Antenna designer and manufacturer SkyCross now provides a WiMAX capability that allows client devices to optimize their capacity and data utilization and improves the dependability of the global WiMAX network. The new addition to the company's portfolio of products, termed iMAT antennas, has enabled many WiMAX network operators to save operational costs and improve performance levels of their nascent 4G infrastructure.

The WiMAX Forum estimates that 475 WiMAX networks have been installed in 140 countries in April 2009 and this number will be almost 50 million within the next five years based on data from Juniper Research. This data clearly illustrates that WiMAX is set to grow at a prolific rate in forthcoming periods subject to it living up to the hype as far as users are concerned. Users of WiMAX mostly look for fast data transfer and uninterrupted connectivity. Glitches in connection dampen the enthusiasm with which WiMAX will be adopted and zero down time must be ensured for every kind of mobile appliance, including MID, USB Dongles, Smartphones, Netbooks, Notebooks and others.

The MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) aspect of WiMAX enables faster transfer rates, enhanced network capacities and heightened dependability. Executing MIMO in mobile devices is typically fraught with technical complications because of the inherent lack of space and network interference. For the ultimate users to benefit completely from the WiMAX experience the MIMO problem must be efficiently resolved. With the iMAT Antenna from SkyCross a single antenna provides the capability of multiple combined ones, thus cutting down on costs and removing redundancies in the integration process. This has now been proven through several field tests conducted on the Sprint network in Hillsborough, Oregon. The tests conclusively proved that the iMAT Antennae enhance data transfer rate by almost 2.5 times versus the traditional two-antenna method. In separate field tests, Beceem also proved that iMAT Antennas had the maximum throughput when contrasted with antennae made with other medium like PCB and ceramic chip.

IMAT was first introduced in the USB Dongle as certified by the WiMAX Forum and since then network operators have widely adopted the solution in significant WiMAX deployments globally. SkyCross completed its first deployment on the Sprint XoHM network in Baltimore and on the Tecom USB dongle for the VMAX network in Taiwan. Currently SkyCross provides iMAT antennae to many appliances on the UQ Communications network in Japan and also for the Clearwire network in the United States.