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Technology Stocks : Voice-on-the-net (VON), VoIP, Internet (IP) Telephony -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (583)	5/20/1998 8:35:00 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

\|\|: VoVoIP [not a mistake] from VoCAL Technologies [not a mistake] :\|\| ================== MAY 20,1998 VoCAL Technologies Introduces Complete DSP-Based Voice Over IP Solution BUFFALO, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 1998-- Complete IP Telephony Solution Integrates Voice Coding, DTMF Detection/Generation and Slew of Crucial Call Management Functions Taken for Granted in Switched Circuit Systems VoCAL Technologies today announced a software suite that comprises a complete solution for voice over IP networks, including the Internet and corporate Intranets and LANs. The VoVoIP software, which includes components for proprietary and industry standard (H.323) voice over public or private IP networks, is comprised of a fully integrated speech/audio processing system that includes routines for voice coding, line echo cancellation, DTMF detection and generation, call progress detection/generation and more. VoVoIP reflects VoCAL's deep background in circuit-switched telephony and optimized DSP coding and is targeted at equipment OEMs in the telephony, ISP, LAN/WAN networking, and corporate remote access markets. "Our solution is distinctive on three counts," claims company spokesman David Jamieson. "The package integrates all the functions needed to implement a corporate or enterprise voice over IP system; the software is not just a voice coding system. Second, we support all the major ITU voice coders. This gives the user a choice of voice quality vs. bandwidth vs. compute complexity. "And third, the entire library is designed to operate on a dedicated DSP, making multiline systems and enterprise gateways low-cost and very manageable. Our software is unique; it can even support multiple ports on a single DSP chip." -- Voice over IP equipment designers quickly discover that the challenge involves much more than speech compression and framing. Users expect an IP telephony system to handle all the elements found in the switched circuit world, including DTMF tone detection and generation for North American and international systems, call progress detection, dial tone generation, echo cancellation, caller ID, etc. VoVoIP is the most comprehensive library available, reflecting VoCAL's many years of experience designing equipment for the telephone industry. For example, VoVoIP synchronizes DTMF to speech frames, enabling IVR systems over IP networks. The system also supports G.729B "silence detection and comfort noise generation" to maximize bandwidth utilization. -- In addition to G.729B, VoVoIP includes support for eight different speech coders - G.723.1 (5 1/3 and 6.4 kbps), G.729 and G.729A (8 kbps), GSM (13 kbps), G.728 (16 kbps), G.726 (16-40 kbps), G.721 (32 kbps), and G.711 (64 kbps). Speech coders differ in the amount of delay they inject into the system, their resultant speech fidelity, the amount of processing power they require, and the bandwidth consumed by the output stream. VoVoIP gives users a range of quality vs. bandwidth options. The particular speech coder used can be selected at run time, a feature especially useful in multiple line systems. -- VoVoIP executes all the voice and telephony algorithms on a dedicated DSP. This is an optimum design for hardware configurations supporting multiple circuit switched lines. For example, a single controller chip could control multiple DSPs, each of which could be supporting one or two channels (time slots) of a T1/E1 connection. By doing all the "heavy lifting" on the DSP, VoCAL takes advantage of the superior real-time number crunching performance of today's specialized silicon. VoVoIP is also very efficient. A single executable image supports two channels of G.729A encoder and decoder, DTMF detection, DTMF generation, call progress generation, and G.165-compliant echo canceller, all operating on a single ADSP-2181 at 40 MHz. VoVoIP is available directly from VoCAL Technologies. Available immediately is a version of the software which has been optimized to run on Analog Devices' ADSP-218X family of fixed point digital signal processor chips. Versions running on other DSPs are under development. Pricing and licensing are designed to meet a variety of OEM needs. VoCAL also provides hardware reference designs, custom software services, integration services, and full warranty support. VoCAL Technologies is a technology house providing OEM accounts with custom software development and hardware/software integration expertise. The company has over 500 man-years of experience in the telephony and computer telephony industry and is a worldwide leader in DSP software solutions. VoCAL offers a wide range of fax, voice, video, data, and telephony functions for analog and digital communications networks. VoCAL is a key technology partner with Analog Devices and offers a full range of communications-oriented software modules for Analog Devices' DSP product line. --30--ap/sf* CONTACT: VoCAL Technologies David Jamieson, 716/688-4675 www.vocal.com

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (583)	5/20/1998 1:47:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

Interesting ZDNet article w/links. Sorting Out Internet Telephony [Frank, I recently found this thread, have been following the fascinating discussions, and want to thank you and the other thread participants for their posts. I'm mostly an ASND investor and have limited tech abilities (although my Silicon Valley tech heads keep me clued in).] Jesse Berst, Editorial Director ZDNet AnchorDesk, WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1998 zdnet.com If you've ever tried to watch a prime-time drama, you know how hard it is to follow along if you come in late. Unless you've been watching for a long time, it's tough to keep up with all the characters. Internet telephony is the same way. It's in the news all the time, but you can't make sense of it unless you understand the different characters. Maybe this will help. There are really three separate issues that get jammed together under the telephony umbrella: IP-based public phone networks. Slowly but surely, today's switch-based phone networks will shift to IP-based networks instead. In other words, the same protocols that drive the Internet will run the phone networks too. Research organization Killen & Associates estimates 35% of all calls will be made using IP networks by 2002, a potential $60-billion market. Companies to watch are Cisco and Lucent. Cisco showed off its newest single data/voice multiservice network products earlier this year Click for full story. And Lucent is integrating Internet technology with current telephone systems. Click for full story. IP-based private networks. The idea here is to replace high-priced, proprietary PBXes with computer-based telephony that runs over IP-based local area networks. Spending on CTI solutions rose 49 percent to $1.3 billion in 1997, according to PC Week. Click for full story. Voice calls over today's Internet. This involves using the Internet to carry voice calls (instead of the standard voice network). The savings can be considerable, since Internet service providers don't have to pay the same access fees as phone companies. Click for full story. The quality is still quite low, but the technology is slowly improving. IDT inked a deal this week with IBM to package IDT's Net2Phone software with IBM's Net access kit. IDT made a similar pact with Yahoo! last month. Click for full story. Of the three aspects mentioned above, the last one gets the most press -- yet it's not something I can really recommend to most users. The second one -- the use of LAN-based phone systems -- is where many mid- to large-sized companies really stand to save some money. For more information on this continuing drama, check the links in the sidebar at left. And keep an eye out for news coming out of the CTI Expo in Baltimore this week. What's your take on telephony? Are you willing to make the leap -- or have you already? Use the Talkback button below to send me a message for possible posting under this story. Or jump over to my Berst Alerts forum where a discussion is underway. TALKBACK: Speakfree's reliable and cheap - Judy Ladd I have tried FreeTel and Netmeeting with marginal results - R.T. Fitch READ MORE: Internet Telephony Still Has Hurdles - ZDNet AnchorDesk Keeping Tabs On The Two-Headed Elephant - Inter@ctive Week IP Telephony Companies Find Strength In Peers - Inter@ctive Week AT&T Dials Up Net With Excite, Lycos Alliances - Inter@ctive Week COMPANIES: Cisco Systems, Inc. IDT Corp. Lucent Technologies PRODUCTS: Net2Phone Use of ZDNet is subject to certain Terms & Conditions Please read ZDNet's Privacy Statement Copyright (c) 1998 ZDNet. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of ZDNet is prohibited. ZDNet and the ZDNet logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Inc.