Mobile communications company Motorola (News - Alert) on Tuesday announced expansion of its wi4 WiMAX product portfolio with the addition of its new 802.16e, Wave 2-ready WAP 450 access point. The new access point, slated for availability later this year, delivers improved wireless coverage and is more energy-efficient than previous products.

 

For those not familiar, 802.16e is the specification (established in 2005) used to define standards for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology. WAP, which stands for “wireless application protocol,” is a standard used to enable Internet access for mobile devices.

 

Motorola said the WAP 450 access point delivers as much as 10 watts of power output per sector at the antenna point, whereas traditional ground base stations send out 20 watts or more but lose about half that in the radio frequency (RF) cables.

 

To boost the performance of its new access point (especially for indoor signal coverage), Motorola used what it referred to as a “diversity antenna technique” that allows multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) capabilities. In other words, using multiple antennas for signal transmission and reception improves performance.

 

Motorola built the new WAP 450 access point on its recently announced 4G broadband base control unit. It will be sold in three models, for 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequency bands, which are commonly used by WiMAX (News - Alert) operators, Motorola said. The first two of these models will be launched during the fourth quarter of 2008, and the 3.5 GHz model will follow in first quarter 2009.

 

Adolfo Masini, vice president for Motorola’s home and networks mobility division, said in the company’s announcement that the WAP 450 helps operators reduce capital and operating costs while boosting wireless coverage and satisfying customer demands for bandwidth-intensive applications.

 

Those benefits are delivered in part thanks to the WAP 450’s lightweight design, featuring thin fiber connections that eliminate the need for heavy coax cables and, as noted earlier, reduce power consumption.

 

Motorola’s wi4 portfolio features nine products in addition to its 400-series access points (WAP 400, pictured here, and WAP 450): CPE i850 (WiFi (News - Alert) router with data and voice connectivity), CPE i300 (customer premises equipment device for high-speed data and voice apps), CPE i750 (data and voice capabilities in a slim physical design), WAP 800 (access point with light infrastructure), CPEo 400 (outdoor CPE device), WAP 600 (access point with MIMO), CPE i150 (slim design data access device), wi4 ASN gateway and the PCMw 200 wireless card. Plus, the company offers a WiMAX software maintenance program.

 

---