AudioCodes has listed its primary competitors for its chip products as Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Infineon, Centillium,
Mindspeed, Netergy and VoicePump. Other less significant competitors, so far to date, include Freescale Semiconductor,
Agere Systems and Intel. Intel has not made a vocal market push into the market, but has begun taking VoIP steps. For one,
it appeared at the VON fall VoIP trade show and has aligned with Avaya. Intel in August of 2005, was reported to be working
with Avaya on the enhancement of Avaya’s IP telephony softphone for laptops.
In the module level market, AudioCodes reports that it also considers chip companies as competitors. These include
Texas Instruments, Mindspeed, Centillium, Performance Technologies and Spectrum Signal Processing Inc.
In the board market AudioCodes main competitors have been NMS Communications, Intel, Motorola, Brooktrout, Inc.,
Acculab and PIKA Technologies, Inc.
In the low-density analog media gateway market, AudioCodes has a long list of competitors. The company lists
these as Cisco Systems Inc., Mediatrix Telecom, Inc., Vega Stream Limited, Samsung, Innovaphone AG, Quintum Technologies,
Tainet Communication System Corp., Welltech, Ascii Corp., D-Link Systems, Inc., Multitech Inc., Inomedia, OKE LG, Cisco Systems,
Veraz Networks, Sonus Networks, Nuera, Tekelec, General Bandwidth, Telica and Commatch.
In the mid- and high-density gateways markets AudioCodes also reports it competes with the internal development
departments of Nortel, Lucent, Alcatel, Siemens, Huawei, UTStarcom, ZTE and others.
Texas Instruments and Freescale have been chip suppliers to AudioCodes.
Texas Instrument has supplied chips for AudioCodes signal processor products and Freescale (formerly part of Motorola) has
supplied its network processors.
BROADCOM VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM), one of the top fabless semiconductor
companies with nearly $2 billion in annual revenues, is considered one of the top VoIP chip suppliers. Broadcom reported in
2005 that IDC estimated it had 38 percent of the IP phone chip market in 2004. It was also reported that Broadcom was the
only VoIP chip company to gain market share in 2004.
In August 2005, Broadcom also reported that it supplied six of the
top eight enterprise IP phone manufacturers. According to Patrick Sullivan, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's
VoIP phone products, “Broadcom supplies IP phone solutions to six of the top eight enterprise IP phone manufacturers."
He also indicated that the company’s Ethernet IP chip had seen shipments of over three million units. "We have shipped
more than three million units since the launch of our Ethernet IP phone chip about two years ago. The recently launched Broadcom
GbE IP phone chip, combined with our industry leadership in physical layer (PHY) technology, proven security and best-in-class
voice quality, continues to set us apart from our competition. Thereby further strengthening our position while enabling customers
to develop cost-effective, feature-rich GbE phones that can take advantage of higher bandwidth and improved performance."
In October of 2004, Broadcom also indicated that it had shipped
over 4 million of its BCM1160 VoIP processors. Broadcom through two of its customers, Ambit Microsystems and iCableSystem,
reported in February of 2004 that it had shipped over four million VoIP units along with associated Broadcom software.
In September of 2003, Broadcom added NEC Infrontia Corporation,
Hitachi Communication Technologies, Ltd., and Iwatsu Electric as customers for its BCM1100 and BCM1101 IP phone engines.
In June of 2003, Broadcom reported that it had sold over 2 million
of its chips in Japan through Ambit Microsystems. In 2002, Broadcom also reported that Ambit Microsystem’s VoIP products
had resulted in over 2 million BCM1112 VoIP chip shipments.
Most of the data suggests that Broadcom so far to date has generated
the majority of its VoIP revenue in Japan, considered the genesis of the VoIP market place. Broadcom’s VoIP products
are also in Korea. ICable, a Korea based company, has used Broadcom’s BCM1112 chip for its S-MTA product.
This product permits two VoIP telephone lines to use broadband cable or DSL internet access. iCable projected that its revenue
at the time of that announcement to reach $30 million in 2004 and $50 million in 2005.
