WiMAX technology offers a lot of promise, but it is necessary to separate hype from facts in order to adopt a balanced approach. Any technology and promises made by a technology must be workable and viable. A particular technology is a snapshot in time. For that period, it can be useful and beneficial to the extent that, it is ‘the one’ solving a particular problem-set.

WiMAX seeks to provide broadband wireless access that goes way beyond WiFi capabilities. It does not seek to replace WiFi, but complements it. For instance, while WiFi is standards-based, popular and works well, the WiFi hotspots still need to connect to the Internet backbone and that is where WiMAX can provide a cheaper and better alternative to the ones available right now. It can work both, at the back-end and in solving the last-mile connectivity. Apart from cable/DSL, it adds to the customer-choices, hopefully driving down the costs through competition for better services.

As of this moment, WiMAX shows tremendous promise, but is still regarded as unproven. This is true, in spite of all the current deployments across the globe. Most of these deployments are based on the fixed version: IEEE 802.16-2004. And, they are still trying it out. The real deal is IEEE 802.16-2005 which will provide full mobility. Products certified on this standard are expected early next year. Many vendors and companies have skipped the fixed version in favor of the mobile version since it can provide all possible configurations and cater to all possible needs for now. Given the kind of hype that media tends to generate, there are many who question or argue if WiMAX has a real business case at all.

While I advocate some caution, on the whole, I think that there is room for hope. Being standards driven, it opens up the field to one and all, leading to a wider adoption than a proprietary offering. Appropriate at this point to recall what Vint Cerf, TCP/IP co-developer and Internet pioneer, in Fast Company, April 2000, said, “People often take the view that standardization is the enemy of creativity. But I think that standards help make creativity possible — by allowing for the establishment of an infrastructure, which then leads to enormous entrepreneurialism, creativity, and competitiveness.”

WiMAX can work in licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Radio spectrum is always a precious commodity. Realizing the potential of WiMAX, most countries have acted upon this and so far, more than 500 licenses have already been granted. All kinds of players are taking active part in the adoption – from chip vendors, system integrators, network providers, mobile handset makers to service providers – everybody is cooperating on an unprecedented level to make this happen. The WiMAX Forum www.wimaxforum.org) is not just a voice for this technology. With its 400+ members, it actively seeks to provide certification for products from various vendors and remove barriers for inter-operability and adoption. Having worked with actual chip-sets in preliminary testing, I can see that this is a horse worth backing. Both enterprises and the individual consumer will benefit from the success of WiMAX technology.

Further Reading:

WiMAX Forum
On the Wikipedia
On HowStuffWorks
Padmashree Warrior’s blog
David Dean’s blog