My initial intention was to praise Alvarion for their BreezeMAX Extreme line, how “D” like basestations and CPE with Mobile WiMAX (“E”) technology makes sense.
But, as I was going through Alvarion website and datasheets, I got irritated by some mis-information and inaccuracies. So, I still think Alvarion are doing a great job with the Exterme line and their License exempt offering, but the following post will focus on the “fails” rather than successes.
Sequans Press Release clearly states:
Sequans provides a comprehensive Mobile WiMAX product line that includes the award-winning SQN2130 base station ASIC and the SQN1130 mobile station system-on-chip, both of which are WiMAX Forum Certified™. Sequans’ solutions feature superior receiver sensitivity along with Sequans’ patent-pending technology, mimoMAX™, which combines a maximum likelihood decoder on the downlink with two transmitters on the uplink. The latter enables uplink MIMO for greatly improved link budget and cell coverage
Key Points: CPE as well as Base Station, WiMAX Forum Certified, mimoMAX for uplink MiMO
Now, let’s try to find the information on Alvarion website.
CPE – Alvarion’s BreezeMAX Extreme page does not mention a CPE. End User Devices Page does not mention a license exempt CPE.
WiMAX Forum Certified – it is not. A simple search in WiMAX Forum Certified products page shows only BreezeMAX Macro base station. Where is the Extreme?
Uplink MiMo – BreezeMAX Extreme datasheet clearly states that MiMo matrix B is not available yet, not to mention uplink MiMo.
I am sure Alvarion’s (under NDA) customers receive all the information, but why does the website launch/publish only partial information which confuses rather than educate?
(And again, I would like to say that I think the Extreme line will be quite successful as it addresses real customer needs).