ZyXEL Communications Inc. has announced that Sprint Nextel has selected ZyXEL WiMAX customer premise equipment (CPE) for use with its upcoming WiMAX mobile broadband network. ZyXEL will join Sprint Nextel’s WiMAX ecosystem partners in helping incorporate mobile WiMAX technology in a range of computing, portable multimedia, interactive and other business and consumer devices.

ZyXEL introduced its WiMAX product line for the IEEE802.16e standard last year and was first to market with an all-in-one solution that combines WiMAX, Wi-Fi, VoIP and security in a single box. ZyXEL’s CPE is currently in trial at more than 40 different sites throughout the world including major deployments in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.

ZyXEL has also been a major contributor for the M-Taiwan project, a nationwide WiMAX deployment in Taiwan featuring its 2.5GHz micro-base stations, Element Management Systems (EMS) and ASN gateways for a total end-to-end solution.

Sprint is developing a large-scale advanced wireless broadband network designed to mobilize the Internet, bring wireless innovation to devices and new multimedia mobile applications to customers. By wirelessly enabling the multitude of stand-alone consumer electronic devices that currently lack Internet access, Sprint will facilitate digital life amid a new era of user-generated content and Internet connectivity dependency.

“ZyXEL is an industry leader with proven solutions and a deep history in developing innovative broadband networking solutions,” said Barry West, Sprint Nextel chief technology officer and president of 4G Mobile Broadband. “ZyXEL’s award-winning WiMAX products are complementary to our WiMAX ecosystem initiative. With the help of ZyXEL we are working to quickly make advanced mobile broadband services a reality for our customers.”

ZyXEL’s WiMAX product line includes the MAX-100 series PCMCIA card for mobile users and the MAX-200 series CPE, a plug-and-play router designed for home users, which will be used by Sprint. Both of these products received the 2006 WiMAX World Award for devices/peripherals/application software. The MAX-200S will enable Sprint to deliver last-mile wireless broadband access to customers as an alternative to cable and DSL. ZyXEL’s product portfolio on the client/terminal devices also includes an Express Card, USB dongle, SOHO router, and indoor and outdoor CPE for mobile WiMAX applications supporting 2.5 GHz, 2.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands.

In addition, ZyXEL’s comprehensive WiMAX product line also features the pico-cell and femto-cell base stations, which offer service providers a cost-efficient solution to enhance their 4G coverage with better indoor penetration while increasing network capacity and flexibility for wireless Internet service deployment.

“Sprint is a trusted partner and profoundly innovative company and we are pleased to be a technology partner for their WiMAX initiative,” said Dr. Shun-I Chu, chairman, ZyXEL Corporation. “We share with Sprint a common goal to mobilize the Internet and we’re looking forward to the successful launch of their service.”

The agreement between Sprint Nextel and ZyXEL was formalized on Monday, Aug.13, 2007 in Reston, Va. at a signing ceremony involving: Barry West, Sprint Nextel’s chief technology officer and president, 4G Mobile Broadband; Atish Gude, Sprint’s senior vice president, Mobile Broadband; Bin Shen, Sprint’s vice president, Product and Partnership Management; Dr. Shun-I Chu, ZyXEL Corporation’s chairman; Howie Chu, ZyXEL USA’s president; and Munira Brooks, ZyXEL USA’s senior vice president of sales, marketing and business development.