The summer of WiMax?

Here's a good wrap-up of the major happenings at this year's WiMax Forum Global Congress in Amsterdam by someone who really knows what they're talking about (that would not be me). I've been looking at this WiMax news all week trying to make sense of it, but this writer lays out the major points and explains why they're important:

Major developments included the following:

-- A show of solidarity by WiMAX's marquee players in support of enhancements to the current 802.16e mobile WiMAX profile. The improvements will increase the performance and capacity of current WiMAX networks to meet the higher data demands that are being experienced by users of 4G networks.

-- The recent Indian BWA auctions and attendant shrift given to TD-LTE technology could find many operators scrambling to safeguard their technology choices with a clear migration path, should they choose to switch protocols in the future. To ease such concerns, Motorola rolled out a platform that allows operators to deploy available 4G technologies while saving the option to re-use equipment should they eventually end up deploying other technologies. The company says its single RAN [radio access network] system allows operators to reuse 70-80 percent of a base station's hardware, and up to 100 percent of other major network components such as IP/MPLS core, backhaul and device management.

-- Finally, the WiMAX Forum and the Femto Forum jointly announced the publication of the first WiMAX femtocell standard, so that vendors might start development of standardized femtocells and equipment based on the IEEE 802.16e profile. "Femtocells add a powerful tool to the WiMAX arsenal by allowing operators to cost-effectively improve coverage indoors and in rural areas, while also adding capacity in urban locations," noted Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum.

So there you have it. A blog about a blog, posted on another blog, regarding this week's big WiMax happenings. TGIF!