Broadcom’s offers a wide variety of different chips to VoIP
manufacturers. VoIP companies use Broadcom's WiFi, security and Ethernet chips to produce VoIP phones that offer security,
and both wireless and wired Internet connectivity. With
Broadcom’s chips, a VoIP manufacturer has the basis for the design of a WiFi enable VoIP phone, direct wired Internet
phone, converged VoIP-WiFi phone or even a cable VoIP phone.
Broadcom’s VOIP chips are now part of the mobile and
wireless product segment of Broadcom’s Enterprise Networking Products Group. Besides VoIP chips, other semiconductor
categories developed and sold through the group include Ethernet controllers, transceivers, switches, broadband network and
security processors, server chipsets and storage products. The group also provides chip solutions for broadband applications.
These include cable modems, digital cable and direct broadcast satellite set-top boxes, personal video recording applications,
DSL applications, IP set-top boxes, HD-DVDs and digital TVs. Broadcom’s mobile and wireless products include solutions
for wireless LAN, cellular, Bluetooth, mobile multimedia and VoIP solutions.
Broadcom's growing list of VoIP customers include Alpha Networks,
Ambit Microsystems, Hitachi Communication Technologies, iCableSystem, Inter-Tel Incorporated, Iwatsu Electric , Moimstone,
NEC Infrontia, Scientific-Atlanta, TCL Communications, and Wistron Neweb. It is also most likely that the companies Broadcom
has been working with on VoIP projects are now customers and have or are very likely shortly moving into mass production.
These OEMs and ODMs include Aastra Telecom, AT&T, Avaya Inc. and Foxconn. Toshiba Corp. has shipped its Strata CTX system,
which is based on Broadcom’s BCM1113 VoIP chip.
Broadcom in September of 2005 introduced a new VoIP processor and
entered into an agreement with TCL Communications Equipment (Huizhou) Co., Ltd., to supply single-chip Voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) phone and analog terminal adapter (ATA) chips. The two chips selected by TCL include the BCM1113R and the
BCM1112. The two chips enable the design of low cost IP phones for the consumer and business markets.
TCL Communications, based in China is considered “The King
of Telephones in China.” The company has a manufacturing capacity in the order of 10 million units per year. TCL Communications
also has a VoIP product development agreement with Texas Instruments.
Broadcom has already obtained customers for its recently introduced
VoIP mobile processor, the BCM1161 (see the VoIP product section). Customers for this product that intend to integrate it
into WiFi VoIP converged applications include Alpha Networks, Moimstone and Wistron Neweb.
Broadcom’s range of chips include Gigabit IP phone chips,
VoIP WiFi chip set solutions, VoIP CPE engines and VoIP communications processors, all with associated reference designs for
the development of VoIP systems. The company also has addressed the Voice Over Cable modem market.
Broadcom also has the BCMVoP Calisto VoIP communications processors
and platform. That architecture incorporates DSP multiprocessing and RISC/DSP hybrid for the development of systems with 200
packet telephony channels per chip. With the platform up to 10 DSP chips can be replaced with one chip, according to
Broadcom, with a power rating of less than 10 milliwatts per channels.
CENTILLUM COMMUNICATIONS VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Centillium Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTLM), like many other
VoIP chip companies, starterd out with a major focus on the DSL and ADSL market, and then turned to VoIP chips as a natural
extension. So far, Centillium has seen significant revenue growth form its VoIP chips. For its second quarter ended June
30, 2005, Centillium reported total revenues of $18.6 million, compared with revenues of $17.2 million in the first quarter
of 2005. In that quarter VoIP chip revenue was in the order of $3.2 million, compared to about $0.5 million for the second
quarter of 2004. In terms of percentage of total revenues, VoIP revenue for the second quarter of 2005 was 17 percent of total
revenue compared to just 3 percent of total revenue for the second quarter of 2004.
For the six months ended June 30, 2005, Centillium’s VoIP
product revenue was 15 percent of total revenue or $5.4 million compared to just $0.5 million or 2 percent of total revenues
for the six months ended June 30, 2004.
For all of 2005, Centillium anticipates that VoIP revenue will be
significantly higher than 2004.
The vast majority of Centillium’s other revenue comes from
DSL chips. For the first six months of 2005, Centillium also generated $1.4 million of revenue from its Fiber-To-The Premises
chips.
