Just as the single-chip dial-up modem has become a standard fixture on nearly every PC and laptop, so eventually will Legerity’s Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) chips make integrated Internet phones standard on PCs and laptops.
The Le98136 interfaces with Intel’s HD Audio bus and provides a way to implement a “soft ATA” on a PC motherboard. With it, users can plug a standard analog phone into the RJ-11 modular jack on the back of the PC to implement a full-blown VoIP phone. Meanwhile, the Le96136 can populate a PCI plug-in board that provides the same function as an external ATA box from VoIP vendors like Vonage, AT&T, and Time Warner.
To accompany these chips, Legerity offers a complete software package with the Phone Port driver, the Phone Port Call Controller, and a “ready-to-go” application programming interface that VoIP service providers can tap into.
The Le98136 features Intel’s High Definition Audio Digital Interface. It also offers automatic country configuration logic, narrowband and wideband codecs, a standard high-voltage phone-line interface, an internal high-voltage ringing generator, dc-dc converters, universal caller ID generation, phone-line (plain-old telephone service) loop supervision, line fault detection and reporting, and complete BORSCHT functionality. Minimal external components are required. The Le96136 is similar but with a PCI interface.
The impact of these new chips will be staggering. PC vendors will be able to build in Internet phone capability for extra revenue. Consumers won’t have to pay extra for the usual external ATA box from the phone service provider. Better still, the service provider eventually no longer will have to provide such boxes to new subscribers. This will decrease the cost of subscriber acquisition and increase revenues. The result should speed the rollout of VoIP services everywhere.
Two evaluation modules are ready to go—the Le71HE0901 for the HD chip and the Le71HR0911 for the PCI chip. Contact Legerity for pricing.
Legerity Inc.
www.legerity.com