Aperto Networks Wimax equipment Selected for Greek Deployment

OTE, which holds a 3.5 GHz point-to-multipoint nationwide license from Greece’s regulatory authorities, currently provides telephony services to approximately 200,000 consumers living in isolated agricultural areas across Greece using legacy wireless systems operating in the 1.5 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands. OTE plans to transition to wireless broadband services as part of a nationwide 3.5 GHz WiMAX network. OTE will deploy Aperto’s PacketMAX 5000 base stations, the industry’s highest density, highest capacity, and highest performing base station; along with Aperto’s PM 100 subscriber units, PM20 indoor VoIP Gateway Routers, and Aperto’s WaveCenter™ EMS Pro element management system.“After rigorous technical analysis, OTE reached the decision to deploy the network based on Aperto gear as it showed superior performance and resilience,” said Kostas Drossos CEO of Heletel SA.
“A nationwide WiMAX network powered by Aperto Networks will enable OTE to offer consumers and enterprises a wide range of value-added, high bandwidth data communications services, such as MPLS, VPN, leased line, and Internet access, as well as VoIP, telemedicine, e-education, e-governance, and e-commerce in remote areas.”

Kyocera Collaborates with Runcom on Mobile WiMAX Devices

By The Associated Press
(Wireless Week) _ Kyocera Wireless and Runcom are planning to develop new consumer electronic devices that make use of mobile WiMAX technology.
Known for its CDMA wireless devices, Kyocera is looking to Runcom to provide its expertise in OFDMA and mobile WiMAX technology. With WiMAX delivering high-speed broadband wirelessly to large areas at a lower cost, some companies are betting that the technology will outshine current 3G data networks.
Runcom and Kyocera already have developed early plans for PC cards, residential gateways and customer premises equipment that can take advantage of the wireless technology.

Pipex Trials WiMax

High-speed broadband will be delivered over Airspan’s HiperMAX WiMAX base stations, one of which will be located at the National Grid Wireless’ headquarters in southern Warwick. Intel Solutions Services is working with the council providing support for the introduction of wireless and other technologies, and evaluating performance.
Chris Elliott, Chief Executive, Warwick District Council, comments, "Attracting the latest wireless broadband and voice services to the area is great news. We are looking to make the District a technologically advanced area to live and do business in. Working with Pipex Wireless on this trial and beyond is a vitally important step to achieve this aim."
Stephen Marshall, CEO National Grid Wireless, says, "We are pleased to be working with both Warwick District Council and Pipex Wireless to deliver WiMAX services in our home town. Our business is founded on the delivery of infrastructure and managed service solutions to the wireless and broadcast industry, and we believe the roll out of wireless broadband networks will be complementary to the wide range of technologies already deployed by our organisation."
Mike Read, CEO, Pipex Wireless, adds, "Following the initial success of our Milton Keynes trial, we are delighted to expand our WiMAX services into new towns and cities in the UK. Working with National Grid Wireless and Warwick District Council further develops our wireless capability and we are looking forward to more organisations, businesses and consumers using WiMAX."

NEXCOM FIRST TO MARKET TO OFFER WIMAX IN BULGARIA

Nexcom announced the launch of its commercial WIMAX network for high speed data and voice in 10 cities in Bulgaria, with plans to cover 85% of the population.
Date Released: 01/27/2007
NEXCOM FIRST TO MARKET TO OFFER WIMAX IN BULGARIA
Nexcom announced the launch of its commercial WIMAX network for high speed data and voice in 10 cities in Bulgaria, with plans to cover 85% of the population.
SOFIA, Bulgaria, Jan 25. Nexcom Bulgaria – a leading telecommunications operator with more than 8 years of experience in Bulgaria has announced today that it has launched the 1st commercial WIMAX network in Bulgaria and the Balkans. The network spans 10 cities and is based on the fixed 802.16 standard using the BreezeMAX™ suite from Alvarion – a WiMAX Forum founding member and worldwide leader in WiMAX deployments.
“The good news is that WiMAX is not just a promise for high-speed wireless voice, data and video transfer. WiMAX is already a reality in Bulgaria”, said Emil Nikolov, CEO of Nexcom Bulgaria. “We are proud not only to be the first company to offer WiMAX service in Bulgaria, but to be a pioneer in market liberalization, providing the first real alternative to the incumbent operator. We are excited with the huge potential of WIMAX and we plan to quickly expand in more than 30 cities in 2007 covering 85% of the Bulgarian population.”
Nexcom’s WiMAX network supports a myriad of applications and services, ranging from voice and high-speed data – both for residential and business customers, to leased line replacement and VPN for corporate users. Currently the company will provide fixed wireless solutions, progressively upgrading in 2007-2008 to nomadic and mobile services.
About Nexcom: Nexcom is the leading competitive telecommunications operator in Bulgaria offering voice and data services to business and residential customers. Nexcom is 100% owned by the US-based Nexcom Telecommunications LLC which pioneered the market for VoIP and alternative telecommunications service throughout Central and Eastern Europe in the late 90s.

