Wireless World: WiMax is coming

Chicago, IL, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The latest wireless mobile computing technology, called WiMax, is gaining momentum at a rapid clip. WiMax will help bridge the gap between wireless fidelity and wireless telecom networks, giving mobile computer users free, or cheap, wireless access across many miles of terrain, not just inside the office or at a WiFi hot spot, such as a Starbucks or a Kinko's store.Major companies, including Lucent Technologies, Nortel, Cisco and Huawei Technologies, are moving forward with projects in the WiMax market -- known formally as Metropolitan Broadband Fixed, Portable and Mobile Applications -- and new commercial products may be available as soon as this summer, experts told UPI's Wireless World."There is going to be a convergence of WiFi and WiMax," said Dave Sorrells, chief technology officer at ParkerVision, a technology company in Jacksonville, Fla. By Gene Koprowski