The WiMAX Forum, a new organization founded by network silicon and equipment companies, announced its mission to promote and certify broadband wireless access equipment based on the recently approved IEEE 802.16a standard. The new 802.16a technology, which is being dubbed “WiMAX”, provides up to 50 km (31 miles) of linear service area range and allows users to get broadband connectivity without needing a direct line of sight to the base station. It provides shared data rates up to 70 Mbps, which is enough bandwidth to simultaneously support more than 60 businesses with T1-type connectivity and hundreds of homes with DSL-type connectivity using a single sector of a base station. A typical base station has up to six sectors. WiMAX’s current members include Airspan Networks, Alvarion, Aperto Networks, Ensemble Communications, Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Intel, Nokia, OFDM Forum, Proxim Corporation and Wi-LAN Inc. Following a similar model as the Wi-Fi Alliance, WiMAX intends to conduct interoperability testing and issue a “WiMAX Certified” label once compatibility has been established.
http://www.wimaxforum.org
- The IEEE 802.16 Air Interface Standard is a point-to-multipoint broadband wireless access standard for systems in the frequency range 10-66 GHz. The standard covers both the Media Access Control (MAC) and the physical (PHY) layers. Work is underway on an amendment to extend the specification to cover both the licensed and unlicensed bands in the 2-11 GHz range. More information on 802.16 is available from the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards. http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/16/