The IEEE has approved it, and Intel is building it. Will WiMax offer ubiquitous wireless broadband in the future? At 15 Mbps for home users, it shows promise.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) has approved the 2004 draft of the new 802.16 WiMax specification, while Intel and Proxim have teamed up to build it. If successful, it could spell wireless broadband faster than any currently-available connection.
WiMax stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, and is the trade-name for the IEEE 802.16 specification the same way that Wi-Fi is the trade name for 802.11-based specifications. Unlike Wi-Fi, however, WiMax is designed to blanket an area as large as 2.5 square km with wireless data service at up to 15 Mbps, faster than any current DSL or cable broadband landline service. It can also transmit directional signals between towers as far as 48 km apart, and at speeds up to 75 Mbps. That places it as a competitor to both landline broadband services as well as 3G carriers in densly populated areas.
To capitalize on what it calls the "broadband wireless era", Intel is getting in the game with their own WiMax hardware. As part of a new agreement with Proxim, the two companies will be developing base station equipment for WiMax networks as well as subscriber unit access points, which subscribers can place in their home to link to the larger WiMax network.
Proxim says it plans to target traditional wireless carrier and enterprise customers first, the parties most likely to want to deploy and use, respectively, new high-speed wireless services. In addition to providing chips for the Proxim equipment, Intel will be offering a reference design for other WiMax equipment manufacturers to use as a model to develop new equipment faster.
Proxim plans to deliver its fixed WiMax-certified broadband wireless solution in early 2005, and the mobility WiMax-certified solution in late 2005. Shipment of any WiMax Forum Certified product is dependent on the start of interoperability and Certification testing, which is currently scheduled to begin in late 2004. Of course, it won't come cheap. According to some estimates, a home base station for individual subscribers could cost as much as $300 USD, although it could be available as a lease the way many cable modems are currently.
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