At the IBC show in Amsterdam last week, a London-based company called WiNetworks demo'd a WiMAX-based solution designed to provide satellite TV providers with a two-way broadband network over which they can offer triple-play services, including not only voice and data, but VOD and other two-way interactive TV applications (note: the solution could also be used to enable local ad insertion). The solution, which enables an always-on return path, is based on the company's patented "Hybrid WiMAX DVB" (HWDV) technology, which it says allows satellite operators to leverage their existing customer premises infrastructure (dish, set-top box, coax wiring, etc.) to deploy a WiMAX broadband wireless network at very low cost. WiNetworks says that it is the first company to use the new WiMAX protocol (IEEE 802.16 d/e) to deliver a solution uniquely designed for the DBS industry (note: WiMAX is a new broadband wireless standard backed by around 300 telecom technology and service providers). "The DBS carriers have recognized the need to expand beyond their existing satellite infrastructure in order to deliver broadband triple-play services," WiNetworks CEO, Effi Atad, said in a prepared statement. "Our innovative solution will do for DBS what HFC did for cable, and will make DBS operators the third and most effective broadband access channel to the home. Over time WiMAX' ability to deliver fully integrated fixed and mobile connectivity services will provide DBS carriers with an advantage over CATV and Telcos."
Artificial intelligence tools for product design have largely been sold to engineering leaders as a productivity story: faster renders, quicker iterations, fewer manual CAD operations. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the market for artificial intelligence in product design is set to grow from $628 million in 2025 to $4.3 billion by 2035; that's a 21.3 percent compound annual growth rate. The trajectory reflects a market moving past assistive tools and into a phase where AI becomes structurally embedded in how products get engineered, simulated, and validated. For executives overseeing engineering, product development, and R&D organizations, this is no longer a tooling decision. It is a competitive positioning decision, and the window to shape it is narrower than most roadmaps assume. The Ten-Year Growth Outlook Mechanical product design and simulation is the AI beachhead within manufacturing. A full 62 percent of manufacturers are already running AI projec...