October 7, 2008: WiMAX World Round-up
Even though Sprint is polishing the fine silver for its official Xohm launch party in Baltimore tomorrow, the buzz from WiMAX World last week is still dominating the WiMAX-centered newscycle. Check out this video re-cap of WiMAX World that RCR News put together and take a look at the round-up below for some of the coverage that followed from the show. Be sure to read to the end for a list of top ten takeaways from WiMAX World 2008 as compiled by WiMAX.com.
"In order to combat the threat from LTE, the WiMAX Forum is feverishly working with companies to develop lower-cost customer premises equipment (CPE) devices, since carrier profitability is tied to device cost. In fact, the cost of such devices should soon be in the $20-$30 range." -Rich Tehrani, WiMAX Today
Wireless Week delved into the controversial keynote M2Z Networks delivered at the 4G Executive Summit--the startup wants the FCC to hold a special auction so it can acquire unused AWS spectrum."[M2Z CEO John] Muleta, who also was a speaker during the 4G Executive Summit yesterday, said during an interview that the big carriers essentially want to delay competition by running the clock. The FCC proposed a set of orders in June. T-Mobile insisted on testing, and 'now it's been 4 months. They have done all the testing. We're now coming up to 5 months, and they're still asking for more time.' That, he said, essentially amounts to "squatting" on the U.S. spectrum." -Monica Alleven, Wireless Week
"Clearwire applications were shown to reporters in a well-equipped van during WiMax World in Chicago recently. The vehicle passed by eight different WiMax antennas in the citywide Xohm network being built by Motorola Inc. and due to go live before the end of the year. The vehicle was driven at speeds of about 35 mph and never dropped connections during a 15-minute test." -Matt Hamblen, ComputerWorld
"[Sprint's Atish] Gude said there has to be a catalyst for WiMAX. He thinks it will come from government and other large industries looking for an and-to-end solution. But Yankee's Ayvazian is still looking for a tipping point. 'We go to [the Consumer Electronics Show] and pound on the table for devices that are mobile enabled, but we still see the chicken and egg problem. What will be the tipping point?' Ayvazian said." -Tim McElligot, xchange
Here are WiMAX.com's top ten takeaways from WiMAX World this year: "WiMAX ecosystem is growing & beginning to scale, Sprint delivers XOHM, Clearwire on track, Current 3G networks will struggle with increased data usage, LTE is not a natural migration from GSM, Stickers will not improve the performance of a 3G network, The future 802.16m WIMAX profile is VERY fast, Cisco's Beam Forming Technology allows for better in-building propagation, Motorola has the best looking WiMAX USB Dongle and The XOHM CPE still looks like a two-handled coffee mug!" Perhaps a little skewed? Be sure to check out the explanations here.
