Is Cisco Systems aiming to become the next big WiMAX vendor? Technology analyst firm Think Equity believes so, and it’s betting Cisco will make its WiMAX move through the acquisition of Navini.

Navini is long-time broadband wireless company that several years ago shifted development from its proprietary CDMA-based nomadic platform to today’s Mobile WiMAX platform. Navini is also one of the few companies—the only major one being Alcatel-Lucent--to have built its platform on adaptive beamforming technology—something Think Equity feels makes it very attractive to Cisco. While most of the major vendors focus on multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) smart antenna configurations, Navini has plowed its development into creating a beamformed MIMO architecture that steers paired signals to a CPE or device on the network. The intended result is greater capacity on the cell edge, something MIMO in its typical configurations can’t claim.

“In essence, beamforming makes MIMO technology really useful, allowing a cell to dynamically expand to reach specific users,” Think Equity said in a research note today. “

Think Equity also said that Navini’s trials with BellSouth—now run by AT&T—and its decision not to muck about with earlier versions of WiMAX, also makes the small venture-backed company a more attractive target than a larger vendor like Alvarion, which has far more deployments than Navini.

Navini is probably more than welcome to the idea of an acquisition by Cisco. The WiMAX market is becoming a crowded one with a dozen small vendors competing for small-carrier deployments while the major infrastructure makers like Motorola, Nokia Siemens and Samsung snap up the major operator contracts. In an interview at WiMAX World, Navini director strategic marketing Paul Sergeant said his company was in negotiations with several large vendors for partnerships or OEM deals, though he did not say if Navini was in acquisition talks. A tie-up with a major vendor, however, is important to Navini’s future business, he added. Large carriers simply won’t buy from small private companies, he said: “We need to have a big brother.”