During the second quarter of 2005, Centillium expanded its line
of Palladia400 chipsets, which are integrated Voice-over-IP (VoIP) solutions for the ADSL market. According to the CEO
of Centillium, Faraj Aalaei, “The Palladia 400-2P includes two voice channels and targets home gateway applications,
while the Palladia 400-4P with four voice channels was developed for small office/home office (SOHO) applications. The two
chipsets provide a superior solution for consumers demanding faster connectivity with more integrated features, such as VoIP.”
In June 2004, Centillium officially entered the VoIP market with
the introduction of its Atlanta 100 carrier grade chip solution for carrier grade (high voice quality) customer premise equipment.
Centillium has since April of 2004 worked with UTStarcom (NASDAQ: UTSI) to promote VoIP solutions.
Centillium’s major customers, for all of its products, include
NEC, Sumitomo and Lucent Technologies. Sumitomo accounted for about 30 percent of its total revenue in the second quarter
of 2005, NEC 22 percent and Lucent Technologies, 15 percent.
Centillium has licensed the MIPS microprocessor core from MIPS Technology
for use in VoIP Solutions.
CEVA VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
CEVA (NasdaqNM:CEVA) offers DSP cores for the VoIP market,
but so far too date, no direct VoIP design wins have been uncovered. The company has partnered with Acoustic Technologies,
Floreat, GAO Research, and Vocal Technologies in the VoIP arena and also has a line of DSP cores and reference designs
for the specific development of VoIP systems and chips.
It is unlikely though that CEVA doesn’t have a significant
position in the VoIP market. With over 100 million DSP cores shipped by the company, it is more than likely that
CEVA has established some significant VoIP accounts.
CONEXANT
Conexant Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNXT), which is one of the market
leaders in the broadband market through its acquisition of Globespan, also has focused its attention on the VoIP market. In
May of 2005, Conexant secured Aztech Systems, Ltd. as a customer for its VoIP chipsets for use in Aztech's V300ATA broadband
router.
Conexant introduced its CX9041X family of coprocessor chips for
VoIP applications, such as VoIP phones, analog terminal adaptors, digital subscriber line (DSL) routers, integrated access
devices and multi-tenant unit/multi-dwelling unit (MTU/MDU) voice and data systems in January of 2005. The new products were
designed to form a complete ADSL / VoIP solution when combined with Conexant’s other ADSL chips.
The CX90411 and CX94012 were originally introduced at a priced of
less than $8.00, for two voice channel versions and $6.00 for one voice channel versions. The chips come in 64-pin quad flat
pack no lead (QFN) packages and 80-pin plastic quad flat pack (PQFP) respectively. Conexant's also offers the CX9168 voice
coprocessor.
DSP GROUP VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
DSP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSPG), a fabless company focused on the
DSP telecommunications and wireless markets, has not ignored the VoIP market. Its efforts include the development of a Cordless
Voice over IP chip, or CoIP chip for the residential market. The DSP Group introduced the CoIP in January of 2005 at the 2004
International CES show in Las Vegas.
Since that time, Westell Technologies (NASDAQ:WSTL), a company that
develops broadband devices, has selected the chip for the design of broadband cordless telephony device.
The DSP Group also offers the V111, V121 and V141 chips for customer
premise equipment applications such as VoIP residential gateways.
F3 VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
F3 introduced its USB VoIP telephone solution in March of 2005.
The FUP1 chip is for USB based PCM audio applications and serves as recording path for Internet Voice based answering machine
applications.
FORTEMEDIA VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
In May of 2005, Fortemedia introduced its FM1093 chip for VoIP and
speakerphone applications. The chip, with G.722 support, is targeted at VoIP speakerphone and voice recognition applications.
The chip integrates a DSP, CODECs and RAM along with a variety of peripheral interfaces. For speaker identification, the chip
features up to 60dB of acoustic echo cancellation, up to 20dB of non-stationary noise suppression, non-linear filters and
dynamic range control.
Specific applications for the chip include Bluetooth speakerphones
and hands-free telephone conversion for safe automotive driving. Paul Huang, CEO of Fortemedia commented further on the chip’s
microphone features, "Consumers today demand higher quality in their voice interface applications," says "To enable our customers
to meet these demands, we developed the FM1093. 16kHz processing allows designers to take full advantage of the higher bandwidth
in VoIP, while small array microphone beam-forming capabilities dramatically reduce noise in the car cabin. A tier one telecommunications
provider is already using the FM1093 solution today to power a VoIP speakerphone."
