Intel, Proxim, Alvarion, Nokia, and others back 802.16a, wireless metropolitan area networking: The WiMAX Forum comprises many companies that want to deploy a uniform rendition of 802.16a, a way to use frequencies across a large range, licensed and unlicensed, for large-scale broadband wireless.
By providing testing and interoperability standards, the WiMAX Forum would allow backhaul and point-to-point networking systems to work interchangeably. Many of today's devices -- well, most -- use proprietary standards. It's remarkable that so many companies feel that opening up to a standards process will increase deployment while increasing competition.
The standard is great to see, but what of spectrum allocation? Worldwide?