Based: Richardson, Texas
Founded: 2000
www.navini.com

Why is it Fierce? A few weeks ago Navini Networks began shipping its Ripwave MX BTS 802.16e dual-mode base station, the industry's first. The first products are in 3.5GHz, and they will be followed by products in other bands during the next three months. The base station is software-upgradeable to 802.16e. This feature, together with other members of this product family which are already available and which support both the Navini pre-WiMAX and WiMAX networks, allow the company to claim that it fully future-proofs any operator deploying its products today. Navini has been active in pre-802.16e from the start. Unwired Australia uses Navini equipment to offer the world's largest portable broadband wireless network, with more than 50,000 subscribers. As we wait for the 802.16e standard to be finalized, the company's solutions today have all the attributes of an 802.16e plug-and-play portable broadband system, allowing customers to have broadband access wherever they are.

What to look for: The 802.16e standard is not yet complete, but when it is, Navini will start the mobile WiMAX race with a running start.

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