Jeff Goldman

Last week, wireless chipset developer Atheros Communications announced that its 802.11a/g tech is featured in new equipment from Japanese equipment maker ICOM, including a wireless access point and router specifically designed to support wireless VoIP. ICOM’s AP-5100VoIP access point and SR-5200VoIP2 router are the first products using Atheros chips to target wireless VoIP, according to […]

At SUPERCOMM in Chicago this week, wireless equipment maker Aperto Networks launched its new PacketMAX system. The system is designed to provide full WiMax functionality as well as backward compatibility with Aperto’s PacketWave line – and unlike PacketWave, PacketMAX includes subscriber units targeted to both business and consumer users. Alan Menezes, Aperto’s Vice President of Marketing, […]

This week, remote access aggregator RemotePipes announced the formation of the WiMax Global Roaming Alliance (WGRA), a group dedicated to encouraging the development of global solutions for WiMax roaming. According to Eric Engbers, RemotePipes’ president, the company’s intention is to ensure that WiMax roaming solutions develop as smoothly as possible. “We see some of the […]

Last week at the Wireless USB Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif., Intel and Alereon demonstrated a Wireless USB media access controller (MAC) from Intel and a physical layer (PHY) from Alereon running at 480 Mbps—the maximum speed for wired USB. According to Alereon CEO Eric Broockman, the level of interest in the first-ever Wireless […]

Last week, ultrawideband-backer the WiMedia Alliance announced that no less than Microsoft had joined the group as a top-level “promoter member.” The Alliance now has 14 members at that level: Alereon, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Kodak, Microsoft, Nokia, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Staccato Communications, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, and Wisair. Kosar Jaff, product unit manager in Microsoft’s Windows […]

Last week, California-based fixed wireless provider NextWeb announced plans to launch voice over IP in its service areas in California and Nevada through a partnership with VoIP facilitator CommPartners. According to the companies, this will be the largest deployment of VoIP services over a pre-WiMax network in the U.S. Dave Williams, NextWeb’s vice president of […]

Last week, ultrawideband (UWB) solutions provider Wisair announced the release of its second generation WiMedia-MBOA-based chip, the 502, saying that this release makes Wisair the first UWB provider to embark on pre-production. The 502 chip is now available for shipment to customers. Wisair’s first MBOA-compliant silicon, the 501 chip, was released just over a year […]

At a recent Banc of America Securities conference on media, telecom and entertainment, Verizon Wireless Executive Vice President and CTO Dick Lynch described his company’s plans to eventually offer VoIP over the company’s cellular network. “I think 2008 or 2009 is the time when we’ll see it start to take hold in a real commercial […]

French WiMax startup Sequans Communications is casting itself as David against an industry full of Goliaths—and the tiny company has a strong chance in this new and unpredictable market. “We’re focusing on fixed and mobile broadband wireless—what’s referred to as IEEE 802.16 or WiMax, or WiBro to the Koreans,” says Bernard Aboussouan, Sequans’ vice president […]

This week at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France, Alcatel and Intel announced their intention to work together on nomadic and mobile WiMax solutions based on the IEEE 802.16e standard, with the goal of doing field trials early next year and bringing products to market a few months later. According to the announcement, the […]

A white paper published by the research firm Parks Associates takes an optimistic view of the prospects for successful deployment of ultrawideband (UWB) technology in the coming year, despite the inability of the IEEE to get the consensus needed to set a single standard. Analyst Kurt Scherf, the author, says significant UWB product announcements can […]

Two recent reports from research firms TelecomView and IDC offer slightly different perspectives on the potential market for WiMax technology. Both see the technology—now with another delay for true interoperability, according to America’s Network — as extremely influential. In fact, the TelecomView report, entitled “Wireless Broadband: Will it Replace 3G and Fixed Broadband,” suggests that […]