WiMAX, as with many new technologies, is based on an open standard. Although standards increasingly play a crucial role in driving adoption, they are not sufficient to guarantee success. A standard-based technology will success only if a solid ecosystem of operators, vendors, and solution and content providers emerge to support it, as is in the case of WiMAX. WiMAX enables intervendor interoperability which brings lower costs, greater flexibility and freedom, and faster innovation to operators.
Within the WiMAX industry there is a strong commitment to ensuring full interoperability through certification and ad-hoc testing between vendors. It is important for network operators to realize how interoperability is established and what it covers so that they understand how different products, solutions, and applications from different vendors can coexist in the same WiMAX network. The advantages that interoperability brings are multiple. Some of these advantages are the ability to choose among vendors, flexibility when choosing the appropriate network elements and components, success to the latest cutting-edge technology, and an open architecture which makes it easier for operators to roll out new revenue-generation services and applications as they can rely on wider pool of suppliers.
The two categories of equipment vendors include the network equipment vendors and the terminal equipment vendors. Network equipment includes ASN and CSN equipment, and vendors include companies such as Motorola and ZTE of China. They will gain their profits through the sale of the equipment and through installation of the equipment. They may further have after sales agreements with the customers who are the service providers. Terminal equipment includes mobile phones, CPE, modems, laptops, smart phones, and PDAs and they are manufactured by companies like Nokia, Blackberry, Motorola, and Intel. They will gain their profits through the sale of the terminal equipment. Nokia, the world’s top handset maker, expects to start selling cell phones using the WiMAX technology in 2008.
