Cisco Systems has formally joined the ranks of a wireless broadband group, the WiMax Forum, according to a Cisco representative and the chairman of the coalition.

“Cisco has become a member, very recently, like in the last day,” said Ronald Resnick chairman of the WiMax Forum and director of marketing at Intel. Resnick added that the group now has about 140 members, along with nearly 40 applications for membership still being reviewed.

The WiMax Forum promotes and will market products based on the 802.16-2004 standard, which covers the wireless transmission of data at several megabits per second over a number of miles. Those products that are tested and approved to be interoperable with other 802.16-2004 products will be deemed WiMax compliant.

This item has me wondering: did Ciisco join in order to find out what the others in the group are doing or did it join in order to get free hints on which technology to develop?

It might seem that Cisco would have little interest in joining this group, since they’re more in the wired and Wi-Fi market. Are they likely to think that WiMax represents enough of a market to move in on? Time will tell.