Alvarion today announced the commercial availability of BreezeMAX PRO, a WiMAX-ready, cost effective customer premises equipment (CPE) that uses Intel’s 5116 WiMax chip. After successful beta trials, Alvarion is now fulfilling orders for the BreezeMAX PRO in volume production quantities for commercial deployments.
Alvarion says the BreezeMAX PRO is the first commercially available subscriber unit to use Intel’s WiMAX chip, and is part of a complete WiMAX-ready solution. BreezeMAX PRO’s advantages are said to be an advanced PHY and MAC resulting in the highest level of modem performance plus a full suite of networking capabilities.
BreezeMAX is a carrier-class design supporting broadband speeds and quality of service (QoS) to enable carriers to offer multiple services to thousands of subscribers in a single base station.
The BreezeMAX PRO CPE is comprised of an outdoor radio unit (ODU) and an indoor network interface unit (IDU). The outdoor unit contains the modem, radio and integral or external, high-gain flat antenna. It has been designed around the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard and serves as a base for Alvarion’s future mobile solution targeted towards the emerging IEEE 802.16e standard for mobile broadband services.
“With the commercial launch of the BreezeMAX PRO, the first Intel-based CPE, we have now taken the next major step as a company, and as an industry, toward the mainstream use of WiMAX services worldwide. The economic and technological advantages WiMAX offers operators are clearly demonstrated when deploying the BreezeMAX PRO,” Zvi Slonimsky, CEO of Alvarion. “BreezeMAX PRO is further proof of our dedication to lead the WiMAX market to standards-based fixed, portable and mobile solutions.”
Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, has started field trials using Alvarion’s WiMax gear. The field trial will includes about 100 customers who, the companies said, were out of range of DSL service. T-Com is one of Europe’s largest DSL providers. The trial, which is scheduled to run until the end of March 2006, will use Alvarion’s BreezeMAX base stations in Swisttal and St. Augustin near Bonn, Germany.
The BreezeMAX Si is said to be a WiMAX standard-based solutions that can be quickly deployed. In addition, it enables centrally provisioned, portable connectivity for subscribers to use the CPE in various points within the network coverage and re-connect to the service after moving from one location to another.
The BreezeMAX Si is said to combine easy plug-and-play CPE installation and relocation with the performance and reliability. This new indoor CPE, together with outdoor CPEs, offers carriers optimization of their network planning by trading-off coverage, capacity and installation costs. With the elimination of professional installation, this self-install unit enables carriers to vary their distribution channels to best fit their business models.
Features of the BreezeMAX Si include:
- WiMAX-ready technology with Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface chip
- Six-element beam switching antenna design, providing 360 degree coverage with iFAS - intelligent Fast Antenna Selection algorithm that ensures instant selection of best antenna, interference immunity and reduced signal fading
- OFDM and OFDMA radio technology for improved indoor penetration and NLOS operation
- Central provisioning and authentication architecture that enables immediate connectivity at any point of coverage within the BreezeMAX network
- Quick installation using SIM card or user-friendly installation utility. End user can self-install the BreezeMAX Si CPE and get broadband connectivity instantly.
Alvarion previously launched its WiMAX-ready BreezeMAX 3500 (in the 3.5 Ghz band) and had live demonstration of triple play services with a WiMAX-ready CPE using the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface, showcased in April of this year.
.gif)
