Wavesat today announced it is now shipping the first commercially available WiMax-compliant baseband chip, delivering the crucial physical layer component necessary to build 802.16d equipment.

Called the DM256, the chipset is going out to more than a dozen Wavesat vendor customers, and the first WiMax gear using the Wavesat technology is expected in the second quarter, said Frank Draper, vice president of sales and marketing for Wavesat.

The WiMax forum approved the final specifications for 802.16d last spring, and Wavesat sent its final chip for manufacturing to the fabrication plants immediately afterwards, Draper said. "It takes five or six months to take a chip from final design to mass production," Draper said. "But now we have the final chips in volume."

While many vendors have been releasing "pre-WiMax" or "WiMax-like" gear based on their own proprietary technology, no WiMax equipment has yet to be certified. Part of the issue has been the wait for commercial silicon. Intel, Fujitsu and Wavesat have all issued to their vendor customers reference designs off of which their final WiMax gear will be based. With its chipsets on the market first, Wavesat’s customers can bring their equipment to market faster. Draper said it managed to beat its competitors to market with its chipset because of its experience working with OFDM and has developed six generations of chipsets based on the modulation technology.