WiMAX - WiMAXForum™

A nonprofit organization called WiMAX Forum™ was formed in 2001, with the aim of harmonizing standards, testing and certifying interoperability between equipment from different manufacturers.

WiMAX Forum™ was formed by equipment and component suppliers to support the IEEE 802.16 BWA system by helping to ensure the compatibility and interoperability of BWA equipment, which will lead to lower cost through chip-level implementation.

WiMAX Forum™ is doing what WiFi Alliance has done for wireless LAN and IEEE 802.11. WiMAX Forum Certified™ products adhere to the IEEE 802.16 standard and offer higher bandwidth, lower costs, and broader service capabilities than most of the available proprietary solutions.

The WiMAX Forum™ is working on setting up a baseline protocol that allows equipment and devices from multiple vendors to interoperate and also provides a choice of equipment and devices from different suppliers.

Members of WiMAXForum

The WiMAX Forum™ has more than 400 members from equipment manufacturers, semiconductor suppliers, and services providers, and membership was recently opened for content providers. Some of the noted members are Alcatel, AT&T, Fujitsu, Intel, Nortel, Motorola, SBC, and Siemens.