WiMax Gets Double Boost
As expected, Intel today finally announced the commercial launch of its WiMax chipset, designed for customer premises equipment (CPE) (see Intel Unveils WiMax Chip). Previously codenamed Rosedale, the product is now referred to as the "Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface device” [ed. note: hmmm, snappy]. The vendor is keen to stress that, although its first 802.16 silicon offering will not target the base-station market, this strategy will change over time. “As we look forward to the next couple generations of silicon, you should expect our base-station presence to grow,” said Ron Peck, director of marketing for Intel's WiMax Group, in a conference call.
Intel has already announced deals with a number of broadband equipment suppliers, including Airspan Networks, Alvarion Ltd. (Nasdaq: ALVR), Aperto Networks, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Proxim Corp. (Nasdaq: PROX), Redline Communications Inc., Siemens AG (NYSE: SI; Frankfurt: SIE), SR Telecom Inc. (Toronto: SRX), and ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763).
In terms of dollars, Peck states that “in units of a thousand we are telling people to expect in the mid 40s.”
Meanwhile, the WiMax Forum has been talking up plans to begin interoperability testing of fixed wireless 802.16 kit, a task that aims to ensure different vendor offerings are compatible with one another.
“The lab will open and begin accepting vendor equipment for certification testing in July,” notes a statement (see WiMax Forum Unveils Plans). “The first WiMax Forum certified products are expected in the November/December timeframe.”
Such a move will help allay previous fears surrounding delays to the WiMax certification process (see Wise Words on WiMax).
— Justin Springham, Senior Editor, Europe, Unstrung
http://www.wimaxforum.org/news...
For new allocations, the Forum recommends
band plans supportive of TDD and/or FDD, and per operator paired blocks of about 20-40MHz or wider
could be appropriate for example to accommodate 4 to 6 channels of up to 14MHz wide to enable true
broadband services.
OFDM can be scaled to operate within a variety of channel widths. Widths of 3.5 MHz, 7 MHz
and 10 MHz have initially been selected as these are consistent with allocations and
assignments in many regions around the world.
In particular on the above link look at "Table 1 "First RoundGÇ¥ profiles currently identified for the initial certification process
It makes clear that Intel's Rosedale is not in the 5.7ghz market, and only in the narrower channel half of the 3.4 to 3.6 ghz market.