Using smart WiMAX technology, the conjunction of smart beamforming with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) on a mobile WiMAX (802.16e) network, Navini Networks (www.navini.com) and Fujitsu Microelectronics America (FMA) (www.fujitsu.com) have jointly demonstrated multivendor interoperability. According to the partners, smart WiMAX systems will provide an estimated doubling of system capacity, while offering up to twice the coverage of simple WiMAX networks in a fully mobile setting.

The demonstration, the first in the industry between two different vendors, took place in Navini's test facility in Richardson, Texas, using Navini's Ripwave MX8 base station running mobile WiMAX software and a CPE reference design prototype based on the Fujitsu MB86K21 802.16e-2005 mobile WiMAX chip. Smart WiMAX beamformed connectivity was achieved using “dedicated pilots,” a mandatory feature for all Wave 2 mobile station subscriber devices required for certification under published WiMAX Forum profiles.

NextWave Broadband (www.nextwave.com) and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (www.huawei.com) are conducting interoperability testing of Next-Wave's mobile WiMAX chipsets, based on the IEEE 802.16e standard, with Huawei's WiMAX infrastructure equipment. The testing, being conducted at NextWave Broadband's facilities in San Diego, Calif., is evaluating the interoperability of NextWave first-generation mobile WiMAX chipset that includes the NW1100 baseband system-on-a-chip (SOC) and matched NW1200 multiband RFIC and Huawei's WASN9770 ASN-GW and BTS3703 three-sector base station (BTS) platforms.

In addition to the interoperability evaluation, Huawei's commercial WiMAX equipment is being tested at the NextWave trial network facility in Henderson, Nev. Key features being tested include handover, mobility, and enhanced services such as voice-over-IP (VoIP) and video streaming.

Bath, England-based picoChip (www.picochip.com) has added Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd. (L&T Infotech) as a partner design center for its picoArray multicore DSP. Based in Mumbai, India and part of the $5 billion Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Corp., L&T Infotech offers its customers a comprehensive product development service for communications equipment based on the picoArray. Although, this relationship starts with WiMAX, where the two companies are cooperating on customized variants of picoChip's industry-standard reference designs, it also extends to other DSP applications.

The agreement will give OEMs, CEMs and operators the ability to bring to market advanced, carrier-class product designs, quickly and with a low total cost of ownership, stated picoChip. L&T Infotech has expertise in the design of wireless infrastructure, mobile handsets, WiMAX equipment, and advanced signal-processing codecs.

With 7,200 people, L&T Infotech is one of the largest engineering and technology organizations in India. Its team of 1,500 telecom software consultants and solution architects develop software applications and components for mobile handset manufacturers, telecom equipment and product vendors, telecom operators, semiconductor companies and service providers across the globe.

Motorola (www.motorola.com) has secured two contracts for WiMAX network infrastructure from Taiwan's Far EasTone Telecom (FET) (www.fareastone.com.tw) as part of the operator's role in the national M-Taiwan project. FET is one of Taiwan's largest 2G/3G telecom operators, with more than 6.4 million subscribers — about 33% share of the local wireless mobile market. FET is a key player in the Taiwanese government's M-Taiwan project, an initiative to create a standards-compliant environment supporting services, education, and entertainment on a national level.

Rollout of FET's WiMAX network will be two-phased. Phase 1 implementation commenced last month and is expected to be completed by the end of December. The second phase is expected to be completed in early 2008.

The global telecommunications industry is on the cusp of major change, and operators are approaching critical decisions about their 4G strategies, as mobile WiMAX (802.16e) starts to move from trials and pilots to the first real-world WiMAX network deployments.

A study by ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) “WiMAX Market Analysis and Forecasts” shows that mobile operators and other service providers are planning mobile WiMAX networks all over the world in the 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands.

“The mobile wireless industry is in a state of major change as mobile operators decide which IP-OFDMA path they will take for their 4G networks,” said principal mobile broadband analyst Philip Solis.

The research forecasts substantial numbers of WiMAX subscribers worldwide: more than 95 million using CPE devices by 2012, and almost 200 million using mobile devices, with some overlap between the two groups.

Solis pointed out that while WiMAX equipment interoperability certification timelines have slipped, WiMAX has at least a two-year head start in reaching the market. Major semiconductor and equipment makers, with the exception of Qualcomm and Ericsson, are staking their positions for this emerging sector, while operators' enthusiasm, led by Sprint's and Clearwire's commitments in the United States, is rising. Vodafone is looking to WiMAX for some of its newer markets such as the Middle East and Eastern Europe; BT and Telecom Italia Mobile are also showing interest. And ABI Research understands that another unnamed “major European mobile operator” is “seriously considering WiMAX.”