Speaking at the Wireless Broadband Access and WiMAX event yesterday, Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel's Wireless Broadband Solutions, unveiled the company's first WiMAX product, the PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface device. One of the industry's worst kept secrets, the device, which was code named 'Rosedale', is the first 802.16-2004 system-on-a chip (SoC) optimised for WiMAX modems and residential gateways. It was previewed in TelecomRedux yesterday (click here).

Critically for the success of WiMAX the device comes in at less than US$200, making the cost of indoor WiMAX customer premises equipment (CPE) affordable and opening up the mass market. Richardson described the arrival of the new device as "setting the clock ticking" for WiMAX, which has been one of the most talked about technologies in the wireless business for some time, but which has been slow in realisation.

The PRO/Wireless 5116 device is compliant with the 802.16d standard for fixed wireless access to the home and enterprise. It has already been implemented by a number of WiMAX equipment vendors including Alvarion, Airspan, Axxcelera, Proxim and Aperto all of whom are planning commercial deliveries within the next three months. Asian manufacturers such as Huawei and ZTE are also involved in developing WiMAX solutions based around the new device. Intel has been working with a number of operators including BT, AT&T, Brasil Telecom and Telkom South Africa to develop a broad WiMAX ecosystem. There are already commercial networks using the technology in, amongst other countries, France and Ireland.

The WiMAX community still has a number of key issues to address, notably whether to carry through with the development of mobile WiMAX which is based on the IEEE 802.16e standard. According to Scott Richardson, what he described as "Moore's Law in your pocket" — mobile personal broadband through multiple devices — is the next challenge facing the industry. Although everyone is keen to show support for mobile WiMAX, there remain doubts as to whether such a technology could succeed in a mobile market where 3G is going to be a big player.

The other challenge is spectrum. WiMAX does not enjoy the benefits of having allocated spectrum, although the industry is lobbying vigorously towards this end. The technology can operate in the 2.5GHz, 3.4/3.6GHz and 5.4/5.8GHz bands-although, at the higher frequencies, there are coverage issues particularly for indoor coverage. The 3.4GHz spectrum is the preferred option but this is not available in the US, a key potential market for WiMAX.

Noticeably absent at this event was the high degree of hype which has surrounded WiMAX since it first came on the scene. Claims of data speeds of 70Mbit/s at a range of 50 miles are no longer in evidence. Vendors and operators are talking about delivering data at varying speeds from 1Mbit/s upwards, according to the needs of the end user. MobileCity, which has been trialling WiMAX for fixed wireless access in a remote area of Northern Sweden, says it is successfully delivering 1Mbit/s of symmetric data over a 10 kilometre range. The company is planning to raise this to, firstly, 3Mbit/s and then to 8Mbit/s in the near future.
Ian Channing