Thanks to reader kurtvonn for directing us to this recent post at WiSOA's WiMax Day, which looks at the limited degree of understanding in the investor community of what exactly WiMax is...

"Recent reports have stated that 2007 will be the 'year of WiMax,' or that the leading IPOs this year will be for WiMax network operators," the article states. "Whether or not this will be the case, very few companies can be qualified as WiMax network operators, and the challenge is how to identify them."

"Simply put, WiMax is not a technology, but rather a term for specific products or services that conform to the IEEE 802.16 technical standards, and a certification process by the WiMax Forum," the article explains. "The industry that has emerged to capitalise on the 802.16 standards has adopted the name WiMax, in much the same way that Wi-Fi is a name specific to services that adopt the 802.11 standards. WiMax also utilises licensed radio spectrum, a key factor that differentiates WiMax from Wi-Fi or other wireless services that use unlicensed or 'free' radio frequencies."

As a product of the news site of the WiMax Spectrum Owners Association, the article certainly has an obvious bias, but it's still an excellent breakdown of WiMax's short term and long term goals.