ATMEL VOIP SEMICONDUCTOR PROFILE
Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ:ATML) offers the Athena family of VoIP
processors. These include the AT76C901 and AT76C902 wireless VoIP chips. The AT76C901 integrates a 32-bit ARM RISC processor,
a DSP to implement voice compression algorithms and a voice codec. In order to make a complete system, one needs
to add flash and SDRAM memory, keypads, LCD and a radio subsytem.
Atmel’s customers for VoIP so far have included SENAO International
Co., Ltd., which it landed in July of 2005 and Cisco Systems. Atmel also has reported that several Asian OEMs are expected
to release products based on its chips.
SENAO is a Taiwan based wireless communications systems manufacturer.
The company’s products include VoIP phones and Access Points.
One of Atmel’s development partners is IP Wireless. Atmel
announced an agreement with IPWireless in October of 2004. The agreement was for the development of a UMTS/VoIP mobile handset
with an outside OEM manufacturer. That handset was planned to be based on Atmel’s AT76C902 VoIP and IPWireless’
TDD module.
IP Wireless partners with technology companies to develop telecommunications
products. It also offers its own chips and systems. The company offers a TD-CDMA chipset for VoIP applications like VoIP mobile
phones, VoIP gateways and a number of other applications.
Atmel’s history in the VoIP market extends at least back to
2002 when it entered into a partnership with Lineo, Inc. for the development of turnkey products for VoIP applications. That
agreement was for the development of a VoIP solution based on Atmel’s AT75C Smart Internet Appliance Processor and Lineo’s
operating system and application software modules. The AT75C chip integrates an ARM processor, DSP core and memory
