Israeli WiMax pioneer Alvarion will participate in Intel's Digital Communities initiative, aiming to assist in the community's design and develop and deploy communication services through wireless broadband and state-of-the-art computing. Participants also hope that the program will bridge, or at least narrow, the the digital divide. Alvarion's BreezeACCESS VL is already deployed in several participating cities. One such city, Corpus Christi, Texas, is deploying a large, multi-use wireless network covering 147 sq. mi. The network relies on gear and technology from different vendors and allows both private and public use.

Participating cities hope to improve the efficiency and availability of their services. In Corpus Christi, for example, 70 percent of its employees work in the field. Three of the solutions focus on building inspection, video surveillance and vehicle location.

For more on the Digital Communities initiatives:
- see Alvarion's website

PLUS: Alvarion unveiled its BreezeACCESS 4900, a solution targeted at the 4.9 GHz licensed band which the FCC recently allocated for public safety use. BreezeACCESS 4900 enables secure, FIPS-197 certified point-to-multipoint and point-to-point broadband connections which can be used for leased line replacement, mesh network, and mobile cell feeding. It may also be used for metro-scale networking of advanced applications such as video surveillance and traffic control. Release

ALSO: The WiMax Forum has delayed the start of its interoperability testing (July was the original date). Critics of WiMax's potential seized on the Forum's decision to again raise questions about the technology (e.g., Guy Kewney, who quotes my FierceWireless colleague Stephen Wellman). I disagree with Kewney and Wellman, agreeing instead with Nancy Gohering's comments.