Report: Equipment Units Falling Behind WiMAX Growth

In spite of the potential of WiMAX, Strategy Analytics urged caution Tuesday stating in a report that equipment shipments aren't likely to reach tens of millions of units a year until after 2010.

Stephen Entwhistle, vice president of the Strategic Technologies Practice at Strategy Analytics, noted that WiMAX coverage has begun to gain traction in the months following certification of the wide area wireless technology.

"WiMAX equipment suppliers and chip makers face a much less uncertain future," said Entwhistle in a statement. "Even so, most remain cautious." The market research firm indicated that recovery of product development costs will likely be problematic for companies competing in the WiMAX components arena.

The report was underscored by last week's second quarter earnings announcement from Alvarion Ltd., which claims to have shipped the most WiMAX gear to date. During the company's second quarter, which ended June 30, Alvarion said its WiMAX solutions reached $17 million.

Alvarion's customer premises equipment is based on Intel's Rosedale chip. The company said it has more than 100 active WiMAX trials underway. Earlier this week, Alvarion announced the deployment of a WiMAX network for the city of Cheyenne, Wyo.