WiMAX, Mobile TV and 45nm go big in 2008
by Richard Wilson
Monday 7 January 2008

WiMAX, 45nm CMOS process technology and DVB-H mobile TV chipsets are lining up to be the important technology drivers for 2008.

The 802.16e WiMAX wireless broadband technology has made major strides toward commercial deployment in the last 12 months.

According to one supplier Motorola it is now "set to become a mainstream broadband wireless technology at least two years ahead of other alternative technologies".

“While we spent the majority of 2007 proving the commercial viability of WiMAX technology, we will see the commercial launch of dozens of WiMAX systems in 2008 with a wide variety of customer premises equipment, PC cards, mobile devices, and innovative applications," said Fred Wright, Motorola’s senior v-p for WiMAX and Cellular Networks.

As well as completing deployment of what it claims is the first 802.16e commercial WiMAX network, in Pakistan for Wateen Telecom, Motorola has completed first phase deployment of commercial WiMAX systems in France and Germany.

For anyone who thinks that the growth of WIMAX will compound the problem of just too many different radio standards, it is worth remembering that big bucks are being channelled into the development of multi-standard silicon.

A notable example is Intel which has developed a test chip for software defined radio that can handle WiFi, WiMAX and DVB-H digital TV in one chip.

This kind of chip would allow equipment to access the WiFi network in the home, automatically handover to a WiMAX network when you leave the house and also access digital TV on the move, all through one chip.

“There is a shift from people wanting their content any time, anywhere to any device, any network, and the problem is there are too many radios,” said Jeff Hoffman, system architect for the wireless communications lab.