Altera and Sequans have announced the availability of a mobile WiMAX basestation modem chipset. They say it is the first supporting the recently ratified IEEE 802.16e-2005 draft.

Comprised of three Stratix II FPGAs (from Altera), the Sequans SQN2110 modem chipset provides wireless OEMs with a ready-made solution for developing mobile WiMAX systems.

Altera's Stratix II FPGAs are used for the medium control access (MAC) and physical interface (PHY) layers of the 802.16e-2005 channel card. The chipset supports the first-wave certification profile. Each wave will include new certification profiles and/or new functions.

"Compared to fixed logic implementations, FPGA-based products offer superior design flexibility," said Arun Iyengar, senior director of Altera's (San Jose) wireless business unit. "This is particularly valuable for reducing risk when designing to evolving standards. By partnering with leading intellectual property providers such as Sequans, our customers now have immediate access to a rapid- response solution for new wireless protocols and services."

Sequans also offer the previously announced SQN1110, a complementary IEEE 802.16e-2005 mobile station modem chip, for customer premise equipment (CPE). The Sequans' mobile WiMAX evaluation kit is shipping today, with the chipsets to be available in June.

FPGAs provide a field programmable solution for early adopters. As mobile WiMax becomes firmed up, it goes into chips.

The mobile WiMAX space is heating up. Early leaders include Adaptix and PicoChip.

• ADAPTIX and Beceem have pre-certified mobile WiMAX solutions. Beceem's Mobile WiMAX has financial backing from Samsung, Intel and NTT DoCoMo. The Adaptix Motion 2100 Base Station and Beceem PC Card appear to be red hot and rolling.

• picoChip and Airspan Networks have announced complete WiMAX Forum certification of Airspan's MacroMAX Basestation for the 3.5GHz FDD profile.

Motorola says fixed WiMax is a waste of time. Their MOTOwi4 WiMAX Solutions will stress mobility.

An operator who deploys 802.16d and then attempts to roll in 802.16e equipment at a later date will be disadvantaged by having to split the available licensed spectrum between the two technologies. Without a true upgrade path from 802.16d to 802.16e and the necessity to preserve spectrum to support network growth, 802.16e provides the best long-term protection for an operator's WiMax investments.

Sky Light Research and Telephony Magazine created a cheat sheet on WiMAX vendors (below). It doesn't include WiMAX chip companies like Sequans or Intel.

Read more at: http://dailywireless.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5436&src=rss10.