Wavesat

WiMAX pulls into the reality station

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:59:58 -0400

Based on the types of announcements coming out of WiMAX World, which is in Chicago this week, WiMAX is pulling into the reality station. The industry has Sprint Nextel to thank for that as it puts pressure on handset and chipset suppliers to come to market by 2008 with Wave-2 compliant unsubsidized cheap devices that consume less power.

In particular, some big-named players in the silicon business made some notable announcements this week. Motorola announced its long-awaited WiMAX chipset for handheld devices. The solution is scheduled to debut in Motorola's line-up of WiMAX mobile devices beginning in 2008 for various carriers around the world, including Sprint's Xohm business unit.

Nokia will use Intel's Baxter Peak mobility chipset in its N Series Internet tablets, the ultra-portable computer line Nokia currently powers with WiFi and the first WiMAX handheld Nokia plans to ship in 2008. (See story No. 4)

Wavesat and IBM are working together to develop an 802.16e WiMAX chipset targeting consumer electronic devices. As part of the agreement, Wavesat's UMobile TM 802.16e chipset will be manufactured by IBM. This is IBM's first official WiMAX chip deal. (See story No. 5) The goal, the companies said, is to produce an out-of-the-box silicon platform so device makers won't have to add any additional storage.

I suspect we'll see several silicon players who were gun shy of WiMAX's prospects jumping into the game and partnering with those players that have a head start such as Beceem and Sequans.--Lynnette

Wavesat, IBM to develop mobile WiMAX chipset

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:59:53 -0400

Wavesat and IBM are working together to develop an 802.16e WiMAX chipset targeting consumer electronic devices. As part of the agreement, Wavesat's UMobile TM 802.16e chipset will be manufactured by IBM. The two are also collaborating on power-saving techniques such as voltage islands, aimed at lowering chipset power consumption and maximizing power efficiency for different modes of operation. This is IBM's first official WiMax chip deal.

To read more about the chipset pact:
- take a look at this press release

Wavesat maps 802.16e strategy

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:01:36 -0500

Wavesat is one of those innovative companies worth watching. The company's WiMAX presence has been bolstered with the announcement of its 802.16e strategy, which will center on its UMobile family of WiMAX chip sets. The company says the chips will support all the features of mobile WiMAX Wave 2 profiles. The first chip set in the UMobile family is code-named Panther, and it offers cost efficient and low power consuming SOC. It supports 802.16e-2005 and implements all MAC and PHY features required for Wave 2 WiMAX certification in a single chip, and it also includes MIMO and beam-forming technologies. Among the Panther's features:

High performance and programmable PHY & MAC, including smart antenna features such as MIMO 2x2.
Low cost and small footprint with on-chip DRAM in a 9x9mm package (no external memory required).
Low power consumption at 150 mW in receive mode by using ultra low power DSP technology and enhanced power saving modes.
Programmable architecture supporting multimode operation including ODFMA, OFDM and legacy 802.11a/g.

Wavesat is moving in the right direction. Adlane Fellah of Montreal-based Maraveids predicts that there will be an accumulated 87 million broadband Wireless Access subscribers (excluding cellular) by the end of 2012, 67 million of which will be WiMAX subscribers. "WiMAX will represent 90 percent of subscribers who are added in 2012, of whom 75 percent will be using 802.16-2005 technology," Fellah says. WiMAX chip sets will start to be embedded into laptops in the beginning of 2008, into handheld devices in the beginning of 2009, and into consumer electronics in the beginning of 2010. "In this context, Wavesat who has been a pioneer in the development of WIMAX SOCs is well positioned to tap into this future competitive WIMAX mobile market."

For more on Wavesat's 802.16e strategy:
- see press release

ALSO NOTED: Wavesat's new round of financing; New mini-PC in Japan; and much more...

