Samsung Elected to WiMAX Forum

Samsung Electronics was elected to the Board of Directors of the WiMAX Forum, the highest body of the broadband wireless nonprofit organization.

Samsung Electronics, which joined the WiMAX Forum last December, was unanimously elected as a new board member. With its heightened role, the company is expected to make a bigger contribution to the shared mission of developing a global standard for broadband wireless access.

The WiMAX Forum is an industry-led, nonprofit corporation formed to promote and certify compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based on the IEEE 802.16 standard. The WiMAX Forum was formed in 2001 by leading communication operators, communication components and equipment companies, and semiconductor makers in order to promote compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless access technology. Currently, 240 member companies participate in the Forum, including Intel, Fujitsu and Alcatel.

The WiMAX Forum supports and promotes the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard 802.16, a technical standard for broadband wireless access, and is seeking to develop the existing fixed standard (802.16d) into a mobilized standard (802.16e).

WiBro, which South Korean companies are expected to commercialize for the first time in the world, is also based on the IEEE’s mobilized technical standard (802.16e), allowing WiBro to be compatible with mobile WiMAX. Samsung Electronics successfully performed the first WiBro demonstration late last year.