially launched its WiMAX system-on-a-chip (SoC).

Such components are at the core of systems turnkey equipment vendors will bring to a lab in Malaga, Spain, for WiMAX certification testing starting next month. The WiMAX Forum expects the first WiMAX Forum Certified products — based on a fixed specification called 802.16-2004 and operating in the 3.5GHz frequency band — to be available by the end of the year. Products at other WiMAX-compatible frequencies and those based on 802.16e, the mobile version of WiMAX, will be considered at a later date.

The Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 is for outdoor equipment along with indoor solutions, such as self-installable WiMAX modems and residential gateways. Equipment providers that will deliver WiMAX solutions based on Intel’s product include Alvarion, Aperto Networks, Axxcelera Broadband Wireless, Gemtek, Huawei Technologies, Proxim Corp., Redline Communications Inc., Siemens Mobile, SR Telecom and ZTE Corp.

Reza Ahy, CEO of Aperto Networks, a four-year-old broadband equipment vendor with carrier deployments in 60 countries, says his company will be among the first with WiMAX-certified equipment. Aperto has not yet made a formal WiMAX equipment announcement, but Ahy says the company shortly will roll out WiMAX macro, micro and mini base stations and business-class CPE. Aperto is expected to make an announcement about its WiMAX products this month at SUPERCOMM.

Next year, Ahy says, the market should see some important WiMAX trials by service providers. “We have 802.16 projects today with one of the major carriers on the globe,” he adds.

Several service providers worldwide plan to do commercial WiMAX trials based on Intel-powered products later this year. That list includes AT&T Corp., Brasil Telecom, British Telecom, Qwest Communications International Inc., Speakeasy Inc., Telmex and TowerStream.

“We expect major rollouts and trials on all major continents in the next year or so,” says Sean Maloney, executive vice president and general manager of Intel’s Mobility Group.

However, because the first WiMAX equipment will work at 3.5GHz — a spectrum not available for WiMAX in the United States — the first WiMAX deployments by service providers are expected to be abroad, probably in Europe, says Alan Menezes, vice president of marketing at Aperto.

As for the Fujitsu SoC, a.k.a. the MB87M3400, that is designed for use both in base stations and in end-user devices in licensed or unlicensed bands below 11GHz.

Aperto Networks, Wi-LAN Inc. and ZTE Corp. are among the systems vendors building products based on the Fujitsu SoC, which was codeveloped by Fujitsu Microelectronics America and Wi-LAN.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines