WiMAX technology has reached a milestone on its way to becoming a deliverable, with the opening of the WiMAX Forum Certification test lab in Spain.

Half a world away more than 400 participants from WiMAX Forum member companies are attending an interoperability event in Canada where demonstrations from Nortel, Microsoft, Disney, Logitech, Cisco, AT&T, AudioCodes, Kencast, Ixia and Skype are running on a variety of WiMAX systems.”We’re excited by the opportunity to show off the capabilities of WiMAX technology in Vancouver and prove that WiMAX is real,” said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. “At the same time, the fact that much of the equipment running successfully in Canada is the same equipment going through certification in Spain is extremely encouraging and bodes well for the future of WiMAX and the advent of true personal broadband.”

Companies including Alvarion, Proxim, Redline and Wavesat are amongst those in the interoperability phase.

As a leading sponsor of the event, Nortel is providing wired and wireless LAN connections and IP phones to attendees at the Vancouver event.

“Participating in the WiMAX Forum event in Vancouver is an ideal opportunity to share our knowledge and expertise of advanced wireless broadband technology with leading business organizations from across the globe,” said John Hoadley, vice president, next generation wireless access, Nortel. “The successful demonstrations at the WiMAX Forum event further exemplify the strength and viability of this technology and its role in the future evolution of wireless broadband networks.”

“Broadband wireless solutions like WiMAX will play a critical role in the market as end users become increasingly accustomed to broadband services and expect anywhere, anytime broadband access,” said Yankee Group Director of the Wireless/Mobile Technologies Decision Service Phil Marshall. “Proof-of-concept demonstrations like those at the WiMAX Forum event in Vancouver are vital to the increased understanding and success of WiMAX technology, especially as the technology moves toward mobility.”

WiMAX Forum Certification testing will continue at Cetecom labs in Spain, and the first WiMAX Forum Certified products – those that are certified as conformant to the standard and interoperable with other vendors’ products – are expected to be available in the November/December timeframe.