VoIP Chip Outfits Wi-Fi Phones

Capable of running VoIP software and firmware for 802.11b (Wi-Fi) and voice compression and decompression, the AT76C901 VoIP chip is said to be so integrated that it requires only SDRAM, flash, a LCD display, keypad, battery, 802.11b baseband, and RF front-end to create a complete wireless VoIP phone. The device consists of an ARM7TDMI RISC processor for running protocol stacks and two subsystems. One subsystem includes an ARM7 and 802.11b media access controller (MAC) and provides 802.11b capability. The second subsystem consists of an Oak DSP core and a voice codec. The OAK performs voice compression and decompression to G.711, G.723.1 and G.729ab ITU standards. Available in a 217-pin µBGA, price starts at $22 each/50,000. ATMEL CORP., San Jose, CA. (408) 441-0311.