As the industry rallies around WiMAX, Intel, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks have announced that they are testing interoperability across Intel's forthcoming WiMAX chipsets, Nokia's WiMAX devices and Nokia Siemens Networks' WiMAX infrastructure equipment.
Nokia also said it will use Intel's WiMAX silicon, codenamed "Baxter Peak," in its forthcoming Nokia Nseries Internet Tablets. The Internet tablets will be among the very first WiMAX-enabled open Internet devices expected to ship in 2008.
"WiMAX … makes it possible to get content on a variety of new mobile devices at broadband speed, and our Baxter Peak solution is designed specifically for these exciting new devices," Raviv Melamed, general manager of Intel's Mobile Wireless Group, said in a statement.
Intel, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks have already started testing their equipment and devices with dozens of other equipment vendors' products for interoperability and conformance with industry standards in Sprint's testing labs. The companies hope that early interoperability testing will help to reduce the time required for their respective products to successfully pass the technical requirements of the WiMAX Forum.
With the current economic climate, wireless operators face shrinking marketing budgets and reduced consumer spending.
Globally, the credit crunch is very much alive, and operators will be tightening their belts into the foreseeable future by putting off capital purchases.
