VLSI Technology released the following to the media today, November 23, 1998
at 3:30pm PST.
VLSI Announces Vega+* Family: New Single-Chip DECT Solution Enables Cheaper,
Higher-Featured Home
Cordless Phones
Sophia-Antipolis, France, November 23, 1998 * VLSI Technology (NASDAQ: VLSI)
today announced the Vega+* family of new-generation baseband processors for
cost-sensitive DECT applications. The Vega+ family delivers best-in-class
DECT performance for handset and residential base-station applications at a
lower-than-ever price point, combining on-chip memory, additional signal
processing capabilities and lower-pin-count packages with the proven
strengths of VLSI's successful Vega* processor.
Implemented in VLSI's leading-edge 0.25µm process technology for low power
consumption, the Vega+ family includes dedicated devices for handset and
base station operation, integrating many functions which until now required
DECT system designers to specify external components. Vega+'s on-chip
features include high-performance voice compression for digital answering
machines, full support for three-way calls, integrated Caller ID algorithms
and DTMF detection allowing remote control of an answering machine.
Processing Power for Current and Future Base Stations
Vega+ is designed to interface to current and forthcoming DECT radio
chipsets from leading vendors, giving equipment manufacturers additional
flexibility to choose the lowest-system-cost solution. Vega+ also
incorporates VLSI's proven, flexible DECT Burst-Mode Logic along with a
powerful, efficient ARM7TDMI RISC microcontroller, a high-performance
voice-band codec, and the ability to integrate up to 128kbytes of program
code in on-chip ROM. Versions of the device with flash memory are under
development.
Unlike older 8-bit processors, Vega+'s 32-bit RISC microcontroller
incorporates enough processing power to handle all the additional functions
which translate to end-user benefits in today's - and tomorrow's - DECT base
stations. The device's master clock speed is software-selectable, allowing
dynamic trade-offs between peak processing bandwidth and minimal power
consumption. VLSI provides lower-layer MAC software and a full portfolio of
DSP algorithms to Vega+ customers, and complete GAP software stacks are
available from VLSI and third parties.
New Levels of Functionality for the Price-Sensitive DECT Market
"Vega+ delivers a new level of functionality into the low-cost DECT
marketplace," said Thierry Laurent, general manager of VLSI's Communication
Products Group. "Thanks to Vega+, consumers will soon see new DECT products
with higher-than-ever levels of functionality and user comfort, and at a
lower price than ever before. And our customer-specific design capability
means that, for the first time, DECT manufacturers can slash their system
costs while integrating their own proprietary logic. At VLSI, we're proud
to be driving the DECT cordless revolution forward with innovative solutions
like the Vega+ and the customer-specific products which will be based on
it."
The Vega+ will be available as a standard chip in handset and base station
versions with up to 128kbytes of program memory on-chip, packaged in 80-,
100- and 128-pin TQFP packages. The Vega+ architecture also forms the basis
for customer-specific versions of the device, combining basic functionality
with customer-specific add-on blocks for specialised applications. Thanks
to VLSI's HDLi* design reuse methodology, a wide range of IP blocks is
available for integration into customer-specific products.
"The Vega+ family represents a real step forward for DECT," said Evan
Kirstel, DECT Marketing Manager at Cambridge Consultants Ltd, a leading DECT
system house. "We've recently announced an industry-leading sub-$25 DECT
handset reference design, and VLSI's Vega is already at the heart of that
product. Now Vega+ will allow us to push costs down still further, and its
extra features mean that our product can deliver more real benefits for end
users."
Vega+ Key Features
Vega+ features include:
* All DECT baseband functionality, including T-MUX support in hardware
* 0-128kbytes of program memory on-chip
* Pinout options with and without external memory buses
* Powerful ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor, combining ample processing
power with low current consumption
* Full digital answering machine functionality without the need for an
external DSP or memory interface. Proprietary algorithm typically allows
almost 8 minutes of high-quality speech to be stored in a 4Mbit external
flash, which interfaces to Vega+ without glue logic.
* Extra transcoding power and mixing algorithms to allow three-way
conference calls (two handsets + external line)
* Caller ID detection
* DTMF detection, e.g. for remote control of answering machine
* Additional codec output channel, providing a loudspeaker function
for base stations
Vega+ Availability
Vega+ is expected to be available in sample quantities in January, with
production currently scheduled to follow in 2Q99. VLSI anticipates that
customer-specific Vega+ devices will sample in 2Q99 with production targeted
to follow in 3Q99. Currently, Vega+ is priced from below $5.00 for
1-million-unit quantities in 1999.
Communication Products Group
VLSI's Communication Products Group delivers decisive advantages for
customers in GSM (with OneC*) and CDMA (with CDMA+*) for cellular; DECT
(with Vega, VMax* and Vega+) for cordless; plus multi-mode and proprietary
systems. The group bases their wireless offerings on architectures such as
the flexible dual-processor Velocity* Standard Communication Platform*.
This approach gives handset manufacturers a single platform solution for all
major wireless stand |