The FM1093 is available in production quantities in a 48-pin LQFP
package and includes AMBIN V31 echo cancellation and noise suppression software – originally scheduled to be available
in Q3 2005.
Fortemedia in August of 2004 introduced its single chip, USB echo
canceller/noise suppressor solution, the AMBIN FM1083. The chip is targeted at the USB telephone and PC speakerphone and conference
hardware devices.
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Freescale Semiconductor, considered the number two supplier of DSP
products in the world, has addressed the needs of the communications market for several years. For the VoIP and other communications
markets, Freescale Semiconductor offers its line of MSC812x DSPs. The chips integrate 1.43 Mbyte of internal memory, external
memory interface, an 10/100 Mbps Ethernet controller, and co-processors. The MSC8126 includes a turbo-coding co-processor
(TCOP) and Viterbi co-processor (VCOP), specifically targeted towards wireless baseband processing. The chips come in 300MHz,
400MHz and 500MHz versions. The MSC8122 and MSC8126, introduced in May of 2005, were originally priced from $127.74 in quantities
of 10,000.
Freescale has partnered with two VoIP software companies in its effort to expedite VoIP system development
time. One partner, is Unicoi Systems, which introduced a VoIP reference design in April of 2004.
The other is Trinity Convergence, Inc. Freescale in November of
2004 ported VoIP software from Trinity, the Trinity’s VeriCall Edge software, to its V/VoIP solution based on its i.MX21
multimedia applications processor.
Freescale has market share in most of the communications markets
as a result of the development of its multi-protocol microprocessor, which it began delivering in 1989. Its postion is further
enhanced as a major supplier of communication chips to Motorola, the company it was spun-out from.
Since 1989 Freescale has shipped more than 185 million multi-protocol
microprocessors for a variety of different communications and peripherals protocol applications, including VoIP. In 1995,
Freescale furthered its entrance into the communications market with the PowerQUICC processor line. The company in 2005 was
manufacturing that processor with 0.13 micron process technology.
Freescale also for the VoIP market offers the iMX21 processor, based
on the ARM microprocessor architecture,
GLOBAL IP SOUND VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Global IP Sound, or GIPS for short, provides embedded voice processing
software for integrated circuit and systems that need VoIP standard compatibility. The company in 2004 reported a 359 percent
increase in revenue for its third quarter.
In November of 2004, GIPS entered into a license agreement with
Infineon Technologies. As part of that agreement Infineon Technologies licensed GIPS’ iLBC codec. That codec has been
specified, according to GIPS, as the mandatory component for multimedia terminals adaptors.
INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX) (NYSE: IFX), considered one
of the rising stars in the top ten of the VoIP chip market, is another VoIP chip company that also has a stake in the related
DSL and ADSL chip markets. The company shipped over 6 million of its GEMINAX chip sets in 2004. According to Christian Wolff,
Vice President Communications Business Group and General Manager Wireline Access Business Unit at Infineon "The Infineon GEMINAX
MAX chipset is based on our expertise in ADSL2+ technology with more than 6 million ports shipped in 2004 alone. It provides
significant advantage in terms of density, power and cost."
In June of 2005, Infineon continued its conquest of ADSL system
companies. At that time it announced that ADTRAN selected its GEMINAX and ConverGate chipsets for the design of its DSLAM
(DSL Access Multiplexer) products. ADTRAN is considered one of the top three DSL equipment vendors in North America.
In November of 2004, GIPS entered into a license agreement with
Infineon Technologies. As part of that agreement Infineon Technologies licensed GIPS’ iLBC codec. That codec has been
specified, according to GIPS, as the mandatory component for multimedia terminals adaptors.
Infineon so far is noted for its VoIP SLIC products, see the VOIP
product section.
IP WIRELESS VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
IP Wireless partners with technology companies to develop telecommunications products.
In October of 2004, the company entered into an agreement with Atmel to develop a VoIP solution.
