Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

  1. Home
  2. Wireless-infrastructure
  3. Wimax-enterprise-yawn
  4. Page
  5. WiMAX in the Enterprise: Yawn: Page 2 of 2
Wireless Infrastructure

WiMAX in the Enterprise: Yawn: Page 2 of 2

You can't really blame the proponents of WiMAX, including the WiMAX Forum, for the relentless hype that has surrounded this emerging wireless technology. Marketing professionals are hired to create buzz, to search for a sweet spot where consumers of information...
Dave Molta
October 06, 2005

For enterprise IT professionals, it's tough to envision a compelling case for WiMAX,
a point hammered home at NGN by Pat Calhoun, CTO of Cisco's wireless network
division. Yes, there may be some limited applications for multipoint fixed wireless in
the unlicensed 5-GHz band and perhaps some benefits for multinational
corporations doing business in areas that provide limited wired infrastructure as
well. But as a strategic wireless technology, WiMAX can't stack up to Wi-Fi, which is
more mature and significantly better matched to enterprise voice and data
applications.

Don't read this analysis wrong. Looking out 10 years, and assuming that Intel is
successful in integrating WiMAX along with Wi-Fi on its mobile computing platforms,
WiMAX may provide a compelling broadband alternative to 3G mobile data networks.
But in the shorter term, when most of the enterprise purchase orders hit the
street, Wi-Fi is still king.

Tags:

Commentary
Wireless Infrastructure