In an effort to ensure that mobile WiMAX wireless products work well together and with other products globally, Intel Corp., Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks on Wednesday announced that they are testing interoperability between their WiMAX products. The move will ensure that customers will eventually have less problems with the wide-area wireless Internet equipment.

Intel, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks have already started testing their equipment and devices with dozens of other equipment vendors’ products for interoperability and conformance with industry standards in Sprint’s Herndon, Wyoming testing labs. Early interoperability testing between multiple industry partners will help to reduce the amount of time required for their respective products to successfully pass through the technical requirements from the WiMAX Forum thus accelerating time-to-market.

The move will particularly allow Intel’s forthcoming WiMAX silicon for laptops and mobile Internet devices, Nokia’s WiMAX devices and Nokia Siemens Networks WiMAX infrastructure equipment to have a competitive advantages over similar products from competing companies, as they will have guaranteed interoperability, thus, reducing cost of ownership, ease of use and so on.

Nokia also said it will use Intel’s WiMAX silicon product, which is codenamed “Baxter Peak” and designed specifically for mobile Internet and consumer electronic devices, in its forthcoming Nokia N-series Internet Tablets. The Internet tablets will be among the very first WiMAX-enabled open Internet devices expected to ship in 2008.

Intel’s Baxter Peak is based on the same chip found on Intel’s “Echo Peak” MiniCard module for laptops and ultra-mobile devices, but is optimized for small form factors and low power consumption. It also includes multiple input/multiple output antenna techniques, supporting better reception and faster throughput in challenging environments.

“WiMAX enables the mobile Internet and makes it possible to get content on a variety of new mobile devices at broadband speed, and our ‘Baxter Peak’ solution is designed specifically for these exciting new devices. Intel, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks all recognize our collective responsibility in ensuring that people can take full advantage of WiMAX. Simply put, the infrastructure behind the networks and the devices that access those networks must work together seamlessly,” said Raviv Melamed, general manager of Intel’s mobile wireless group.