Intel: WiMax is the way to go

SINGAPORE--Compared to mesh technology, WiMax is a better platform to extend the coverage of the country's national broadband backbone that provides free Internet access to it citizens, according to a senior executive at Intel.
Speaking to reporters at the local launch of Santa Rosa--Intel's latest iteration of Centrino--Patrick Liew, Intel's country manager for Singapore, noted that mesh networking was eventually chosen to deploy the Wireless@SG network due to timeline constraints.

However, Liew said, service providers involved in the nation-wide wireless network are starting to feel the heat of the limitations of the mesh technology.

"I believe if you talk to any of the providers now, what they are finding difficult is [supporting] the pervasiveness... How do you provide a service that is more pervasive than it is now?" Liew noted.

"Eventually, they are going to 10,000 access points, they're going to have difficulty in the management so, something like WiMax is probably that will interest them."

NEC to Establish Mobile WiMAX Research Centre in Taiwan to Promote Global WiMAX Business

(ASSODIGITALE.IT) Tokyo and Taipei, May 14, 2007 --- NEC Corporation announced its plan to establish a mobile WiMAX research centre in Taiwan. This will form a part of NEC's global WiMAX business expansion strategy. A Memorandum of Understanding for the cooperation within the area of WiMAX business was signed today with the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The "Multimedia E2E R&D Center" will be established as part of the "M-Taiwan" project being lead by the Taiwanese Government. M-Taiwan is a national project to establish a networked information society and to cultivate IT-related industries in the domestic market. Taiwan aims to upgrade its IT infrastructure based on wireless broadband application technology and cultivate domestic industries related to WiMAX - two major objectives of the M-Taiwan project.

End-to-end live wireless development environments, using NEC's WiMAX base stations and application service platforms, will be provided at the new centre. NEC will open the centre to local equipment vendors to enable the implementation of inter-operability tests, supporting service providers and software vendors in the development and verification of application services. Demonstration results will be fed back to enable further development by NEC. The centre will be established in Taipei within 2007.

Currently, NEC is conducting a WiMAX trial as part of the M-Taiwan project with Tatung Company* and has demonstrated internet access and video streaming in Hualien city. As a result, Tatung plans to acquire an official WiMAX business license in June.

NEC will collaborate with Taiwanese WiMAX-related industries and contribute to the establishment of a ubiquitous society in Taiwan. By leveraging its experience and achievements in Taiwan, NEC plans to pioneer the global expansion of WiMAX business.

Comsys ComMAX Mobile WiMAX Processors to Power dmedia Advanced Personal Navigation Devices

Taipei – dmedia System Co. Ltd (dmedia), a leading Taiwanese manufacturer of navigation devices, announced today that it has selected Comsys’ Mobile WiMAX baseband processor, ComMAX™, for its new product line of Advanced Personal Navigation Devices (PND). Using ComMAX will enable dmedia to deliver products, including a unique smart phone handheld navigation device, that take advantage of Comsys’ embedded mobile WiMAX convergence technology.

dmedia will incorporate ComMAX CM1100 processors in it’s new line of S301 smart phones, enabling them to support both GSM and WiMAX technologies via ComMAX’s dual mode operation. The efficient connectivity of WiMAX to the mobile internet will allow easy online interfacing with the advanced smart phone navigation system, enabling a smooth navigation experience for the user. dmedia S301 smart phones are expected to be released to the market starting mid 2008.

Elkana Ben-Sinai, Comsys CEO commented, “We are very pleased to have been selected by dmedia, and to take part in enabling their devices for the WiMAX era. Both companies have high level engineers and a shared passion for innovation that will enable rapid delivery a unique device to the market”.

Daniel Shih, the CEO of dmedia, said, “Our decision to select Comsys was based on their profound knowledge in the cellular technology, especially in carrying out a fast, and easy integration of Cellular and WiMAX. We strongly believe they are the right partner to expedite production and shipment of our smart phone PND products to the market.”

ComMAX CM1100 is a full Mobile WiMAX (IEEE802.16e) baseband processor designed for an easy integration into mobile Internet devices. The processor enables cellular/WiMAX convergence while providing significant size and power savings, and is fully compliant with WiMAX Forum™ second certification wave profile requirements. It provides the complete Mobile WiMAX communication features essential for mobile internet devices such as feature phones, smart phones, PDAs and other wireless connected consumer electronic devices. The processor integrates an advanced OFDMA/MIMO PHY and MAC and has been designed to operate efficiently with cellular baseband chips in multimode, over multiple frequency bands. Specifically designed for highly embedded mobile applications, the processor supports high vehicular speeds, optimized handover and features low power consumption.