Beceem Announces a WiMax Milestone

The Beceem MS120 Mobile WiMax chip set has proven its ability to work with a variety of commercial base station vendors in a formal test, called a “plugfest,” at Bechtel Labs in Frederick, Md.

In a test that ended Oct. 1, the Beceem reference design worked with vendors including Alcatel, Alvarion, Motorola and Navini.

The growing WiMax standard is similar to Wi-Fi, but is intended to be used over much greater distances.

WiMax networks need both a base station and mobile terminals to operate.

The Beceem chip set is a very early contender in meeting the IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard.

“A plugfest is an interoperability event that WiMax Forum uses to bring all of the manufacturers together to work out problems,” said Aditya Agrawal, senior director of marketing at Beceem Communications and chair of Certification Working Group for the WiMax Forum.

For more on this topic, see The All-Mobile Workplace Will Change Everything-Eventually

“This is in preparation for certification,” Agrawal said. “We were already able to interoperate with the key base station manufacturers.”

Agrawal said that the successful test is critical for the industry.

“It’s a huge milestone for the industry because it means that these terminal chip set solutions can be used in mobile terminals, PC Cards, handsets, etc.” he said.

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