Computerworld says product certifications from the WiMax Forum will be a little late. The first WiMax certified products are now expected in mid-January, said Mo Shakouri, board member and vice president of the WiMax Forum and chairman of its marketing working group. Testing may be completed by year’s end or the early part of January, he said.
The certifications due next month are strictly for fixed WiMax products based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 specification, which isn’t intended for use while in motion. The standard that will bring mobility, IEEE 802.16e, was approved less than a month ago, and certified products aren’t expected until at least 2007.
All the products being considered now would use radio spectrum in the 3.5-GHz range, which can be licensed for commercial services in much of the world but not in the U.S., Shakouri said. Testing of products that use the 5.8-GHz band, which is available as unlicensed spectrum and is used for IEEE 802.11a wireless LANs, will come later, he said.
Product certification ensures interoperability. Mix-and-match products should fuel competition and drive down prices, in addition to allowing carriers to invest in WiMax knowing that they won’t be tied to one vendor’s products, they said.
The WiMax Forum expects to announce the certification of at least three products at the Wireless Communications Association’s International Symposium & Business Expo, which will run Jan. 17 to Jan. 20. Those results will come out of the first wave of testing, in which equipment will be certified to comply with the 802.16-2004 standard and interoperate at the level of the air interface, Shakouri said.
Organizing WiMax product testing, which will be divided into several waves and require interoperability of products from multiple vendors, played a role in the delay, Shakouri said. With the groundwork now in place, he expects subsequent waves of certification to go more quickly.
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