At the WiMAX 2007 conference in Munich, 27-29 November 2007, Siemens announced a new portfolio of WiMAX subscriber devices, based on fully compliant to Wave 2 Mobile WiMAX gear, with MIMO and beamforming.

A basic modem, a VoIP modem and two gateways were introduced: The Siemens Gigaset SX685 WiMAX gateway was designed with the small office, small enterprise. Four Ethernet ports and a printer or external hard drive can be connected via a USB. The PBX functionality supports up to 6 extensions supporting CLIP, call-forwarding and conferencing. Both fixed line phones and VoIP phones can be connected. The flagship device, Siemens Gigaset SX686 WiMAX, also offers WiFi, which can be switched on and off with a button.

Siemens Gigaset SX682 WiMAX (right) is a VoIP modem that targets residential and home office users. The Gigaset SE681 WiMAX is designed for the residential user who needs basic wireless broadband access.

For optimal capacity, throughput and coverage, all Siemens WiMAX CPEs are Wave 2 compliant. They combine two integrated high gain antennas which support MIMO (Matrix A and B) and adaptive beamforming to boost signal strength between the base station and WiMAX devices. They also employ Space-Time-Coding (STC) and Spatial Multiplexing (SM) to improve coverage and effectively double the data throughput. In demanding environments, all indoor CPEs can connect to an external outdoor antenna. Siemens offers outdoor antennas with a gain of up to 18 dBi.

“We have designed a broad WiMAX portfolio based on IEEE 802.16-2005 for all customer segments from residential to business, and from basic wireless broadband access to complex network set-ups at home or in small enterprises. This offers the flexibility and choice that our customers demand,” said Dr. Marc Achhammer, Senior Vice President and Head of WiMAX at Siemens Home and Office Communication Devices.

They support the 2.3 to 2.7 and 3.4 to 3.8 GHz frequency bands and will be available for commercial shipment in 2Q 2008.

The industry is shifting its attention from 802.16d fixed WiMAX in 3.5Ghz spectrum to 802.16e mobile WiMAX in the 2.5GHz range, says WiMAX Vision. The 2.5GHz band is available in the Americas, Russia and parts of Asia but not yet in Europe.

Japan, the U.K., New Zealand, Norway and Sweden are scheduled to auction 2.5GHz airwaves within the next year with Sprint/Clearwire’s rollout in 2.5GHz expected to cover some 100 million U.S. POPs by 2008.

In general 3.5GHz airwaves are available everywhere except the United States and Japan while 2.3GHz spectrum is rare outside Korea and North America. The lower portion of the C band, 3.5Ghz, is used by WiMAX operators around the world. WRC-07 last month, decided against designating the whole C band as IMT but the 3.4-3.6GHz band, within which WiMAX operates, was recognised and accepted by many countries as suitable for IMT, although it was not given a global allocation. Italy, the United Kingdom and Austria permit Mobile WiMAX on the 3.4 ~ 3.6 GHz spectrum, which is usually dedicated to backhaul.

The BBC reviews broadband around the world, while ZDNet has a ’round the world summary of WiMAX developments:

• Australia: The Howard government put some AU$1 billion into a scheme to cover Australia’s bush with a WiMax network. The network will be built by OPEL, will use the fixed variant of WiMax 802.16d, is scheduled to go live in 2009 and will provide speeds of up to 12Mbps, according to the Howard government.

  Other Australian WiMax networks are likely to spring up while some are already up and running: BigAir has networks in Sydney and Melbourne, while Unwired, currently in the throes of a takeover with broadcaster Seven, intends to upgrade to mobile WiMax — 802.16e — in the future. Austar too has WiMax spectrum, but is yet to deploy a network, hoping business models will evolve soon.

• United States:Sprint has been the chief proponent of WiMax and has committed to building a network covering 100 million users across the US, with a commercial launch slated for the end of 2008. Sprint maintains that the network will go ahead without their Clearwire partnership, but it will be reviewing its WiMax business plans.
• Canada: Bell Canada and Rogers Wireless have spawned Inukshuk Wireless, a 90 centre wireless network using pre-WiMax technology.
• Mexico: Pre-WiMax is being deployed, including a network using Navini, based on 802.16e. The network will cover 3.2 million points of presence, according to the operator. WiMax can also be found at sea in Mexico, connecting 11 Pemex offshore oil platforms, an average of 16km out to sea in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Taiwan: has been one of the most enthusiastic adopters of WiMax and plans to have the island blanketed with wireless broadband in a project known as M-Taiwan. The network is scheduled to go live from the end of the year, with six operators charged with providing connectivity. The country is reportedly spending US$664 million to make it happen.
• South Korea: created WiBro (short for wireless broadband), an progenitor of mobile WiMax (using OFDMA)and sold by telco KT and mobile operator SK Telecom.
• Japan: is already experimenting with WiMax and is planning to award a handful of licences before the end of the year. Interestingly, however, it’s not letting the usual suspects — mobile operators — take too much control over wireless broadband. Mobile companies are now only allowed to take up to a third stake in Japanese WiMax bids leaving the phone operators to typically partner with broadband providers, as well as securities companies, for licences.
• China: has been looking at WiMax and a number of small-scale networks have been rolled out, some with the help of Intel, one of the technology’s chief cheerleaders.

In order for Mobile WiMax to really take off, the three largest mobile subscriber capacity countries in the world today, the USA, China and India need to provide global interoperability on the same 2.5 GHz frequency range. Sprint is working with ZTE in order to influence the Chinese equipment vendors while Intel is working to adopt 2.5GHz frequency range in China and India.

According to IMS Research , shipments of WiMAX CPE are expected to increase from an estimated 250,400 shipments in 2006 to 41.9 million in 2012, and the number of base station sectors shipped will increase from around 7,000 in 2006 with revenues of $0.1 billion to around 408,000 in 2012 with revenues of around $2.2 billion.

Related Dailywireless stories include; World Radio Conference Wrap, BT’s European WiMAX Plan, Indian BreezeMAX to 50 Cities, WiMAX: 20M by 2010, Voice over BreezeMAX, Alvarion’s Mobile WiMAX, Redline Does 5.4GHz and Mobile WiMAX PlugFest.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Posted by Sam Churchill on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 2:37 pm.