IP Wireless also offers its own chips and systems. The company offers a TD-CDMA chipset
for VoIP applications such as VoIP mobile phones, VoIP gateways and a number of other applications
ITTIAM SYSTEMS VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Ittiam Systems, based in India, is also in the VoIP core market.
The company works with companies to provide DSP based solutions for VoIP systems. Such solutions include the development of
HDL IP cores, C level core models and system level designs.
LEGERITY VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Legerity’s history in the VoIP market extends as far back
as 2001. In the second quarter of 2001, Legerity reported that it had won over 30 new voice over broadband design wins in
its first quarter. Customers for its VoB chipsets at that time included Cisco, Copper Mountain, D-Link, Telco Systems and
Wave7 Optics. In 2001, Legerity reported that of the 100 plus design wins it obtained in 2001 over two-thirds of them were
for VoB applications. The company estimated that its market share in the VoB market for the year 2000 was 40 percent.
Legerity’s
VoIP products were selected by Amrivox Ltd. (Sept. 2005) for use in its Unified Telephone Adapters (UTAs). The UTAs are targeted
at the consumer market through the retail channel.
Today, Legerity, with over 14 million port shipments to the VoIP
market, ranks among the leaders in the VoIP semiconductor market. The company continues to supply its chips to major VoIP
companies. One of its major accounts has been ARRIS. In 2005, it reported that it had shipped over one million lines of VoIP
to ARRIS, which uses Legerity's Le792221 and Le79R241 chips.
Legerity, which was spun out from Advanced Micro Devices(NYSE:AMD),
still may have ties with the company. In September 2005, Advanced Micro Devices, as part of its Sailfish platform for the
development of triple-play settop boxes, reported that Legerity’s SLIC and AC-97 interface chip had been included in
the platform. Pixelworks Inc. (NASDAQ:PXLW) contributed its PWBSP-16 Broadband Signal Processor IC to the design. The Sailfish
II also includes AMD’s Alchemy Au1550 processor.
Legerity introduced its VE950 family of VoIP devices at the Spring
VON 2005 conference. The product family, which includes the Le9500A, Le9500b and Le9500C chips are Subscriber Line Interface
Circuits (SLIC) and are specifically designed to work with Broadcom’s family of VoIP chips, which include the BCM3341,
BCM3351, BCM3352 and BCM1101. Legerity’s SLIC’s have operating voltages of 75, 85 and 95 volts. Legerity’s
SLIC chips were originally priced at $1.95 in large volumes when they were announced.
In January 2005, VOCAL Technologies selected Legerity’s Le88111
VoicePort chip for the design of an analog terminal adapter. Victor Demjanenko, chief technology officer for VOCAL, at the
time, noted the cost-benefits of the chip, "As the leading supplier of voice IC technology for voice enabled modems, Legerity's
highly integrated Le88111 VoicePort provided the optimal solution for our ATA, allowing us to achieve our price target of
less than $10 per unit."
LSI LOGIC VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
LSI Logic Corporation (NYSE: LSI) focuses on the VoIP market through
its DSP division, also known as its ZSP division. That division offers Voice Processor chips for both wired and WiVoIP applications.
In October of 2004, LSI Logic along with Micrel Inc., another semiconductor company and Arcturus Networks completed the development
of VoIP reference design for the development of wireless VoIP router products. LSI Logic’s chips have also been included
in SyChip’s chip-scale module VoIP solutions.
LSI Logic also has licensed its ZSP DSP cores for applications in
the VoIP chip market. In September of 2005, LSI Logic licensed its DSP Core to VeriSilicon.
More importantly though is LSI Logic’s ZSP core licensing
agreement with Broadcom, which was entered into in August of 2004. Broadcom has adopted the core for a number of its VoIP
products. These include the BCM3341 Broadband VoIP chip, the BCM3351 and BCM3352 Cable Modem VoIP Gateway chips and BCM6352
Voice over DSL chip.
MICREL VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Micrel Inc., (Nasdaq:MCRL), in October of 2004, LSI Logic and Arcturus
Networks completed the development of VoIP reference design for the development of wireless VoIP router products.
MARVELL TECHNOLOGIES VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL), is most well known for its disk drive chip
sets. However the company is also known for continually and successfully expanding into other high volume chip markets.
