SiTel ports DECT software to uClinux for cost-effective VoIP applications

Protocol software running under popular open-source OS reduces BoM costs for desktop phones, IP DECT basestations and Analog Terminal Adapters

's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, December 8, 2008 - SiTel Semiconductor today announced a new release of its proven Natalie DECT and CAT-iq protocol software stack that runs natively under the royalty-free uClinux operating system. The move allows customers to run the DECT stack and Voice over IP (VoIP) software on the same processor. This helps reduce the number of ICs needed for cordless telephony-enabled VoIP solutions, leading to lower bill of materials (BoM) and assembly costs. The new software is available with SiTel's VoIP development kits, a combination that allows customers to quickly create cost-effective integrated products and reduce time-to-market.

By making its DECT / CAT-iq software available under uClinux, SiTel enables customers to re-use the wealth of available open-source code to develop applications faster - further reducing both development costs and time-to-market. It also opens the way for a range of mobility options for VoIP, allowing cordless handsets or headsets to seamlessly link to VoIP networks while maintaining the voice quality associated with DECT and CAT-iq.

"VoIP is rapidly becoming the preferred telephony option for businesses as it offers significant potential to reduce costs," said Mark De Clercq, Product Marketing Manager at SiTel. "With native support for our mature DECT stack under the industry-standard uClinux operating system, our customers can now confidently build cordless telephony into their next-generation VoIP products, effectively bridging these two technologies."

Natalie is a complete, proven and scalable wireless protocol stack in C source code, based on a user-friendly, modular architecture. It incorporates all industry accepted protocols (DECT, DECT 6.0, 2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz and CAT-iq). With this latest release, the DECT / CAT-iq protocol stack is now fully integrated with uClinux and controlled via a high-level application programming interface (API) for easy call control.

uClinux is the most popular open-source operating system for embedded applications. It is a derivative of the familiar Linux OS tailored for use on microcontrollers without Memory Management Units (MMUs). This versatile OS has been successfully ported to numerous platforms, and has been used by a wide community of engineers and programmers for almost ten years. It is also supported by extensive (C-language) libraries.

About the Enterprise VoIP development kit

SiTel's Enterprise VoIP development kit provides a single, flexible platform for creating a wide range of wired and wireless enterprise VoIP solutions. The platform has a modular hardware architecture made up of a single motherboard (SC1445x VoIP processor) plus a number of optional daughter boards - Ethernet, LCD screen and keypad, Foreign eXchange Subscriber (FXS), Foreign eXchange Office (FXO), WiFi and DECT radio modules. Featuring a number of hardware and software optimizations, the latest versions of the development kit have been proven to deliver power consumption level 50% lower than any VoIP phone on the market today.

About the SC14450

The SC14450 processor uses SiTel's proven multi-core architecture to deliver 240 MIPS of processing power. It features a 16-bit CompactRISC™ processor, plus two user-programmable Gen2DSPs. It can run the various VoIP audio codecs and best-in-class acoustic echo cancellation while still having enough headroom for the TCP/IP networking stack plus assorted SIP and other embedded applications.In addition, the SC14450 supports a variety of external memories, and features an integrated class D amplifier, power and battery management options, a white LED driver and a wide variety of peripheral interfaces including master / slave PCM, UART, SPI, dual-access bus and USB client.