The six month delay in certifying WiMAX products won''t have any appreciable negative impact on deployment of the wireless broadband technology, an industry analyst said Monday.

"WiMAX''s arrival was heavily hyped for early to mid-2005, but experienced observers aren''t surprised by the holdup," Philip Solis, a senior analyst for ABI Research, said in a statement. "We have seen similar situations often in other segments of the industry."

Solis noted that, while interoperability testing leading to certification for WiMAX equipment won''t start until July, wireless operators and service providers already have been buying pre-WiMAX equipment and that won''t change because of the delay. As a result, concerns by other analysts that the delay will be a blow to the technology and its vendors are blown out of proportion, Solis said.

Solis added that the research firm''s previous forecasts about sales of WiMAX equipment won''t change because of the delay.

The WiMAX Forum acknowledged last week that testing to certify interoperability probably won''t start until July. It previously had been scheduled to start in January.