Sirenza scores WiMAX hit with InGaP chip
WiMAX equipment maker Wavesat is to use an InGaP power amplifier from Sirenza Microdevices in its "miniMax" range of broadband wireless access equipment for customers.
The Wavesat product is the first customer equipment to be certified by the WiMAX Forum, and is designed for fixed wireless access using the 3.5 GHz band.
"We selected [Sirenza's] power amplifier for its excellent efficiency and linearity, ability to enable high data rates"¦and its low cost," said Wavesat CTO Pierre Lamoreux.
Wavesat will now look to deploy the miniMAX technology in low-cost customer platforms for fixed broadband wireless access.
According to WiMAX Forum president Ron Resnick, there are now over 150 commercial trials and deployments of fixed WiMAX networks, which should offer a major commercial opportunity for makers of compound semiconductor ICs.
Silicon chipmakers are also looking to penetrate the RF needs of WiMAX, with Freescale recently announcing that its LDMOS chips could fulfil the technical requirements for base stations at 3.5 GHz.
The IEEE has also approved the mobile WiMAX standard known as 802.16e (see related story), which should help to foster the addressable market for chipmakers in this sector.
