Canadian company Redline Communications says it has the first product that complies with 802.16a: The standard covers non-line-of-site metropolitan area networking using the 2 to 11 GHz range which includes licensed and unlicensed frequencies. Redline says its gear will deliver 70 Mbps throughput as far as 30 kilometers.
Companies have been trying to use wireless to deliver Internet access to homes and businesses for ages it seems but have always failed (remember LMDS and MMDS?). Those folks struggled because it was tough to find good non line of site gear at a reasonable price that could be installed simply. We'll see if these new standards solve some of those old problems.
or is it Wavesat...or Wi-Lan
Wavesat has announced the availability of its DM216 chip, the "first" compliant IEEE 802.16a/d Proven Non Line of Sight (NLOS) OFDM chip on the market
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20031006005395&newsLang=en
WiMAX Trials Give New Hope for Broadband Wireless Specialists:....(excerpts)....Wi-Lan has been working with Fujitsu on 802.16a chips for delivery early next year and is then expected to migrate its products quickly to this platform......One company that is active in promoting MPLS and is experimenting with combining that protocol with WiMAX and Wi-Fi is VeriLan. The company is currently testing a WiMAX mesh system for the Portland and coastal areas of Oregon which will have a reach of 100 square miles with MPLS backbone.....
http://www.rethinkresearch.biz/free_page_view.asp?crypt=%B3%9C%C2%97%91u%D0%A0%C2%C0%60%8Brzr
802.16 Hardware Beta testing: Mr. Schroedl further stated, “VeriLAN Inc. is also testing new Non Line Of Sight (NLOS) 802.16 hardware from Wi-LAN that provides enterprise wireless to companies that require up to 24 Mb connections as far away as 22 miles with service that matches traditional copper and fiber connections”. These new radios will provide secure links with quality of service guaranteed. This will enable bandwidth provisioning for customer bandwidth guarantees.
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2003/10/prweb82591.htm
Wi-LAN/Tachyon gives one of few selective ITU TELECOM WORLD 2003 SHOWCASE PRESENTATIONS 'From Fixed Broadband Networks and Wi-MAX to Mobile Broadband Networks' and is scheduled right after Bill Gates presentation.
http://www.itu.int/WORLD2003/forum/programme_overview.html?menuItem=1&subMenuItem=-1&tabName=Show
time will tell