The first fixed WiMAX products have received official certification from the WiMAX Forum, the trade organization said Thursday.

The approvals are something of an anti-climax since more than 150 deployments and trials of WiMAX have already been launched, the trade group said. Still, the certifications mark the official launch of the wireless broadband technology.

The 802.16-2004 standard for fixed WiMAX was approved last year and the process of certification testing started last summer. The first products to be officially certified as adhering to the standard and as interoperable with other standardized products come from Aperto Networks, Redline Communications, Sequans and Wavesat, the group said. These first products to be certified operate in the 3.5 GHz range.

In addition, the certification laboratory, Cetecom Spain, has confirmed its testing another 26 products, the WiMAX Forum said.

"Through an expanded and rigorous conformance and interoperability testing in our certification program, we believe there are more robust fixed WiMAX systems coming to market than what was originally expected," WiMAX Forum president Ron Resnick said in a statement.