Broadcom chip integrates cable VoIP elements

Cable modem chipmaker Broadcom has introduced a modular two-line VoIP technology that it says will provide CD-quality voice service using POTS-based customer premises equipment. Called BroadVoice, the new technology is “really two elements,” said John Gleiter, Broadcom’s marketing director, including a modular DSP chip that integrates seven general purpose parts into one and two new voice compression CODECs for narrowband 16 kb/s and 32 kb/s voice compression.

“It’s not strictly a cable product, but we have applied it to cable products,” said Gleiter.

The new silicon, he said, answers several needs cable customers have been expressing.

“Cable operators want the telephony addition to a modem to be as low-cost as possible,” he said. At least part of that reasoning is because cable operators have not yet decided how to implement voice services--via set-tops, modems or in standalone units.

“It doesn’t matter. Whatever one fits your business model, we have a solution for that,” said Gleiter.

BroadVoice, he said, “offers some fairly significant advantages as far as capacity.” For example, BroadVoice enhances the capability of a media gateway because “it’s a lot less compute-intensive than other voice compression codecs,” said Gleiter. “Wideband is compelling as well because you can offer a telephony service that is better quality than the regular public switched telephone network.”

Broadcom introduced the product today at the BroadbandPlus Show in Anaheim and said it is making it available to telephony equipment vendors for inclusion with new products. It is, Gleiter emphasized, compatible with the still-formulating PacketCable VoIP specifications and nullifies the need to “force fit” ITU specifications to cable needs.

“We wanted something that was small, efficient, low voice delay and very high quality,” he said. “It was specifically designed for PacketCable.”