WiMAX security gaps

Stan Schatt, vice-president of broadband and wireless networks with ABI Research:
"WiMAX is a lot stronger than Wi-Fi was when it first came out because people learn from Wi-Fi's mistakes," said Stan Schatt, vice-president of broadband and wireless networks with ABI Research. "[But] there are number areas of Wi-Fi that gaps have not been filled in by standards and companies have come in with their own solutions. If you look at WiMAX, some of the same situations are true, "
...
"One of the things that WiMAX does is it knows there is going to be certain devices where people can't authenticate, where [they are] not going to have a browser to answer password questions. WiMAX's solution is to have a set of MAC addresses that are acceptable to the system [but] one of the problems is you can have someone spoof that MAC address, "
...
"Vendors have to follow the lead of Wi-Fi vendors and partner to fill in gaps. So, if you don't have good end point security then you should partner with someone with good end point security," said Schatt. "We will see partnerships over the next two to three years. Many of the vendors are small so they are going to have to partner anyways [as they] don't have complete solutions themselves."
...
"The bottom line is that WiMAX is off to a better start than Wi-Fi but there are still security gaps that require partnerships to fill. Since there are not many installations [yet], there is still time to fill in those gaps,"

A WiMax delay in India because the lack of spectrum

Adoption of WiMax in India has slowed because the government has not released sufficient wireless spectrum, an Intel Corp. executive said Wednesday in Bangalore. Intel's advice to global regulatory agencies is that WiMax will need a lot of spectrum because a lot of people will want to connect to the Internet, Maloney said. "Network decisions live with you for a very long time, and when you are looking at spectrum for WiMax, you are making decisions that you need to live with for 10, 20 or 30 years," he added.
Intel expects that the market for Wi-Fi equipment will be larger than for WiMax, Maloney said. Wi-Fi will continue to be popular as a local-area network technology. Intel's intention is that over the next two to three years, the two technologies will merge, with Wi-Fi chips supporting WiMax, and WiMax chips supporting Wi-Fi, he added.

Network equipment makers benefit from M-Taiwan program for WiMAX orders

Irene Chen, Taipei; Carrie Yu, DigiTimes.com [Thursday 25 January 2007]
International players such as Motorola, Alcatel, Alvarion and Airspan Networks have sought out partnership deals with Taiwan-based network-equipment makers including Accton Technology, Zyxel Communications, Gemtek Technology and Cameo Communications for WiMAX base stations, according to sources.
The focus of the partnerships will be Pico and Micro base stations within the Taiwan market, sources at the Taiwan-based makers said.
In the past, the international makers seldom worked with more than one network-equipment partner from among Taiwan-based network-equipment makers. However, since the Taiwan government implemented its Mobile Taiwan (M-Taiwan) Program, which dictates that participating companies need to at least source half of their overall purchases from Taiwan vendors, with at least 20% of the equipment needed for new bases to be from Taiwan-based makers, the international makers have become more aggressive in working with Taiwan-based network-equipment makers, the sources indicated.

WiMAX equipment cost reduce efforts

Efforts to reduce the cost of WiMAX equipment
Delivering the keynote address, Intel Corporation's Chief of Sales and Marketing, Sean Maloney, said Intel would work on making WiMAX a global standard besides attempting to reduce cost of usage.
There is a big opportunity in low cost WiMAX equipment too, Mr. Maloney said while predicting a drop in the prices of Customer Premise Equipment from the current $100 to $40. During 2006, he said, over 250 WiMAX deployments and trials took place worldwide. Intel is actively involved in clearing the fog surrounding spectrum standardisation for WiMAX. It launched a Wi-Fi and WiMAX chip late in 2006 — the Connection 2250. This chip can take on any spectrum that is finalised.
Mr. Maloney said the emergence of a new class of devices, such as ultra mobile PC, small PCs, low cost PCs, health devices and entertainment or education specific devices, would drive mobile Internet.
The conversion to notebooks over the past three years would replicate in India too, he said adding that by 2008, WiMAX enabled laptops could be seen. The market for fixed WiMAX (802.16d, which will connect home/office to the WiMAX network) would be significant and larger than that of mobile WiMAX (802.16e), said Mr. Maloney.

Bulgarian telco Nexcom rolls out WiMAX services

Telecom start-up Nexcom Bulgaria Thursday started marketing WiMAX services.
The wireless network of the company covers the capital Sofia and Sofia region, Bansko, Burgas, Nesebar and the Sunny Beach resort where customers will have access to broadband Internet and voice services.
Nexcom is in the process of installing base stations in some other regional cities like Plovdiv, Varna, Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo, Sliven and Yambol.
The telco plans to be doing business in all Bulgarian cities with population of up to 50,000 by the end of 2007. The company plans to invest $20 mln in its network through 2009, said executive director Emil Nikolov.
The WiMAX services are popular in the local ski and sea resorts which lack fixed lines and in urban areas where customers are looking for an alternative to former telecom monopoly BTC, said Nikolov.
The company is aiming for a 35-40% share of the market controlled by alternative telecoms and for 10% of the domestic fixed line voice segment, a goal attainable in 5-6 years, said marketing manager Milko Georgiev.(Dnevnik)

WiMAX equipment market to reach $20 billion by 2010

Wireless communications is likely to continue to dominate the telecommunications sector in 2007. One of the technologies that will take a step forward this year is WiMAX, the market for which is expected to reach $20 billion by 2010. WiMAX is supposed to be the long-term solution for broadband wireless communications and, at a later stage, also mobile communications. Almost everyone engaged in the telecommunications sector can sense WiMAX’s impending arrival. Equipment and technology providers are optimistic about its rapid implementation, despite the alternatives for broadband wireless communications that have also begun to surface.