In August of 2005, Marvell introduced a family of integrated VoIP
chip solutions, referred to as VoWLAN SoC solutions. These include the Marvell 88W8618, targeted at low-power Voice over WLAN
[VoWLAN] handsets and the Marvell 88W86 family, targeted at VoIP residential gateways. Both of the products integrate VoIP
processors, WiFi circuit, and WLAN security processor engines. Marvell’s VoWLAN solutions are based on the ARM processor
core.
MICRO LINEAR VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Micro Linear (NASDAQ:MLIN), a relatively small public semiconductor
company, has sold products to Uniden, a VoIP systems company. The company was chosen as Uniden’s supplier of the year
for 2004.
MICROTUNE VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Microtune, Inc., (NASDAQ:TUNE) in June of 2005 made its mark in
the VoIP market with a design win from ARRIS(NASDAQ:ARRS). ARRIS selected Microtune’s MT2050 single chip tuner for its
Touchstone VoIP Telephony Modems for cable applications.
MINDSPEED TECHNOLOGIES VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:MSPD), a spin-off from Conexant
Systems, has a significant position in the VoIP market, with as much as 35 percent of its total semiconductor market coming
from that market in any given financial quarter.
Mindspeed’s VoIP chips, which are primarily targeted at VoIP
gateways, have also been a primary source of revenue growth at the company in 2004 and 2005. Mindspeed for its third quarter ended June 30, 2005 had total revenues of $27.7 million. Of that, 32 percent was derived
from multiservice access VoIP solutions, which was up 3 percent from the second quarter of 2005. For its second quarter of
2005, VoIP revenues was 33 percent of total sales of $26.6 million. Compared to the first quarter of 2005, VoIP revenue grew
an astonishing 35 percent. In the third quarter of 2004, Mindspeed’s total revenue was $35.4 million, of which VoIP
contributed 27 percent of the total revenues, which represented a 38 percent increase in VoIP revenue from Mindspeed’s
second quarter in 2004.
Mindspeed also has its eye on the VoIP-over-Cable market. In this
regard, it has announced VoIP-over-Cable software for its VoIP processors. As well, in order to further penetrate the VoIP
market, Mindspeed entered into an agreement with Legerity to jointly offer VoIP solutions for carrier and broadband access
equipment companies.
Mindspeed’s recent VoIP customers have included Harbour Networks,
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd , Siemens Communications Inc., Teleca, TelcoBridges, Vierling Communications GmbH, and Viking
Interworks.
MIPS TECHNOLOGIES VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR
PROFILE
MIPS Technologies (NASDAQ:MIPS)' VoIP MIPS IP microprocessor
core licensees include most of the top and high-growth semicoductor VoIP companies. These include Centillium, Infineon,
Toshiba and Texas Instruments. The company’s microprocessor core MIPS core is also a part of Broadcom’s
VoIP chip solutions.
Because MIPS licensees have major market share and have also been
reported to have increased market share in the VoIP market, the company remains well positioned to benefit from increased
growth in the market
MYSON CENTURY VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Myson Century, Inc. introduced its CS6220 VoIP chipset in April
2005. The company obtained the technology through a license agreement with Netergy Microelectronics Corp. The complete solution
includes the chipset, software stack, reference design and reference design.
The chipset integrates a 32-bit RISC CPU with DSP extension functions,
a dual Ethernet 10/100 MAC and embedded SRAM. The software stack supports numerous VoIP protocols. These include H.323, Megaco,
MGCP, RFC3261, and SIP.
POWERDSINE VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Power over Ethernet (PoE) chips, chips that provide battery power
over Ethernet data cabling, also have a role to play in the design of VoIP phones. PowerDsine (NASDAQ: PDSN), is one public
company that has seen its revenue grow over the years with both PoE chips and systems.
PowerDsine’ POE chip will allow Internet phones to forego
the need for a separate power supply. This chip provides power to the Internet phone through the same Ethernet cable wire
that the data is sent on.
OCTASIC VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Transwitch (NASDAQ:TXCC) and Octasic, Inc, both fabless semiconductor
companies, are involved in the VoIP Gateway chip and card market segments. At the SUPERCOMM 2005 show the two companies introduced
a joint VoIP gateway solution, which includes the Transwitch TEPRO chip and the Octasic OCT8304 and OCT6100 chips. Transwitch
and Octasic officially introduced the VoIP residential gateway
card in April of 2005.
