14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday, leading provider of Wireless Connection Manager solutions M-Skylink and Beceem, provider of 4G chips, announced the launch of a “retail-ready” USB reference design platform that provided the base for fast development of 4G-WiMAX USB modems. According to the two companies, the platform delivers a reference design solution that includes Beceem’s BCSM350 4G-WiMAX chip, which has been coupled with a Connection Manager, Device Authentication and Management Software package from M-Skylink.
“The first wave of 4G-WiMAX devices was purchased by service providers who sold them to their subscribers, but the open channel devices enabled by the Beceem and M-Skylink’s ‘retail-ready’ platform should drive further expansion of the 4G-WiMAX device ecosystem by providing an easy-to-productize platform that allows device innovation at low cost,” Lars Johnsson, vice president of marketing and business development for Beceem Communications, said.
The newly unveiled “retail-ready” platform comes with a wide range of compelling advantages. Among them, we can count the fact that devices would include support for the WiMAX Forum profile 1.0 specifications, while the Connection Manager, which is based on “Common API” specifications, is meant to deliver an open development environment, as well as interoperability capabilities.
According to M-Skylink, its wireless connection manager has been already rolled out on various networks, and its integration with Beceem’s IOT and field-proven 4G-WiMAX chip is meant to speed up even more the development times of devices. Moreover, the company states that its solution will reduce the cost of bringing new devices to the market, and that the “retail-ready” platform should prove compliant with the WiMAX Forum retail profile.
“Service providers are looking for ways to bring more innovative devices into their networks more quickly, and our Connection Manager integrated with Beceem’s 4G-WiMAX solution enables them go-to-market in the shortest possible time,” Alex Dee, vice president for M-Skylink, said. “Our Connection Manager is highly customizable and can be integrated into any operating system, further broadening the appeal of the ‘retail-ready’ platform business model.”