Sequans promises mobile WiMAX gear by 2H 2006

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 01 November 2005 14:53

Business IT - Technology

European chip developer, Sequans Communications, says it will have chips available that will enable equipment manufacturers to launch base stations and mobile devices conforming to the 'mobile' WiMAX standard 802.16e as early as the second half of 2006.

Bernard Aboussouan, vice president of marketing and business development with Sequans, claimed that: "With our product roll-out, manufacturers will have the necessary components, hardware and software platforms, to begin development today and be first to market."

Sequans says its end-to-end WiMAX mobility products are designed to be compliant with WiBRO, the Korean variant of WiMAX and with the first system profile to be released by the WiMAX Forum before the end of 2005. The company says its products "are flexible and can be upgraded as 802.16e evolves following ratification."

Sequans' initial products will be: the SQN1110, a small size, low power subscriber station system-on-chip suitable for mobile devices; the SQN2110, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) chipset for base stations; and its S-cube software that "address the needs of equipment manufacturers designing mobile solutions as well as vendors planning to use IEEE 802.16e for fixed and nomadic applications."

 Sequans says that FPGA development kits will be available later this year, prior to the release of the SoCs and FPGA product set, scheduled for the first-half of 2006.