SMSC VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
SMSC (NASDAQ: SMSC) has established its presence in the VoIP market
through its Ethernet controller chip. In February of 2005 VOCAL Technologies, Ltd. selected the Ethernet controller for a VOIP
reference design. SMSC also indicated that it would be VOCAL’s silicon supplier of all “IP Interaction.“
Victor Demjanenko, Chief Technology Officer at VOCAL Technologies commented on SMSC's low bill of materials cost, "VOCAL has
established a broad presence in servicing VOIP network applications for wireless, voice, video and data. Our decision to leverage
SMSC's expertise in embedded Ethernet connectivity for our designs was driven by SMSC's attractive combination of mixed-signal
expertise, an ability to deliver high-performance, BOM-sensitive solutions and a high level of support for design-in activities.
Ultimately, these designs will further accelerate the acceptance and growth of VOIP applications and will strengthen each
of our respective market positions."
SILICON LABORATORIES VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ:SLAB), which has seen much success
in the cellular chip market, has also focused its attention on the VoIP market. The company offers integrated solutions for
voice over ADSL applications, enabling the design of telephones with VoIP capability.
Silicon Labs offers its Si3216 wideband audio ProSLIC, which is
a CMOS subscriber line interface circuit for high voice quality VoIP application. As a testimonial to the value Silicon Labs
places on the product, Silicon Labs has filed more than twenty patents on the technology.
Silicon Laboratories announced an initial VoIP contract from Huawei
Technologies Co. Ltd in June of 2004. As part of that agreement, Huwai selected the Si3210 ProSLIC chip for VoIP applications
such as video telephony and VoIP Internet access equipment. The chip provides an analog telephone interface with the telephone
network.
Later in January 2005 Silicon Laboratories' Si3210 ProSLIC solution
and Si3050 voice direct access arrangement (DAA) was selected by Askey Computer Corporation. Askey, which manufactures cable
and ADSL modems, has planned to use the chips in its line of voice-enabled ADSL modems.
SPIRIT DSP VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
SPIRIT DSP, based in Moscow with 120 employees, has licensed its
DSP software for VoIP chip applications. Among the chip companies that have licensed SPIRIT’s technology are Agere,
Atmel, and Texas Instruments. The company also has licensed its software to a number of system level companies. The company
claims that its software is used to power over 50 million voice channels.
SYCHIP VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
SyChip, a company that integrates WiFi and VoIP semiconductor
solutions into ultra-small chip-scale packages, offers a VoIP module that permits cellular phone companies to readily
integrate VoIP capability. The VoIP module design based on LSI Logic’s LSI403WLP Z.Voice processor permits over 5 hours
of talk time and 100 hours of stand-by time.
As a credit to the success of its chip packaging technology SyChip
in September of 2005 was ranked as the fastest growing Texas Technology company in Deloitte & Touche’s Fast 50 Ranking
of Fastest-Growing Technology companies. In order to achieve that rank, SyChip had a growth rate of 20,030 percent over a
five-year period.
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Texas Instruments, considered the number one VoIP chip company,
has developed chip products for five different segments of the VoIP market. These include the IP Phone market, the CPE gateway
market, the high density gateway market, and both the cable modem and DSL modem markets.
For the IP phone market it offers the TNETV1050 and TNETV1055 chips along with Telogy software for VoIP applications.
For WLAN IP phones it offers the TNETV1600 chip.
Texas Instruments claims that so far to date over 80 percent of IP phones include its technology.
Texas Instruments also offers VoIP gateway solutions for
the residential/SOHO and enterprise gateway market. For equipment product development offers Texas Instruments offers design
platforms based on its TMS320C54x and TMS320C55x DSP cores with VoIP software from its Telogy Software unit.
Texas Instruments VoIP chip line up includes its well-known TMS320C55x
DSP chip, which is the basis for VOCAL’s VoIP Analog Telephone Adapter. That adapter, used to add phones lines to broadband
connections, also includes a number of analog, power management and logic chips. 3Com also uses TI’s DSP chips for its
complete portfolio of IP phones.
