Airspan Networks unveiled the world’s first self-installable indoor WiMAX products that link Desktop PCs, Laptops, Internet-ready telephone sets and other broadband devices directly to operator networks.
The AS.MAX family of WiMAX base stations and end-user devices includes support for residential and nomadic internet access, corporate data networks, and Voice-over-IP. The AS.MAX portfolio was demonstrated at stand E09 in Hall 13 at CeBIT and will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2005.
The AS.MAX family comprises two customer premises equipment (CPE) devices: the EasyST and ProST. The EasyST, which uses Intel Corporation’s “Rosedale” wireless broadband system-on-chip, connects IP-enabled devices directly to WiMAX networks and can be installed indoors by end users within minutes without the need for costly truck-roll deployments by the operators. Designed for the residential and small enterprise markets, the device is also the world’s first integrated voice and data WiMAX product, supporting two voice lines and an Ethernet connection. It can also act as an 802.11 Wi-Fi Access Point. The ProST CPE will serve larger enterprises and is designed for outdoor professional deployment. Both CPEs are designed to work on any WiMAX-Certified base station.
The AS.MAX family also includes point-to-multipoint base stations called HiperMAX, MacroMAX and MicroMAX, as well as an integrated point-to-point backhaul solution, PrimeMAX. The Software Defined Radio (SDR) in the base stations allows high-capacity AS.MAX base stations to be upgraded from the fixed to the mobile WiMAX standard, thereby enabling connections to laptops, PDAs and other portable devices supported by the emerging IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMAX standard.
Eric Stonestrom, President and Chief Executive Officer of Airspan Networks, said: “Broadband Wireless needs to be simple and affordable for operators and end users. With this in mind, we have designed AS.MAX as the most robust product family on the market. AS.MAX supports converged video, voice and data services on a single platform, which will make it very attractive to operators wishing to bundle multi-media service offerings to their end-customers. We have also introduced a broad range of products and devices to fit different network price points and densities, permitting low start-up capital expenditures for our customers which is an essential part of the offering. In addition, we will address the cellular backhaul market for the first time.”
“Airspan’s Easy ST is on track to begin to deliver the promise of WiMAX this year for residential and small business customers,” said Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel’s Broadband Wireless Division. “Broadband access is currently only available to a fraction of computer users, but WiMAX solutions will help bring high-speed wireless to the next generation of computer users.”
Paul Senior, Vice President, Marketing and Product Management at Airspan, said: “The AS.MAX platform makes ‘personal broadband’ a reality, and it will enable the delivery of services to devices, not locations. We have built on our 12 years of wireless voice and broadband experience to deliver class-leading, self-installable indoor WiMAX equipment, and we expect these products to be WiMAX Certified as soon as the WiMAX Forum opens its labs in July 2005.”
Airspan will commence trials of AS.MAX products with service providers in the second quarter of 2005, and expects commercial WiMAX network rollouts to begin in the third quarter of the year.
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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