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Multinational Alvarion Opens WiMAX Research Center in Spain

Elmundo - national Spanish newspaper - translated from Spanish

VALLADOLID - Israeli company Alvarion opened a WiMAX technology R&D center in Spain. The laboratory, the first of its kind to be installed in Western Europe, is located in advanced Valladolid Technology Park in Boecillo. With an investment of €2 million, Alvarion wants to focus on the design and implementation of wireless broadband technologies. It will also support the Spanish operators using its devices.

WiMAX, which corresponds to Standard 802.16 for wireless broadband metropolitan access networks, is WiFi’s older brother. While WiFi is designed for closed environments, providing coverage within a range lower than 350 m, a sole WiMAX base station may cover a ratio exceeding 30 km. This provides Internet connection without requiring the deployment of more cables.

With respect to rate, it can reach 80 Mbs per second. Moreover, this standard offers a quality of service that WiFi cannot provide. Although it has advantages in urban zones as well, the rural areas are showing the best acceptance for this technology in Spain.

“This project will assist in the fight against the digital divide between the countryside and the city,” confirmed Mr. Tzvika Friedman, CEO and President of Alvarion. The new R&D center joins a network of labs already deployed in Israel, United States, Romania and China. The company, located in Tel Aviv, is behind 80% of the WiMAX terminals installed worldwide.

In Spain, with 400 stations and over 30,000 devices in an equal number of homes, it supports operators such as Euskaltel and Telefónica, which are not able to reach may outlying zones of urban areas with their cable networks. Driven by the government program for the expansion of broadband access to rural areas, several autonomous communities have believed in WiMAX technology to carry quality Internet to their residents.
In Castilla and Leon, for example, where the awarded operator is Iberbanda, 20% of the population is still not able to benefit from broadband. In the words of Mr. Antonio Silvan, Incentive advisor of the Castillian Leonese community, all will have coverage before the end of 2007. For Mr. Friedman, in spite of being such a young technology, “When compared with other countries, Spain is very active in its implementation”.
 

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