Cisco Cutting WiMAX Hardware Development

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Cisco Systems, a major networking hardware manufacturer, has decided to stop developing any future WiMAX hardware, specifically in WiMAX base stations and radios. While they’ll still produce IP platform hardware for WiMax (for carriers to use WiMAX), they’ve decided to cut consumer-orientated networking gear for WiMAX.

WiMAX and LTE have been competing technologies to be christened the mobile phone communities’ ’4G’ radio technology. WiMAX came out first to much fanfare, but LTE was the official choice of the GSM Association. Most mobile phone service providers have plotted to roll out LTE to their networks for their 4G data networks.

Sprint, in the United States, is the one notable exception. They’ve already begun rolling out their 4G network (America’s only – they proudly say in their adverts) based on WiMAX while all other major American mobile service providers are going with LTE for 4G. While Cisco will still produce 4G IP stations that will use both LTE and WiMAX, it doesn’t look good for the future of WiMAX.

Cisco spokesman Jim Brady said, “After a recent review of our WiMax business, we announced a decision to discontinue designing and building new WiMax base stations and modems, and we also announced a support plan for transitioning existing customers.” Cisco’s WiMAX business mainly comes from a company called Navini Networks, whom they purchased in 2007. At the time, Cisco expected WiMAX to be widely deployed in both in North America and Europe, as well as in underdeveloped countries who may be lacking a mobile phone data network.

Mobile phone analyst Laurence Swasey told ComputerWorld that Cisco pulling out of the WiMAX business was “good business” and this all but killed WiMAX. He predicts that even current WiMAX carriers (like Sprint) will eventually have to change over to LTE for their 4G networks.