More WiMAX networks in the UK

The number of WiMax networks in the UK is expected to double by 2007.

UK's first true WiMax service by Urban WiMAX

London and nine other cities are getting a new free WiMax service.
Urban WiMAX claims that the new offering is the most advanced service on offer in the capital to date and it will be available on a trial basis free of charge from April until July, when a full paid service will be launched.
Urban WiMax plans to charge between 50-70 per cent of the price of BT's SDSL prices at wholesale levels.
Urban WiMax CEO and founder, Sasha Williamson, said: "The potential for WiMax is enormous. Wireless connectivity is no longer just about Wi-Fi connections to the internet in your office meeting room or Starbucks, it’s a primary data connection, offering all the security guarantees that businesses require. WiMax was designed with security, quality and reliability at its core."
250 businesses in central London will be connected by WiMAX equipment to the internet from April and Urban WiMax has plans to roll out the service to nine other cities in the UK by 2007, if it proves successful.

WiMAX equipment and year 2007

The year 2007 will therefore be critical for the development of WiMAX, a wireless technology built on the foundation of the IEEE 802.16 family protocols. 802.16 uses the same logical link control standard as 802.11 and 802 standards, but unlike 802.11, which uses a contention-based MAC (Media Access Control) protocol, 802.16's MAC is a scheduled MAC, where each node gets a predefined time slice. Aggregate performance is claimed to be up to 70Mbps, but this varies depending on implementation. Borrowing on the success of Wi-Fi, the companies behind WiMAX, led by Intel, have developed a certification program that should assure users of at lease basic multivendor, and interoperability. That should certainly stimulate significant market competition and lower prices in the wireless industry, un-enabling WiMAX to supplant Wi-Fi or 3G, at least for the next several years. The real fun in the WiMAX market will happen through out the year 2007 when mobile WiMAX, based on the 802.16e standard, begins to appear. Mobile WiMAX, when coupled with VoIP, could alter the WWAN landscape, replacing existing cellular phone WWAN systems. This is something that most of us need to worry about throughout the year 2007.

Best of WiMAX World Award for System Design

ADAPTIX recently won the Best of WiMAX World Award for System Design for its compact and flexible BX-3000 series of mobile base stations. The BX-3000 series incorporates technology covered by the company’s IP portfolio. It features ADAPTIX’s powerful third-generation OFDMA engine that supports standards-based IEEE 802.16e-2005 functionality and interoperability. All ADAPTIX base stations and terminals are built on a highly programmable software-defined radio (SDR) architecture for maximum performance, flexibility and serviceability.

WiMAX equipment will be deployed in Warwick, UK

The second deployment of high-speed WiMAX wireless connectivity in Britain, by an Intel-Pipex joint venture, will go live as early as May in the historic English town.
The trial will involve three sites in the Leamington Spa and Warwick area, and will deliver products including; leased line replacement, voice over IP, home workers broadband and dedicated broadband connectivity using WiMAX.
Chris Elliott, Chief Executive, Warwick District Council, comments, "Attracting the latest wireless broadband and voice services to the area is great news. We are looking to make the District a technologically advanced area to live and do business in. Working with Pipex Wireless on this trial and beyond is a vitally important step to achieve this aim."
If deployment in Warwick is successful, the roll-out of the service will be accelerated to other cities including Manchester. Pipex Wireless is also looking at plans to rollout the technology in a rural area.

WiMAX equipment will reach more than 90 percent attach rate on notebooks

Intel has often compared Wi-Fi to WiMax, and on Wednesday Chandrasekher said the company aims in time to reach the same attach rate for WiMax on notebooks as Wi-Fi has today -- more than 90 percent, he said.
Mobile WiMax deployment, set to start late this year and reach 100 million U.S. residents next year. Intel expects at least four other large commercial deployments of mobile WiMax in the world this year, serving more than 20 million subscribers. The fixed form of WiMax already has more than 40 commercial deployments.

WiMAX equipment will reach more than 90 percent attach rate on notebooks

Intel has often compared Wi-Fi to WiMax, and on Wednesday Chandrasekher said the company aims in time to reach the same attach rate for WiMax on notebooks as Wi-Fi has today -- more than 90 percent, he said.
Mobile WiMax deployment, set to start late this year and reach 100 million U.S. residents next year. Intel expects at least four other large commercial deployments of mobile WiMax in the world this year, serving more than 20 million subscribers. The fixed form of WiMax already has more than 40 commercial deployments.