Accton Wireless Broadband (AWB) will start volume shipments of WiMAX CPE products in the third quarter of this year, but it will not be until next year that the WiMAX market begins to really start taking off, according to AWB CEO Benny Glazer.

Glazer indicated that the company's WiMAX shipments will jump by an order of magnitude next year and related revenues will hit US$50-60 million in 2009 on shipments of 500-600 million units.

Accton Wireless Broadband (AWB) is a joint venture between Taiwan-based network-equipment makers Accton and Israel-based Alvarion, a global wireless broadband systems provider, to produce CPE equipment in the WiMAX market.

AWB was formed in 2006 and is an example of how a Taiwan company with expertise in manufacturing can partner with a leading global WiMAX technology provider such as Alvarion. According to Glazer, the company's mission is to become the Nokia of the Mobile WiMAX CPE equipment market.

Glazer indicated that AWB has strong potential in the WiMAX market and that it is already doing business with about 10 leading players in the global WiMAX market, including NEC and Alcatel-Lucent.

The company produces five products for the WiMAX CPE market, including PC cards, USB adapters, and self-install indoor and outdoor CPE.

So far, sales have been for testing purposes and the company has done interoperability testing (IOT) for three leading vendors.

Glazer indicated that having Alvarion as a partner will provide the company with a key advantage in the competitive WiMAX CPE market. He explained that many other Taiwan WLAN equipment providers expect to make a smooth transition to producing WiMAX CPE. But Wi-Fi is not WiMAX he stressed. Developing WiMAX equipment is operator oriented and they expect a very high level of access and service, much higher that that seen in the Wi-Fi market, Glazer explained.

Glazer referred to the company's ability to produce quality outdoor CPE as an example of the advantages that Alvarion's technological backing provides.

In predicting the future of the WiMAX market, Glazer expects that it will first take off in rural areas in the developing world, and he does not think that WiMAX and LTE are an either/or proposition. He believes the two technologies can co-exist.

Source:DIGITIMES