Page II: A key electronics industry group has approved a significant standard for wireless broadband specifications known as "WiMax," giving a boost to a technology proclaimed as a breakthrough for cheap high-speed Internet access.
WiMax will work with other shorter-range wireless standards, including Wi-Fi, which has taken off as an easy way to provide Internet access throughout a home or business. Eventually, WiMax advocates hope to see the standard evolve into a mobile wireless Internet service similar to cellular data technologies such as EvDO (Evolution Data Only).
"This technology gives companies significant advantages when it comes to deployments, because you don't have to set up a new infrastructure ... so there isn't a lot of tearing up of streets needed to set up networks," said Joe English, a WiMax campaign manager for chipmaker Intel, which has been a major backer of the technology.
The emergence of WiMax products could help reduce expenses for broadband carriers and consumers by doing what Wi-Fi did for wireless home networking -- make it affordable and in turn widely used.
Thursday's IEEE decision will bring cohesion to development efforts that until now have been pushed ahead piecemeal by a handful of companies, including Alvarion, Redline Communications and Wi-LAN. All WiMax products will be interoperable, using the 802.16-2004 standard. Industry group WiMax Forum will test and certify products for interoperability, much the same way the Wi-Fi Alliance does for Wi-Fi products. This will produce an equipment market of standardised components.
Products based on pre-standard versions of the 802.16-2004 specification are already on the market. British carrier BT is testing wireless broadband services in the United Kingdom, using Alvarion equipment based on draft versions of the specification.
Intel announced a deal this month with Proxim to co-develop WiMax equipment, with base stations available by early next year.
Analysts estimate that subscriber stations for home access will initially cost up to US$300. Base stations will cost as little as $5,000 but will reach $100,000, depending on their range. In some cases, consumers would lease subscriber stations from carriers the way they do with cable set-top boxes as part of their service plans.
Providing a patchwork
Analysts said the first WiMax-certified products will likely be base stations for carriers looking to expand coverage in remote areas and take on traffic burdens in congested areas. Base stations are similar to cell towers in that they send and receive transmissions. WiMax base stations can blanket an area by connecting to a wired connection or linking with other base stations.
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