WiMAX Getting Real...For Real

In spite of all the rumors and rumblings of the past few years, WiMAX has been little more than a luminescence on the horizon, and its not been clear whether the light was a mirage or a dawn of a new error in telecommunications. At the same time, wireless broadband has not lived up to its hoped “third rail” status as a competitive broadband medium. Immersed as we all are, it is easy to forget that wireless broadband subscriber numbers are still little more than a footnote in all the broadband penetration research. But as Sageni tracks what most might consider mundane filings in tedious databases, we discover clear proof that WiMAX is on our doorstep and that’s helping wireless broadband to go mainstream.

The first proof reveals a watershed happening occurred on July 18, 2008 — Intel received FCC equipment authorization for its WiMAX/Wi-Fi combo chipset “Link 5350.” Less than one month later, Toshiba was on record with an authorization of its own for the same chip under its label. FCC authorization is the one milestone that says something is for real in this business and until something appears as FCC authorized, we consider it only vaporware and public relations.[Nothing achieves authorization until it has passed a rigorous set of tests and each filing is accompanied by the testing data, photographs and other documentation. This is why the truth is found in the filings.] So the Link 5350 WiMAX/Wi-Fi chip is here as a commercial product and already one multinational shows eagerness to build products. Look for the marketing stories about WiMAX to begin to aim at the common consumer beginning this fall, and with that a scattering of available products hitting select retail outlets in several major metros by Christmas.


Prior to WiMAX availability, wireless broadband has been an obscure vehicle, used by a maverick, if progressive, set of operators and a few enterprising, well, enterprises. But the recent mass availability of WiMAX infrastructure, combined with new broadband-dedicated frequency, is pushing wireless broadband into the mainstream. Not unsurprisingly, established enterprises prefer standards-based technologies. “Standard” might be fairly interpreted to also mean “legitimate” or “endorsed” — the term provides a comfort level that leads to trust and risk mitigation versus a leap of faith. We’ll forgive for the sake of this article that actual WiMAX still refers to a small set of WiMAX Forum supported frequencies and the U.S.'s 3650 MHz band is not yet one of them.

Within the past month a small, but growing list of marquee businesses and institutions appear ready to plunge into wireless broadband under the WiMAX banner. The Mayo Foundation; ConocoPhillips; SEMPRA, the California energy giant; and even the City of Houston, all have applied for a received a license to build and operate wireless broadband networks using the new 3650 MHz band.

Sageni regards these data points as a small, yet compelling set of proofs demonstrating not only that WiMAX is a commercial reality across the supply chain, but there is some demonstrated new demand among prominent institutions. Are there others in your community with the same needs? Smart integrators and operators should already be on that scent.