The WiMAX Forum Certified designation was achieved after a suite of rigorous tests had been conducted over many months ensuring that the product fully complies with the Mobile WiMAX profile. These tests include strict multi-vendor interoperability requirements that ensure MacroMAXe is interoperable with over 45 certified devices, including netbooks, laptops, USB dongles, indoor modems and outdoor CPEs.

"WiMAX Forum Certified products are the backbone to creating an open, interoperable network," said Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum. "With 504 deployments in 145 countries, WiMAX is the leading 4G technology today delivering on the promise of affordable, multi-megabit broadband worldwide. As a founding member of the WiMAX Forum, Airspan has been a great proponent of the standardization and interoperability certification process. We are happy to add the Airspan mobile base station to the group of certified WiMAX base stations, thereby increasing operator choice, reducing overall investment risk and creating a price-competitive marketplace."

The MacroMAXe is part of Airspan's Software Defined Radio (SDR) family of WiMAX base stations which also includes the dual mode HiperMAX Base Station. MacroMAXe is a state-of-the-art mobile base station that is compact, lightweight and is packaged in an "all-outdoor, all-in-one" form-factor designed to optimize OPEX. MacroMAXe incorporates many high-end features to maximize throughput, range and capacity, allowing operators to capitalize on infrastructure investments and create profitable business models. These features include MIMO (multiple input/multiple output) Matrix A/B and CSM, a unique implementation of Fractional Frequency Reuse (FFR), and Multi-carrier operation. MacroMAXe has an open R6 interface allowing interoperability with any standard third-party Access Service Network (ASN) Gateway.

"Airspan takes great pride in our technological excellence. We continue to offer the industry a best-of-breed solution that supports our customers' requirements at an affordable price point," commented Paul Senior, CTO of Airspan Networks and WiMAX Forum Board Member. "The 2.5 GHz frequency band is widely available in the United States, Japan, Asia-Pacific and Africa and will soon be available in Europe as well. We are also increasingly optimistic about growth opportunities for MacroMAXe in the 3.x GHz band, especially the 3.65 GHz band in the United States. We look forward to continuing our certification process for other platforms, supporting a healthy WiMAX ecosystem which benefits operators worldwide."

"Interoperability is critical for vendors of WiMAX solutions," said Adlane Fellah, Senior Analyst and Founder of Maravedis, Inc. "Airspan brings to the table a truly robust product in the MacroMAXe and its all-outdoor form factor is bound to be well received by Carriers. As mobile WiMAX continues to grow and more cities around the globe receive coverage, the consumer demand for true, global mobility will increase. Airspan is ensuring its footprint in the mobile WiMAX industry with its selection of certified devices."

This certification is for the 2.5 GHz MacroMAXe against the latest WiMAX Forum Certification Requirements Status List (CRSL). Airspan MacroMAXe is also available for operation in the 2.3, 3.3, 3.4-3.6 and 3.65 GHz frequency bands.

By Robert Hoskins

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