WiMAX World, a big meeting of the minds for WiMAX developers, engineers, providers, and device manufacturers, and one of the fun things they do there is recognize the best in the biz in several different categories. Companies can win awards in the following categories:

• Service Provider Deployment
• System Design
• Devices/Peripherals/Application Software
• Chip Design
• Industry Innovation
• Industry Choice

The finalists were announced yesterday, and they include a bunch of names with which we are not too familiar with just yet (but I'm sure we will be as WiMAX keeps rolling on!) and a couple that everybody knows. The most interesting award for most of us consumers is the honor in the devices category, as we've been eagerly awaiting more news and details on just what we'll be using to access the network when we are all finally able to.

Finalists in that category are: Motorola for the USBw100, WiMAX 20/20 for the WiROI, and ZTE USA for the TU25 USB WiMAX Dongle Modem. ZTE USA and Motorola's offerings are modems, obviously, and the WiROI is described as a "business case tool," which calculates and analyzes expenses of a variety of deployment plans and service models - very useful for all the companies rushing to build their networks.

Stay tuned at the end of the month for more news on WiMAX World - including, hopefully, some actual looks at those devices!