RESTON (WiMAX Day). At the International Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas, Sprint Nextel announced a stunning line-up of new partnerships for its Xohm WiMAX network. The network is presently in “soft launch” in the American cities of Chicago, Baltimore and Washington DC, and preparations are being made for a commercial launch later this year.

The Korean consumer electronics company ASUSTek announced it would begin shipping WiMAX-enabled devices later this year for Xohm. Amongst these devices will be the Eee PC, the ultra high-fashion mini notebook PC that has sold 350,000 units since Q4 2007.

At a demonstration on Monday, ASUSTek CEO Jonney Shih unveiled a live display of WiMAX working on an Eee PC. With Sean Maloney from Intel and Atish Gude, SVP of Mobile Broadband Operations at Sprint Nextel on hand to show their support for ASUSTek, Mr Shih demonstrated the ease with which the Eee PC could stream video, navigate web pages and play online games via the WiMAX connection.

Shih also showed the new R50A, a tiny 5.6 inch notebook that will be shipped “WiMAX-Ready” later this year

Another device for the Xohm network that was revealed this week came from the San Francisco company OQO Inc, which makes ultra mobile PCs. The company showed their award-winning 02 ultra mobile PC working with 802.16e mobile WiMAX capability.

“OQO’s demonstration of an ultra mobile PC with embedded Xohm WiMAX capability is further evidence of the additional development of this powerful ecosystem,” said Bin Shen, vice president of product management and partnership development at Sprint’s Xohm business unit. “We expect devices like OQO’s model 02 to benefit greatly from the Xohm WiMAX network.”

ZyXEL and chipset designer Sequans Communications also are are collaborating to produce a WiMAX modem subscriber device for mobile Internet data and voice services.

Other Xohm partnerships include the implementation of security products for PCs used on the Xohm network by McAfee Inc, one of the leading PC security companies.

In addition, eTelecare Global Solutions of Scottsdale, Arizona will supply Xohm with voice and e-support customer care services, and SwapDrive of Washington DC, will provide Xohm a hosted storage solution where Xohm subscribers can secure, organize, manage and access all their user-generated digital content though the Xohm portal from any device with a supported browser.

Xohm also announced two awarded contracts. Amdocs was awarded a multi-year agreement build and maintain the Xohm Internet portal, customer relationship management, service activation and provisioning, and billing operations.

The company also awarded a contract to Soho Square, a WPP company, to help launch the Xohm brand in North America.

“Sprint is delivering on its Open Internet vision with exciting and differentiated WiMAX services,” said Barry West, president of Sprint’s Xohm business unit. “The new service agreements and device commitments will help Xohm subscribers access, enjoy, store and secure personal digital and user-generated content while experiencing new device innovation.”