The Mobile WiMAX race is on. There's still a question as to how big the potential market for the technology will be, but a lot of big vendors seem to be betting that it will be huge. Ever since Sprint announced its commitment to the technology, it looks like those predictions may pan out.

Over the next two weeks, leading into the WiMAX World conference in Boston the next month, Telephony will be examining the vendors that hope to make an impact on this new promising technology sector. With the help of Current Analysis analyst Peter Jarich, we've selected six vendors to profile -- each vendor for different reasons. There are some obvious choices like Motorola and Samsung, which have unquestionable momentum after being named primary vendors for Sprint's multimillion-dollar deployment, but there may be one or two surprises in the mix. Telephony isn't being so bold as to say that every vendor on the list will be a dominant force in WiMAX, and we're certainly not predicting which vendors of the six will wind up on top. But each of the vendors either stands a good chance of making its mark on the WiMAX industry--through momentum, technology or scale--or represents a sector of the WiMAX community that presents a challenge to the established order of telecom infrastructure players.

The series will kick off Wednesday with Motorola, which has an unquestionable lead in terms of mind share if not market share (remember, not a single vendor has yet recorded a dime of Mobile WiMAX revenues). The remaining installments will be go every few days, culminating in a feature story tying all of the profiles in the print magazine Monday, Oct. 9, the day before the start of WiMAX World. Stay tuned.

Contact me at kfitchard@telephonyonline.com.