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:01:31 -0500

> Wavesat, and innovative designer and supplier of WiMAX chipsets and software, has completed a significant new round of financing led by SK Telecom of Seoul, South Korea. Report

> In Japan they have a new mini-PC in the works, and this one comes from the unassuming Kohjisha company. This review says it bests the specs of most UMPCs while combining a 77-key keyboard; the SA1F00 may well be what aspiring UMPC fans have been waiting for.

> Tesco is showing two VoIP WiFi mobile handsets--one for the home and one for on-the-go. Report

> Puget Sound ferries used to offer free WiFi to ferry commuters; not anymore. The grant supporting the free service has run out, so as of December, commuters will have to pay $29.95 a month or $360 a year for the service. Report

> GaGe, the specialist in high-performance data acquisition solutions, has introduced new 802.11 WiFi testing systems. The NEXUS turn-key Wireless Testing Systems provide signal generation/analysis hardware and software required for testing of 802.11 a, b, g, j, and draft-n. Report

> Netgear's Skype WiFi phone receives the "Breakthrough Award" from Popular Mechanics magazine. Report

> Newbury Networks is showing its Location Appliance, which the company describes as the industry's first infrastructure-agnostic wireless location appliance. Press release

And finally...Hola, Foneros: Madrid, Spain-based FON has acquired the popular Firefox extension GSpace2. The FireFox extension allows users to treat their GMail accounts as an online file storage locker. Report

802.16e sales to surpass fixed WiMAX's by 2008

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:01:38 -0400

It won't be long now: ABI Research says that, by 2008, mobile WiMAX sales will surpass the sales of fixed WiMAX. This may surprise some, as 802.16-2004-based solutions have been adopted more and more during the past year. Still, the research group says that the mobile version, 802.16-2005, will arrive sooner than expected, and will likely be adopted at a faster clip than anticipated. ABI's Alan Varghese says, though, that in order to be technically and economically viable, mobile WiMAX ICs should hit "sweet spots" on a number of parameters, and that vendors who find these sweet spots will quickly benefit.

"ABI Research sees fixed WiMAX sales hitting a peak in 2007 and then leveling off," Varghese says. "Mobile WiMAX will start to see deployments in 2007, and the crossover point between the two will be late in 2008. Considering that it takes a year to design ASICs and then more time to design them into end-equipment, vendors up and down the value chain need to be discussing the required tradeoffs in their strategy meetings now."

Everything about a mobile platform--performance, power consumption, cost requirements--is more challenging. For example: MIMO will be required, but the technology requires more demanding circuitry, so IC vendors will have to trade off MIMO performance for die area, power usage, and price. Price is an issue as well: The ASP for the WiMAX RF is about $15 and for the baseband about $23; the total is more than the BOM for a low-tier device, so considerable cost reduction is needed.

WiMAX IC companies to watch: Beceem Communications and Runcom, two companies which bypassed 802.16d and headed directly toward 802.16e. Varghese says, however, that these two upstarts may well be eclipsed by companies such as Redpine Signals, RF Magic, Sequans, Sierra Monolithics, Telecis, and Wavesat, precisely because the latter companies have gained experience by deploying fixed WiMAX. He also says that we should not lose sight of giants such as Fujitsu and Intel.

For more on mobile WiMAX projections:
- see the summary of ABI Research's report

Intel-Pipex JV to roll out WiMAX in UK

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 20:01:35 -0400

Pipex, the alternative telecom provider (by its own admission), has received an important boost for its plans to offer WiMAX service to its customers: It has secured the backing of Intel. Intel has agreed to inject $25 million into a joint venture, called Pipex Wireless, which will roll out a high-speed Internet service across the 10 largest cities in the U.K. and take on mobile phone operators such as Vodafone. The venture will take over Pipex's 3.6 GHz spectrum license and will be able to supply Internet access to laptop users anywhere within a large conurbation.

Pipex said its WiMAX-based network will open in London and Manchester next year, with eight additional cities added in 2008. Chairman Peter Dubens added, "Intel is determined to make Centrino the mobile chip of choice and WiMAX the network of choice." Pipex is a bit on the restless side. Last week it bought entrepreneur John Caudwell's residential phones business Homecall for £43 million and saw its profit rise from £6.2 million to £7.1 million in 2005.

