We've clarified a couple of points on recent posts about upgrading Alvarion BreezeMax 3500 "pre-WiMax" gear to interoperate with certified WiMax equipment: Alvarion isn't offering the upgrades for free as part of the original purchase. Once the WiMax Forum begins certifying gear and Alvarion understands what will be necessary to upgrade the products, it will negotiate the cost for upgrading the gear with customers that are interested in the upgrade. See Glenn's post and mine for the changes.
Once the company begins marketing certified equipment, it will continue to support the "pre-WiMax" equipment, but will stop selling it. Also, the upgrades to the "pre-WiMax" products won't make the products identical to the line of certified gear. Instead, the upgraded network will become something of a hybrid, able to support the original customer premise equipment (CPE) as well as certified WiMax CPEs from any vendor.
Some buyers of the "pre-WiMax" equipment aren't actually buying it because it can be upgraded, said Carlton O'Neal, vice president of marketing for Alvarion. "They don't care if we call it WiMax or a tomato, they want it," he said. This set of customers is buying products because they meet their current business cases, he said. He believes that the willingness to buy uncertified products is an indication of a new confidence in broadband wireless as a viable business.