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| Mobile Network Leaders Help Accelerate Adoption and Deployment of Next-Generation 4G WiMAX Wireless Technology |
Continuing to help advance mobile WiMAX wireless technology, mobile broadband technology companies Alvarion Ltd. and Huawei Technologies ('Huawei' ) - leaders in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world - have joined the Open Patent Alliance (OPA). The group was formed in June 2008 by members of the WiMAX ecosystem, and the addition of the two mobile network leaders will contribute strongly to the OPA objective of offering an Intellectual Property Rights solution that will further support the competitive development and widespread adoption of WiMAX worldwide.
"Intel's vision for the Open Patent Alliance brings the openness of the Internet and computing industries to the wireless broadband industry and Huawei and Alvarion are valuable additions," said Sriram Viswanathan, vice president of Intel Capital and general manager of the WiMAX Program Office, Intel. "By facilitating an open intellectual property rights model, the alliance enables a more competitive, innovative and broader WiMAX industry, ultimately benefiting consumers with more choice."
"Huawei has been developing OFDM & MIMO broadband wireless technologies for the past 10 years, and as a new member of the Open Patent Alliance, we will be able to continue shaping the direction of future WiMAX technology," said Zhao Ming, vice president of Wireless Product Line and President of CDMA & WiMAX Product Line, Huawei. "By facilitating a process that will ultimately offer broader choice and lower TCO for WiMAX technology, we can help deliver more products with high quality around the world at affordable prices."
"We are pleased to join OPA and take an active part in this initiative alongside other key WiMAX players," said Tzvika Friedman, president and CEO of Alvarion. "OPA's goals complement our OPEN WiMAX approach and ongoing commitment to the technology, and we look forward to contributing our knowledge and experience as part of this premium group. An easily accessible pool of WiMAX patents will promote a robust ecosystem, which will not only encourage competition, but will also offer operators and consumers greater freedom of choice".
"We are pleased to join OPA and take an active part in this initiative alongside other key WiMAX players," said Tzvika Friedman, president and CEO of Alvarion |
Alvarion and Huawei join current OPA members Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Clearwire, Intel, and Samsung Electronics, expanding an ecosystem focused on broader choice, competitive equipment and service costs for WiMAX technology, devices and applications globally. To accomplish this, the OPA has as one of its key objectives to form a WiMAX patent pool to aggregate patent rights needed to implement the WiMAX standard. As a result, it is expected that licensing terms for patents pertaining to WiMAX, including the associated royalty rates will be more predictable, transparent, and at lower cost. Furthermore the WiMAX patent pool may act as a "one stop shop" where companies building WiMAX solutions can obtain use of the patents more simply, efficiently and cost effectively, under a more competitive royalty structure that charges only for the features required to develop WiMAX products.
As members of the OPA, Huawei and Alvarion will nominate their representatives for the governing board of the alliance. The companies will help promote and encourage WiMAX patent owners to participate in the pool, and educate the WiMAX ecosystem about intellectual property rights topics.
