WiMAX Forum Announces First Certified MIMO 2.5GHz Mobile WiMAX Products

(Top News, 26 Jun 2008)

The WiMAX Forum recently announced the first 10 Mobile WiMAX products that received the WiMAX Forum Certified Seal of Approval for the 2.5GHz profile (titled MP05) at the WiMAX Forum Global Congress in Amsterdam. The WiMAX Forum also revealed its roadmap for 3.5GHz and 2.3GHz equipment certification, with plans for equipment in the 3.5GHz band to achieve certification by the end of 2008.

Following months of rigorous testing to ensure that each product met the strict WiMAX Forum interoperability and conformance standards, the announcement included four base stations and six mobile station modules (also known as terminals) operating in the 2.5GHz frequency band from eight WiMAX Forum member companies, including Airspan Networks, Alvarion Ltd, Beceem Communications Inc., Intel Corp., Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, Sequans Communications and ZyXEL. All of the newly certified 2.5GHz mobile station modules passed the mandatory MIMO testing protocols.

"With the unwavering support of our members, the WiMAX Forum team has fulfilled our promise to ensure that WiMAX operators have the certified equipment and devices needed to deliver mobile internet services that consumers want," says Ron Resnick, President of the WiMAX Forum. "With the successful completion of extensive 2.5GHz testing, we've laid the groundwork to speed up additional profile certifications and ultimately to continue advancing global WiMAX deployments at a record pace."

Alvarion, Motorola, Samsung Electronics and Sequans Communications each received the WiMAX Forum Certified Seal of Approval for a 2.5GHz base station. Airspan Networks, Beceem Communications, Intel, Samsung Electronics, Sequans and ZyXEL each received the WiMAX Forum Certified Seal of Approval for a 2.5GHz mobile station module.

These 2.5GHz products were certified at the WiMAX Forum's lead certification testing laboratory, which is operated by AT4 wireless in Malaga, Spain. Products achieving Mobile WiMAX certification were tested for functionality that supports mobility through rigorous testing including interoperability amongst vendor equipment and MIMO capabilities. This achievement of being designated as WIMAX Forum Certified ensures confidence in the interoperability of WiMAX products for the 305 service providers deploying WiMAX services in 118 countries worldwide.

The WiMAX Forum estimates that more than 100 Mobile WiMAX products will be certified by the end of 2008, and by 2011 more than 1,000 products will undergo Mobile WiMAX certification. The WiMAX Forum plans to stay ahead of the demand for certification with a robust global lab infrastructure, including six WiMAX Forum partner labs that are now open and ready to accept products for certification testing in China, Korea, Spain, U.S., along with two labs in Taiwan, ADT and TTC/CS. The WiMAX Forum plans to open two more certification labs by the end of 2008 in India and Japan and an additional lab in Brazil in 2009 in order to support the anticipated growing demands in those regions.

Certification of 2.5GHz equipment has set the baseline for subsequent profiles, speeding up the testing cycle for all equipment in the future. The WiMAX Forum also announced that it will begin to accept certification applications for 3.5GHz equipment during 3Q 2008, with testing to begin in 4Q 2008 and certification completed for those products before the end of the year.

"We are setting an industry precedent by conducting certification in a way that it has never been done before," adds Resnick. "To ensure interoperability for global operators and consumers, the WiMAX Forum supports the end-to-end certification process from equipment development, to test equipment validation and finally product certification. The WiMAX Forum is the only consortium to certify base station equipment which is key to ensure true network interoperability and a high quality of service among user devices and network equipment."

The 3.5GHz band includes the validation and certification of three profiles based on channel bandwidths of 5MHz, 7MHz, and 10MHz. The WiMAX Forum also plans in 2008 to accelerate the building of certification infrastructure for 2.3GHz products (5MHz and 10MHz channels), in order to drive certification of 2.3GHz products as soon as possible.

Industry Impact of WiMAX Forum Certified Equipment
The WiMAX Forum Subscriber and User Forecast Study projects that by 2012 there will be more than 133 million WiMAX users globally and approximately 70 percent of forecasted WiMAX users will utilize mobile and portable WiMAX devices to access broadband Internet services.

A key WiMAX Forum objective is to ensure the sale of interoperable certified products in the retail channel and eliminate the subsidy burden to operators. Selling WiMAX products at retail will spawn a larger base of innovative products targeting many new service models, compared to the existing service models in place today. These service models will satisfy demand for low cost devices, with no subsidy required, and customers will be able to buy a product and choose the specific operator from which to purchase a WiMAX service.

"This major milestone is significant for not just WiMAX ecosystem progress, it highlights the near term reality of new data services on innovative devices," says Barry West, President of Sprint's XOHM business unit. "Customers will soon benefit from the global momentum behind WiMAX, including cost efficiencies, interoperability and roaming."

Additional information on WiMAX Forum members' certified products:

Airspan Networks
Product Certified: Airspan's MiMAX Q-Series USB dongle

Alvarion
Product Certified: 4Motion

Beceem Communications
Product Certified: BCS200 chipset

Intel
Product Certified: Intel Wi-Fi/WiMAX Link 5350

Motorola Inc.
Product Certified: WAP 25400

Samsung Electronics
Products Certified: SPI-2211 and SWC-E100

Sequans Communications
Products Certified: SQN2130 and SQN1130 system-on-chip

ZyXEL
Product Certified: MAX-206M2 WiMAX MIMO VoIP Router

Click here for more information on Airspan Networks

Click here for more information on Alvarion

Click here for more information on Beceem Communications

Click here for more information on

Click here for more information on Motorola

Click here for more information on Samsung Electronics

Click here for more information on Sequans Communications

Click here for more information on ZyXEL

Click here for more information on the WiMAX Forum