Not really Canadian wireless LAN startup Colubris Networks Inc. has applied to join the WiMax Forum.

And while it waits for the check to clear, Colubris is beavering away on possible applications for the metropolitan area wireless technology.

Colubris's CTO, Pierre Trudeau, (not the former Canadian prime minister) envisages 802.16d-based technology being used as backhaul for rural DSL local loop applications. Yep, rather than using WiMax as method of providing wireless broadband for customers, Trudeau suggests that WiMax could act as a wireless backend for local wired systems.

Some European carriers are already examining the idea of using this method for providing broadband services in rural areas, Trudeau says.

And wouldn't you know it? Colubris already has some DSL partners with which it could work to link a WiMax backhaul box to, say, a mini-DSLAM local distribution unit. Step right up, ADC Telecommunications Inc. (Nasdaq: ADCT), Alcatel SA (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP:PA), and Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR). (See Colubris's Pay Phone Power Play and Colubris Finds Juniper's Hotspot.)"All of them somehow have a piece of the solution," says Trudeau.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung