I was so looking forward to the WiMAX Forum's plugfest, weren't you? For months, I have been practicing saying the word “plugfest” repeatedly while attempting to keep a straight face, and I'm disappointed that I might have to wait a little bit longer to see if all the rehearsing paid off. The forum's interoperability plugfest, which has been sold to us as perhaps the most important step in promoting WiMAX as a mainstream technology, was originally supposed to happen early this year, according to what many vendors were publicizing several months ago. Instead, it turns out that a public plugfest may not happen until this summer, though WiMAX suppliers may conduct some interoperability tests behind closed doors.

Maybe the seeming change of heart isn't that significant. With many new technology standards, test or approval deadlines sometimes fall by the wayside. Technology tweaks might be needed that weren't expected earlier. Or maybe, forum members are going through some philosophical changes about how WiMAX should evolve. What appears to be a downplaying or postponing might just be a brief bump in the road.

A less optimistic way of looking at this is that a once wildly hyped technology is suddenly publicity-shy. But enough speculation. Maybe the WiMAX Forum should just tell us what's really happening.