14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile WiMax is attracting huge interest as the leading, next-generation wireless access technology and is pitched as a new era in "personal broadband," but uncertainties around technology, spectrum, and big-name industry support cloud the outlook for mainstream adoption, finds a new report from the subscription research service Unstrung Insider.
The report, entitled Mobile WiMax: Who Goes Where?, identifies and analyzes the chipset and system vendors innovating in this critical, long-term market. According to developers interviewed for the research, core technologies driving Mobile WiMax (a.k.a. 802.16e or WiBro) will deliver superior spectral efficiency and end-user throughput than today's 3G networks. The question is how fast can this technology can be productized and deployed?
Most of the innovation today in scalable OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access), and smart antenna systems appears to be driven by aggressive startups and vendors focused on leapfrogging today's Fixed WiMax (802.16-2004) plays, with an intent to develop portable systems that encroach upon the lucrative, 3G infrastructure market.
However, Unstrung Insider Chief Analyst Gabriel Brown, the author of the report, says that OFDM and MIMO are also on the roadmap for 3G evolution, and that major cellular vendors and operators may be more comfortable with this timeline and standardization process.
"Established players are unlikely to move aggressively on Mobile WiMax, leaving it to disenfranchised wireline operators and equipment vendors with weaker mobile infrastructure market-share positions to pick up the early pace," comments Brown.
Among the reports key findings, we can mention: The first Mobile WiMax services will launch in Korea in mid 2006, using Samsung equipment, and the U.S. service launches will follow, possibly as soon as 2007; Stealth chipset startups are attempting to leapfrog the market and godirectly to Mobile WiMax (802.16e), the names in the frame including Beecem, SiWave, Cygnus, and Runcom; Adaptix claims to have already demonstrated system-level mobility based on scaleable OFDMA (Mobile WiMax); A market for 802.16e line cards and software will emerge alongside demand for smart antenna software suites, as major fabs and OEMs catch on to Mobile WiMax's potential.