Meet xMax, the dark horse in the wireless broadband race

Stuart Corner
Monday, 23 July 2007 18:25

Opinion and Analysis

"xG Technologies says that xMax...will deliver 40 Mbps over 25kms using less than one watt of power. The main advantage of sub-GHz frequencies is that they penetrate obstacles well (thus obviating the line-of-sight requirement of higher frequencies)."

By early 2007 xG had made considerable progress with xMax. It hasdsigned an agreement with CellStar Corporation, one of the world's largest distribution and logistics companies, to provide packaging, fulfilment, and other distribution services for xMax mobile handsets throughout the US; received the initial shipment of xMax handsets in preparation for beta network launches of the xMax mobile VoIP service; signed an agreement with Cambridge Consultants Ltd – one of the world's leading radio frequency and wireless technology consulting companies – to provide it with design and engineering services for development of the next generation of xMax handsets; signed an agreement with "a major UK-based telecommunications infrastructure company," saying: "this exclusive nine month agreement will allow the two parties to enter into negotiations regarding the potential deployment of xG's transmission technologies across the UK market."

And in November 2006 xG became a publicly traded company on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. CEO Rick Mooers was reported saying that the move, which technically an IPO, was not designed to raise money.

In June 2007, xG announced that its xMAX-based mobile VoIP base station had passed all the tests necessary for it to be given Federal Communication Commissions (FCC) certification, first time without the need for any reconfiguration.

xG also confirmed that, in preparation for its full system deployment, it was putting in place an extensive marketing campaign as well as a complete company-designed technical network infrastructure in support of the xMax commercial rollout.

Maybe, just maybe it could turn the wireless broadband world upside down. It has happened before. In the late 80s when the US was standardising on a digital mobile technology developed from the old AMPS standard, and Europe was gearing up for GSM, a small company called Qualcomm came up with a technology called CDMA that it claimed was superior. Few thought it would overcome the enormous momentum behind digital AMPS and gain standards status let alone significant market share, but they were wrong on both counts.