After more than a year of inactivity, Fujitsu has resurfaced in WiMAX with the help of Airspan

Fifteen months after announcing its entry into the U.S. WiMAX infrastructure market, Fujitsu has finally released its first product, a Mobile WiMAX kit tuned to the 2.5 GHz and 2.3 GHz frequencies popular both in the U.S. and at home in Japan. There’s a twist though: Fujitsu isn’t just using its own technology; it’s integrating its WiMAX silicon with Airspan’s radio access gear.

Airspan has signed a four-year agreement with Fujitsu to jointly build IEEE 802.16e base stations in every macro-and micro-cellular flavor. The product will basically use Airspan’s MacroMAX base station architecture but at its core will be Fujitsu silicon, including a high-output amplifier using gallium-nitride High Electron Mobility Transistor and digital pre-distortion technology Fujitsu has developed. The advanced amplifier tech allows the vendor duo to cut the weight of the macro base station down to 40 pounds, so it can be tower- or pole-mounted. The first product from the partnership will be marketed separately by the two, Fujitsu calling it the BroadOne WX300 and Airspan naming its version MacroMAXe.

Though reseller partnerships between large vendors and the specialty WiMAX players are common, joint development between a large and a small vendor is unusual. “We had previous contact with them as North American resellers during the 16e [fixed WiMAX] era, so it was easy for us to build a relationship in the 16e era,” a Fujitsu spokesperson said of Airspan. “The company has also been on the WiMAX Forum board, so their technological bona-fides are well established.”

Fujitsu initially made a big splash when WiMAX was in its infancy but quickly fell off the map. It was expected to be a major competitor to Intel in the production of high-volume WiMAX chipsets, and in 2005 it unveiled its first fixed WiMAX chipsets along with three customers. In 2006, Fujitsu surprised everyone at WiMAX World by announcing it planned to enter the U.S. access space with its own WiMAX radio product line. Then nothing happened. Fujitsu didn’t follow up with Mobile WiMAX chipset, and Intel’s competition wound up being small WiMAX chip vendors Sequans Communications and Beceem Communications.

Fujitsu, however, appears to be ready to take another crack at WiMAX, though it’s unknown how serious it is about cracking the U.S. market. While the 2.5 GHz base station will work on U.S. WiMAX frequencies, 2.5 GHz is gaining traction on its home turf. Japan has designated the frequencies for WiMAX, as has Australia and parts of Europe.