WASHINGTON, D.C.--As word spread quickly at the WCA conference here that Sprint and Motorola are planning to do a trial of 802.16e equipment, Motorola officials stressed that the trial will be just one eventual phase of the companies' multi-faceted agreement.

"It's not a trial as much as it is a joint development effort that is beginning and will run through 2006," said Juan Santiago, director of strategy for Canopy wireless broadband products at Motorola. "We are going to work with Sprint on the development of the equipment and figure out what this solution needs to be--the billing, the hand-offs, what kinds of applications, what the device form factors will be. We are both going to be looking at all of that."

The agreement with Sprint is further confirmation of Motorola's strategic plans for WiMAX. Though product details have yet to be revealed, the mobile vendor giant is completely committed to pursuing opportunities related to 802.16e, while keeping the more imminent 802.16d-2004 market at arm's length.

"802.16d might not be dead, but it is starting to look like a dead end," Santiago said. "There will be teething pains with 802.16d--disagreements about channel sizes and other issues. We are going to be watching it from the outside. What really turned us is that you have to look at where the volumes will be. Some of the big chipset vendors are really looking more closely now at 802.16e."

Santiago said link budget capabilities in equipment based on 802.16d will not be strong enough for most indoor deployments, eventually relegating that gear mostly to outdoor deployments. Initial cost of 802.16d equipment also will be an issue.

Motorola has indicated that the 802.16e systems that will come out of its relationship with Sprint will use smart antenna technology "to create truly portable broadband," Santiago said. He added that Motorola will continue to evolve its Canopy platform to support WiMAX specifications, but will keep that product more focused on deployments in unlicensed bands, while the equipment it’s developing with Sprint's input will be targeted initially at the 2.5 Ghz licensed band.