Texas Instruments also offers its TNETV1050 IP phone technology
chip. That chip, part of the TNETV2xxx series of VoIP gateway technology was selected by Mitel for use in the development
of VoIP gateways or IP phones. Mitel selected Texas Instruments as its primary supplier of VoIP chips for IP phone sets and
VoIP gateway systems in May of 2005.
In late August of 2005 Texas Instruments announced a voice-over-cable
(VoCable) chipset and new Wideband DOCSIS reference design to enable the design of VoIP cable phone technology. The DSP based
chipset referred to as the TNETC47xx (Puma-4) VoCable chipset comes complete with fax support, permitting faxes to be sent
over the cable TV network. In that announcement, Texas Instruments cited research from Kinetic Strategies, which indicated
that over 1.7 million of Texas Instruments VoCable chips were shipped in multimedia terminal adapters in the first half of
2005 – representing a little over 65 percent of the market.
Customers for TI’s VoCable chipsets includes the major cable
modem companies: ARRIS, Motorola, Pace and Terayon. Terayon Communication Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:TERN) multimedia terminal
adapters, the TJ 945 and the TJ 955, for the home cable modem market are based on the Texas Instruments chipset technology.
In addition to chips for VoIP phones, Texas Instruments also has
a collection of other chip products that are also needed to implement VoIP such as broadband DSL chips.
Texas Instruments number one position in the VoIP market is attributed
to its product development alignment with Vonage Holding Corp. Vonage gives Texas Instrument an advantage in that it is one
of the largest VoIP service providers. Vonage, which this year received over $200 million in funding, plays a defining role
in the requirements of the equipment its network can interface with. In that regard, it also plays a role in product development
with VoIP equipment manufacturers and semiconductor companies. For example as a result of Vonage’s January 2004 collaboration
with Texas Instruments, in August 2004, NETGEAR selected the Texas Instruments / Vonage jointly developed chips for its router
product.
That combination of DSP, DSL and Vonage, has resulted in Texas Instruments
double digit growth in the VoIP market. According to Bill Simmelink, general manager of TI's VoIP business unit. "TI shipped
50 million VoIP ports through 2003 and doubled that figure in the last year alone, becoming the first company to reach the
milestone of shipping over 100 million VoIP ports, demonstrating the explosive growth of VoIP. Together with Vonage we are
on track to deliver the benefits of broadband telephony to millions of consumers, building on our leadership and technology
innovations in VoIP."
Table: Texas Instruments Port Shipments (Millions
of Units, Estimate)
2005 150
2004
100
2003 50
Texas Instruments, because of its large size, has a significant
company portfolio. In 2005, for example it invested in General Bandwidth, a VoIP equipment vendor.
Texas Instruments also has worked with Indian companies such as
ITI to develop a multi-network VoIP phone.
TRANSWITCH VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Transwitch (NASDAQ:TXCC) and Octasic, Inc, both fabless semiconductor
companies, are involved in the VoIP Gateway chip and card market segments. At the SUPERCOMM 2005 show the two companies introduced
a joint VoIP gateway solution, which includes the Transwitch TEPRO xhip and Octasic'a OCT8304 and OCT6100 chips. Transwitch
and Octasic officially introduced the VoIP residential gateway card in April of 2005.
WOLFSON MICROELECTRONICS VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
In November of 2004, Wolfson Microelectronics plc (LSE:WLF) introduced
the WM8510 mono CODEC specifically for the development of VoIP devices and digital telephones. The chip integrates a speaker
driver, two microphone inputs, sigma delta converters with digital decimation and interpolation filters to enable audio at
sampling rates between 8 to 48 ksps. The chip also includes a phase lock loop (PLL), standard audio interface for PCM, I2S,
DSP and other audio formats. A power save mode lets the chip operate at supply voltage levels down to 1.62 volts.
The WM8510 chip was originally introduced at $1.25 in quantities
of 10,000 in a 28 pin SSOP package.
ZARLINK SEMICONDUCTOR VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Zarlink Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE/TSX:ZL) in the spring of 2005 introduced
two digital line card timing chips that offer standard compliant timing for VoIP and broadband equipment products such as
VoIP routers and gateways.