For more on Pipex WiMAX plans:
- see Dominic White's Daily Telegraph report
For Pipex's acquisition of Caudwell's phone business:
- see Tim Richardson's The Register report

PLUS: HCL Technologies, an IT solutions provider, and Wavesat, a developer of WiMAX silicon, will form a partnership which will use Wavesat's Evolutive WiMAX DM256 Series, along with HCL's WiMax MAC IP and Datacom engineering know-how to develop low-cost 802.16-compliant solutions. The first of several products to be jointly developed by the two companies will be launched in the first half of 2006. Report

ALSO: Siemens' WayMAXvantage solution has been WiMAX-certified by the WiMAX Forum. The product consists of a base station, modems and routers. The company says the product is ready for the future 802.16e-2005 OFDM profile and the ETSI HiperMAN standard. Report

FINALLY: Russian alternative telco Synterra has launched a commercial WiMAX network for business users in Moscow. Synterra plans to invest around $3 million in network development in Moscow this year and $4 million additionally in surrounding areas. WiMAX subscribers numbered several hundred at launch, with Synterra targeting "several thousand" corporate clients by the end of the year. Report

Trend: Questions about viability of fixed WiMax persist

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:01:38 -0500

Where is WiMax heading? This was the question at the recent WiMax World conference in Boston. There were two points of tension which were articulated in different ways by many of the speakers. The first market in which WiMax has made inroads is the fixed wireless market, but most of the large carriers are eagerly awaiting the arrival of mobile WiMax. The choice between fixed and mobile is important, since transition between the two will be difficult because of the incompatibility of platforms each uses.

The second point of tension has to do with the capabilities of the first generation of 802.16e. The first generation will not support high-speed mobility and hand-offs and may be better positioned as a WiFi-plus system supporting laptop or smartphone-based portability alongside fixed access. The key questions explicitly or implicitly addressed at the conference were what the size of the fixed WiMax market would be in light of the promise held by mobile WiMax, and whether mobile WiMax would have to achieve cellular levels of mobility in order to keep the interest of large operators and investors.

For more on the state of WiMax:
- see this Wireless Watch analysis

ALSO: Aperto, Axxcelera, Redline, Sequans and Wavesat offered a live interoperability demonstration between the companies' TDD-based WiMax base stations and customer premise equipment. Release

Sequans, Wavesat show WiMax plans

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:01:38 -0500

Cupertino, CA-based Sequans Communications and Quebec-based Wavesat each unveiled a chip set and a mini-PCI card reference kit designed to accelerate WiMax development and deployment, and both are doing so a week after initiating WiMax certification testing. Wavesat said its design is the first mini-PCI card design and that the company is targeting Asian ODMs. They, in turn, would accelerate the volume of WiMax CPE and push costs down. The reference kit joins Wavesat's DM256 baseband chip with an RF Magic front end for 3.5 GHz operation, with the company supporting the MAC layer in software. Wavesat is also working with SiGe Semiconductor for an RF front end. The kit will support both time-division duplex and half-frequency-division duplex operation. Wavesat has VCom, Edom and WaveIP as customers.

Sequans made an entrance with the SQN2010 and SQN1010 baseband-plus-MAC chips for basestations and CPE. The chips are made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in its 0.13 micron CMOS process and are an ARM926 processor and the baseband processing. The SQN2010 basestation chip adds another ARM926 for customer applications. RF front-end partners include Sierra Monolithics and RF Magic. The 2010 is a 31x31mm BGA package and consumes between 1.5 and 2.5 watts. The 1010 is a 23x23mm BGA and consumes 1 to 2 watts. Sequans says Airspan and Cambridge Broadband are among its customers. The chips from both Wavesat and Sequans sell for $35 each in quantities of 10,000. The two companies have plans for 802.16e.

For more on Sequans and Wavesat WiMax plans:
- see Patrick Mannion's commsdesigns report