ADC has added a Fixed WiMAX product to its existing Digivance wireless portfolio through an OEM agreement with system vendor Aperto Networks, one of the few companies with a WiMAX Forum-Certified system.

Aperto's PacketMAX system will be sold by ADC as the Digivance WMX 5000. The ATCA-compliant platform satisfied ADC's demand for an open, carrier-grade platform, said J.R. Frans Versluis, manager of market intelligence at ADC.

"We started looking at WiMAX seriously in 2003, and we had some skeptics in the company at the time because of how the MMDS and LMDS markets had fizzled," he said. "But we became more serious about it when Intel and other companies jumped in." Versluis said the company explored options that included acquiring a company, investing in one or partnering through an OEM agreement. He said partnership discussions began well before Aperto's system earned certification in January, "but that confirmed that we were on the right path."

Reza Ahy, chairman and CEO of Aperto Networks, said the deal with ADC is different than other partnership agreements Aperto has struck.

"Our other partnerships have been very account-specific," he said. "This one is the most strategic so far, and it will evolve in different ways."

ADC will become more involved in the WiMAX Forum, Versluis said.

According to Infonetics Research, Inc., from an almost non-existent market in 2004, worldwide WiMAX revenue surged 759 percent in 2005, hitting $142.3 million. The international market research group forecasts the worldwide WiMAX equipment market to continue expanding rapidly, with a five-year unit CAGR of 139 percent between 2005 and 2009, when the market reaches $1.6 billion.