Gary Weis, president and CEO of Cometa Networks, gave the keynote speech Wednesday at the Next Generation Networks conference in Boston, but his theme of "transforming Wi-Fi hype into reality" carried into his explanation of how the hot spot wholesaler might put wider-area WiMAX technology to use.

WiMAX, more clinically known as the 802.16 wireless metropolitan area network standard, is seen as a potential backhaul solution for both Wi-Fi operators and WAN mobile network operators. Weis said he also believes it could allow wholesalers and independent operators of hot spots to "provide a near line-of-sight backbone capability to daisy-chain hot spots to get greater coverage of Wi-Fi over a larger area."

Cometa intends to test WiMAX in a backhaul role in early 2004 in its initial commercial market of Seattle, Weis said. "We’re working to see where 802.16 fits into the Wi-Fi equation. It could lessen our reliability on terrestrial networks."

Weis added that he sees WiMAX as broadly applicable to the wireless industry because it can be deployed on both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. "Licensed spectrum will be the more practical choice because it’s viewed as safer, but it functions well on both," he said.

He also said WiMAX could ride licensed MMDS spectrum, currently vastly underused by most of the owners of MMDS licenses. WiMAX partnerships could present another way to generate revenue for MMDS licensees and spectrum owners, and Weis said Cometa would be more likely to partner with a spectrum owner to support WiMAX than attempt to buy its own spectrum.