News | June 11, 2010

WiMAX Forum Announces First WiMAX Certified MIMO 2.3 GHz Mobile Products

The WiMAX Forum recently revealed the first Mobile WiMAX products to receive the WiMAX Forum Certified Seal of Approval for the MIMO 2.3 GHz profile. The completion of the 2.3 GHz certification testing profile allows WiMAX Forum designated labs to accept tri-band (2.3, 2.5 and 3.5 GHz) products and immediately begin the certification process.

Following months of rigorous testing to ensure that each WiMAX product met the strict WiMAX Forum interoperability and conformance standards, the announcement included two base stations operating in the 2.3 GHz band from Huawei and Samsung.

"I would like to congratulate Huawei and Samsung for leading the way for WiMAX Certified 2.3 GHz products," said Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum. "This spectrum band is increasingly important with India's BWA auction currently underway. WiMAX services in India and other counties with poor broadband penetration will create new opportunities and generate economic vitality and jobs for millions of people while closing the digital divide gap in rural areas."

Tests of the newly certified products were conducted at WiMAX Forum testing labs in China and Korea. In addition to these labs, the ADT lab in Taiwan recently completed the construction of its 2.3 GHz test bed infrastructure and is ready to begin testing of submitted products.

"The competition of the first 2.3 GHz certified products opens the door to our designated labs accepting tri-band products for certification testing," said Ed Agis, Chair of the WiMAX Forum Certification Working Group. "Tri-band WiMAX devices operating in the 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequency bands will enable true global roaming across networks with agreements in place. We expect the first tri-band products to be certified in 2010."

WiMAX operators with 2.3GHz spectrum holdings are among the fastest growing sector in the WiMAX ecosystem. Globally, the WiMAX Forum has tracked more than 50 commercial deployments in this spectrum band and 588 total WiMAX deployments in 148 countries as of April 2010.

More than 205 Mobile WiMAX certified products have achieved certification to date. Currently, more than 25 WiMAX Forum member companies manufacture WiMAX base stations and 47 WiMAX Forum member companies are CPE and end user device suppliers. The WiMAX Forum estimates that by 2011 there will be more than 1,000 Mobile WiMAX Forum Certified products commercially available. The WiMAX Forum partner labs network includes six labs that are now open and ready to accept products for certification testing in China, Korea, Spain, U.S., and two labs in Taiwan (ADT and TTC/CS).

Huawei and Samsung are both sponsors of WiMAX Forum Global Congress 2010 in Amsterdam June 16-17, 2010. For more information about the WiMAX Forum Congress Series or for a full program for the Global Congress 2010 event, please visit www.wimaxforum.org.

Additional information on WiMAX Forum 2.3 GHz certified products:

Huawei
Product Certified: DBS3900 Base Station
The DBS3900 WiMAX is the distributed WiMAX BS developed by Huawei and complies with IEEE 802.16e standards. Currently, the DBS3900 WiMAX satisfies the application requirements of high-end mobile WiMAX networks, and thus is applicable to global markets. Its coverage and capacity are expanded through 4T4R multi-antenna technologies, its maintainability and testability are improved, and thus it provides subscribers with wireless broadband access services of large capacity and high quality.

Samsung
Product Certified: SPI-2410-2S00 Base Station
"We're very pleased that Samsung becomes one of the first Mobile WiMAX providers by passing the WiMAX Forum Certification tests for the MIMO 2.3 GHz profile. Samsung is ready to provide the most optimized Mobile WiMAX solution in Asian market such as India, Indonesia and Thailand. Based on technical leadership and numerous business experiences, we will introduce more cutting-edge and cost-effective Mobile WiMAX solution for each country." said Mr. Woonsub Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of the Telecommunication Systems Business at Samsung. Samsung possesses WiMAX Forum® certified product lineups in all bands, including MIMO 2.3GHz (Jun 2010), 3.5GHz (Feb 2009), 2.5GHz (Jun 2008) and 2.3GHz (Apr 2008).

About WiMAX Forum
The WiMAX Forum is an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16e/ETSI HiperMAN standard. A WiMAX Forum goal is to accelerate the introduction of these systems into the marketplace.

WiMAX Forum Certified products are interoperable and support broadband fixed, nomadic, portable and mobile services. Along these lines, the WiMAX Forum works closely with service providers and regulators to ensure that WiMAX Forum Certified systems meet customer and government requirements. Through the WiMAX Forum Congress Events Series of global trade shows and events, the WiMAX Forum is committed to furthering education, training and collaboration to expand the reach of the WiMAX ecosystem. For more information, visit the trade show link at www.wimaxforum.org.

About WiMAX Forum Global Congress
WiMAX Forum Global Congress 2010 is the world's only dedicated operator-led global WiMAX event. This year, the operator led agenda of over 60 speakers features over 35 top level operator speakers who will present current case studies. Other program highlights include a pre-conference workshop ‘Successful strategies for WiMAX operators to compete and prosper in the wider broadband ecosystem' hosted by ReWheel (15th June), Analyst Breakfast Briefings (16th-17th June), and an evening workshop led by Wireless 20/20 on 16th June. For more information please visit: http://www.wimaxforumglobalevents.com/global

WiMAX Forum Global Congress 2010 is sponsored by Intel, Samsung, Alvarion, Huawei, ZTE, Tellabs, Motorola, Ciena, MACH and Bridgewater Systems.

SOURCE: WiMAX Forum