Airspan
Delivers AS.MAX for Commercial WiMAX Deployments
Other Topics: WiMAX Service
Monitoring, WiMAX MIMO and AAS
Airspan Networks Inc.
November 21, 2005
World's First Fully Nomadic 802.16-2004 WiMAX Product Line Designed
for Indoor Self-Installable CPEs, Now Shipping in Volume
Boca Raton, FL -- Airspan Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AIRN), a leading
worldwide provider of WiMAX-based broadband wireless access networks and
carrier class Voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) solutions, today
announced the commercial availability of the world's first fixed and
nomadic WiMAX product range that links desktop PCs, laptops,
internet-ready telephone sets and other broadband devices directly to
telecommunications networks.
The AS.MAX product range consists of Macro and Micro base stations and
indoor and outdoor customer premises equipment (CPE), and has been
extensively tested world-wide by "Beta" customers over a five-month
period. Product verification and system proving is complete and the
product is now "Generally Available" and ready to ship to customers on
standard lead times directly from Airspan or via its WiMAX partners.
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The AS.MAX products are currently being tested by Cetecom, the WiMAX
Forum Certification Laboratory, as part of the laboratory set-up
activities and as a platform for the development and verification of the
WiMAX Forum Certification conformance test scripts. Airspan also
participated in the 2nd WiMAX Forum Public Plugfest, where AS.MAX
achieved interoperability with equipment made by three other vendors.
AS.MAX CPEs and base stations were successfully shown to support video
streaming at speeds greater than 7Mbit/s.
Eric Stonestrom, CEO and President of Airspan Networks, said: "It is
very exciting to see this ground-breaking WiMAX product line ship to
customers. We have been pleased by the level of early demand, which is
driving us to manufacture hundreds of base station sectors and thousands
of CPEs per month. Demand has exceeded our initial expectations, and
demonstrates that service providers and network operators have been
waiting for a 'real' 802.16-2004 WiMAX solution with the ability to
support both outdoor and indoor, self-installable CPEs."
AS.MAX is the world's first commercial end-to-end system to fully
support the IEEE standard 802.16-2004, the standard on which WiMAX Forum
Certified™ products will be based. IEEE 802.16-2004 includes important
functions that allow both fixed and nomadic services to be provided to
both traditional outdoor fixed CPEs and new, plug-and-play,
self-installable Indoor WiMAX modems like EasyST.
"MacroMAX is the first WiMAX base station that can provide in-building
coverage to indoor self-installable CPEs like EasyST," said Paul Senior,
Vice President of Marketing and Product Management. "Advanced linear
power amplifiers and multi-channel transmit and receive diversity are
combined with uplink sub-channelisation and full dynamic modulation to
enable MacroMAX to deliver a 160dB link budget, enough to provide proper
indoor coverage."
"Our EasyST is a WiMAX first," continued Senior. "Airspan's focus on an
indoor WiMAX modem that can be installed by the end user creates a much
more compelling business case for an operator. It required us to deliver
a full implementation of the fixed and nomadic characteristics of
802.16-2004, supporting Auto-connect, Auto-configuration and
Auto-provisioning. This set of capabilities is unique in the
marketplace."
Senior concluded that "ProST-WiFi is another industry first. The best
way to build a city-wide Wi-Fi Hotzone is to use a combination of WiMAX
and Wi-Fi. The ProST-WiFi combines both technologies into a single
integrated unit that makes it cost effective and easy to install, while
still delivering QoS and high-end networking features required for
carrier-class service offerings."
The AS.MAX product range, which is designed to be WiMAX Forum
Certified™, is a complete portfolio of Base Stations and CPEs.
Commercially Available AS.MAX Products include:
MacroMAX -- High Performance Macro Cell Base Station
- Full 802.16-2004 Software Defined Radio for Fixed and Nomadic
Operation
- 3.5 GHz FDD Operation ( > 10Mbit/s Net on Downlink and Uplink
simultaneously)
- High Performance Radio System (+37dBm Output Power, -- 103dBm Rx
Sensitivity)
- Multi-Channel Transmit and Receive Diversity
- Full support for BPSK to 64QAM Dynamic Modulation on Downlink and
Uplink
- Full QoS Support (including CIR and MIR)
- Support for Uplink Sub-Channelisation
EasyST -- Indoor, Self-Installable Nomadic WiMAX CPEs
- Full 802.16-2004 Fixed and Nomadic Operation
- 3.5 GHz FDD Operation ( > 10Mbit/s Net, shared over uplink and
downlink)
- HD-FDD CPE based on Intel ProWireless 5116 Silicon
- High Performance Radio (+24dBm Output Power, -- 103dBm Rx
Sensitivity)
- Support for BPSK to 64QAM Dynamic Modulation on Downlink and Uplink
- Advanced Antenna System with Uplink Sub-channelisation and Switched
Diversity
- Integral SIM Card Reader
ProST and ProST-WiFi -- Outdoor Fixed WiMAX CPEs
- Full 802.16-2004 Fixed and Nomadic Operation
- 3.5 GHz FDD Operation ( > 10Mbit/s Net, shared over uplink and
downlink)
- HD-FDD CPE based on Intel ProWireless 5116 Silicon
- High Performance Radio (+23dBm Output Power, -- 103dBm Rx
Sensitivity)
- Support for 64QAM Dynamic Modulation on Downlink and Uplink
- High Gain Antenna Options (15dBi and 18dBi) with Uplink Sub- channelisation
- ProST-WiFi: Integrated 802.11b/g Access Point, support for Multi-SSIDs
and VLANs.
About Airspan Networks Inc.
Airspan Networks provides fixed and wireless voice and data systems and
solutions, including Voice Over IP (VoIP). Its wireless products serve
operators around the world in both licensed and unlicensed frequency
bands between 700 MHz and 6 GHz, including both PCS and 3.5GHz
international bands. Airspan has a strong wireless product roadmap that
includes offerings compliant with the new WiMAX 802.16-2004 standard,
and software upgradeability to 802.16e from the time the WiMAX products
are introduced. Airspan is on the Board and a founder member of the
WiMAX Forum. Through its newly acquired Radionet division, the company
also offers 802.11-based metrozone networks and applications for various
enterprise vertical markets. The Company has deployments with more than
300 operators in more than 95 countries. Airspan's wireless systems are
based on radio technology that delivers excellent area coverage, high
security and resistance to fading. These systems can be deployed rapidly
and cost effectively, providing an attractive alternative to traditional
wired communications networks. Airspan's new i-Tone VoIP system is a
carrier class, turnkey solution that provides carriers with Class 4,
Class 5 and IP-Centrex solutions and has a Softswitch and Gateways
supporting SIP/H323 and SIP. i-Tone's design provides customers;
carriers, next-generation telcos, cellular providers and ITSP with a
wide range of solutions with the best price/performance system for IP
telephony. Airspan also offers radio planning, network installation,
integration, training and support services to facilitate the deployment
and operation of its systems. Airspan is headquartered in Boca Raton,
Florida with its main operations center in Uxbridge, United Kingdom.
More information on Airspan can be found at http://www.airspan.com
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