Stories by: Peter Judge

The market for WiMax is predicted to decline in 2009, as mobile WiMax is hit both by the economic squeeze and competition from the LTE standard for 4G networks, according to an analyst report.

New technologies could be developed into products more quickly and cheaply if new "patent pool" licensing programs set up by the IEEE Standards Association are a success.

On Monday, Meru Networks announced virtual ports, a technology designed to make Wi-Fi networks as reliable as wired Ethernet. IDG News Service interviewed the CEO of Meru, Ihab Abu-Hakima, on a visit to London.

Chinese network company Huawei Technologies is planning to launch smartphones based on the Android and Symbian operating systems in the first half of 2009, according to James Chen, director of marketing for the company's terminals division. It will also launch a new embedded 3G module at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress this month, he said.

The IEEE is considering two possible technologies which could take Wi-Fi to Gigabit speeds by 2012 - even though the standards body won't finally publish the 802.11n fast Wi-Fi specification until November 2009.

Ruckus, which makes WLAN switches for small-to-medium businesses, has delivered a larger switch and upgraded its management software, to handle large sites with multiple buildings - entering the territory delivered of rivals such as Cisco and Aruba.

The IEEE has completed 802.11r, a standard that lets Wi-Fi devices roam quickly between access points, improving the performance of VoIP on enterprise LANs.

Last week's announcement of a standard for femto cells took a lot of people by surprise. How did it happen so fast, and how important will it be? And are there other issues that might cause problems in future?

Operators and vendors have agreed a standard which could speed up the arrival of femtocells -- the indoor base stations which are designed to improve coverage of 3G networks indoors by piggy-backing on home and office broadband.

Bluetooth's low-power variant could be everywhere starting next year, and other low-power networking options had better watch out, say the new standard's backers.