Although we're still waiting for WiMAX to really crash the party, WiNetworks is way ahead of the curve with its Win7200. The Pico Base Station was designed to provide "optimized indoor and outdoor WiMAX coverage," and is available in the 2.xGHz and 3.xGHz (802.16e Wave 2) frequency range. The single-piece device promises to sip power and stay tight for use in cramped environments, and it's also crafted to play nice with existing network equipment and provide interoperability with third-party WiMAX-certified gear. To date, a price has yet to be divulged, but the outfit will be proudly showcasing its new toy at the WiMAX Forum Global Congress and CommunicAsia late next month.

Ridiculous quantities of 3G handsets weren't the only things showed off at this year's Mobile World Congress -- oh no, NetIndex, Kaga Electronics and Runcom shook up the norm a bit with their WiMAX-enabled portable VoIP phone. Reportedly, the trio joined forces to develop a VoIP handset that utilized a 802.16e module, and aside from "realizing all-IP voice communication," it also sports a web browser and integrated WiFi for times when a plain ole hotspot will do. Sadly, we've no idea where this thing will go after it leaves Barcelona (nor what it looks like), but here's to hoping it makes a commercial debut -- and can decide on a single logo -- in the not-too-distant future.

Part of the WiMAX World festivities taking place this week, Motorola was on hand in Chicago last night to demonstrate fragments of the Mobile WiMAX build-out it's been throwing together to support the upcoming launch of Sprint's Xohm service. A leisurely cruise took curious onlookers down the Chicago River while Moto demonstrated a variety of WiMAX-friendly goodies like VoIP and streaming video, with handoffs flawlessly (apparently) transitioning the signal from access point to access point amongst canyons of skyscrapers, steel, and cement. The company also took its demo onto the "streets along the Chicago River while driving at speeds beyond 50 mph," a clear violation of local traffic laws, so we're hoping Moto's got some money socked away in its meager coffers to pony up some fines. Anyway, if all goes well, the demos foretell a late '07 soft launch of Xohm's Chicago network, with a commercial release in April of next year.

The WiMAX train is starting to pick up steam -- and with services like Sprint's XOHM scheduled to launch in the next year, we're expecting to see a lot more devices like Motorola's CPEi 300 WiMAX modem hit shelves. The company is showing off the wireless broadband modem at the WiMAX World conference in Chicago this week, and seems bullish about targeting the "unserved or underserved" with the device. The unit features one "data port" (we're guessing Ethernet) and two RJ-11 ports for VoIP access, and runs on the 802.16e "Mobile WiMAX" standard. We'd love to know when we'll be able to buy this thing and how much it's going to cost -- or even just what it looks like -- but it looks like we'll have to wait a bit to find out more.

[Via TG Daily]

Ah, so now we know why it takes those IEEE task forces so incredibly long to get anything done: infighting. Turns out, the working group for the emerging IEEE 802.20 mobile broadband standard -- "which was suspended last year after a fight over members' real company affiliations" -- has altered its voting rules. Now, each entity will be allowed one vote rather than members voting as individuals "regardless of whom they work for." Essentially, these changes are occurring amidst concern about "domination of the group," and 802.20 Committee Chairman Paul Nikolich reportedly hopes than the voting modification will "help deliver the standard in a timely way." Of course, considering that some of the technology in the protocol was developed by Flarion (which was swallowed by Qualcomm), there could certainly be more problems around the bend beyond a straggle of control freaks.

Following up on Sprint's announcement to spread the WiMAX love to Chicago and Washington, D.C., Horizon is looking to broaden that area of coverage out just a bit by partnering with Navini Networks. This news comes after the FCC approved Horizon's purchase of the WCS A Block spectrum previously owned by the diminishing Verizon, and now the firm is looking to deploy the wireless goods in "Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Richmond, and Cincinnati" for starters. Horizon has selected Navini's 802.16e equipment to get things up and running, and states that its objective it to "provide wireless last mile access to residential, business, and emergency restoration markets," but folks in rural areas will seemingly get shunned for now. Horizon isn't wasting any time getting this thing started, either, as it plans to start building the network in Q1 of this year, with hopes for "ongoing expansion and additional network deployments in the latter part of 2007."

[Via TheWirelessReport]

Sprint's been rolling this whole WiMAX idea around for quite some time, but it finally looks like all the pieces are actually coming together. The firm chose CES to announce that Chicago and Washington, D.C. should get that coveted 4G service "by year-end 2007, with a larger rollout encompassing at least 100 million people by year-end 2008." Apparently Sprint's not backing down either, as it's named Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Intel, and LG as critical partners for making this happen, which ought to be enough corporate manpower to get something launched, eh? Although we're not positive as to when Chi-town and the Capital City will get their WiMAX fix, we've got just over 11 months to find out, and hopefully by then Sprint will be a bit more forthcoming about who those "other 100 million" are.

Hot on the heels of last week's WiBro rollout in South Korea, Colombian long-distance operator Orbitel has teamed up with hardware manufacturer Siemens to deploy Latin America's first WiMax network in the city of Cali. The long-range wireless network, which will be duplicated in fourteen other cities in the upcoming months, employs Siemens' WayMax@dvantage (that's not a typo) system of base stations, modems, and monitoring and control gear to ensure interoperability with future devices based on the IEEE's 802.16e-2005 standard. WiMax is a particularly attractive option in countries whose wired infrastructures are still rather limited, allowing service providers to essentially leapfrog right over current broadband solutions and offer high-speed connections with considerably less capital expenditure. Orbitel is currently selling several service packages ranging from $39 to $325 per month, which supposedly buys you download speeds in the range of 2Mbps.

[Via GigaOm]