Fast, Proven, Available, and Upgradeable New development tools speed DMC development Standard BIOS drives next-generation real-time DSP analysis tools TI celebrates 15 years of DSP Solutions leadership Hot News 16-bit sigma delta AIC

Fast, Proven, Available, and Upgradeable TMS320x2 modem chipset brings 56 Kbps to the end user The explosive growth of digital data communications, especially with accessing the Internet and various networked applications, is expected to continue at an incredible rate. For these applications to remain valuable, users need ultra-fast data transmission. To answer this need, TI offers the TMS320x2 line of modem reference designs that provide downstream transmission rates up to 56 Kbits per second (Kbps) with x2 technology from U.S. Robotics® (USR). This technology gives modem makers a distinct competitive advantage by providing a proven chipset that is in full production, and facilitates a flexible software modem solution. The TMS320x2 chipset consists of a programmable ‘C5x DSP, along with a system interface application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and an analog interface front end. Designed to address a wide range of design requirements, the chipset is available in operating system-independent designs and Windows-based designs. The O/S-independent designs provide a self-contained modem subsystem that operates without offloading any modem tasks to the host CPU. The Windows-based systems allow for cost-effective implementations that work with the host CPU for hardware cost reduction. Since x2 technology was announced in October ’96, TI DSP Solutions-based x2 modems have proliferated the high-speed modem marketplace. Along with USR, modem manufacturers such as Cardinal, Best Data, Global Village Communication, Practical Peripherals, and Logicode also use TMS320-based 56K technology. In the consumer PC market, PC OEMs such as Packard Bell/NEC are currently shipping TI/USR x2 modem-equipped PCs. According to Richard Templeton, TI executive vice president and semiconductor group president, "The modems in Packard Bell and NEC systems will be based on TI's software-defined DSP, which provides flexibility and cost performance advantages over conventional modem chipsets. This technology protects the customers investment by allowing them to upgrade their modems with software to comply with evolving technological advances." Another area that is benefiting from TI’s modem technology is internet service providers (ISPs). The top ISPs using TI/USR x2 technology are America Online, Compuserve, IBM Global Network, MCI, Mindspring, Netcom and Prodigy. In total, over 400 ISPs in over 1,200 US and Canadian cities now provide x2 access. This translates into more than 1.7 million ports offering 56 Kbps connections. This proliferation is due in part to two reasons. Modem technology evolution is an inevitable part of the data communications industry, whose standards and protocols are constantly in a state of flux and improvement. The TI/USR platform is the only installed technology that can be software-upgraded from V.34 to any 56K protocol and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standards. This software reprogrammability both at the host level and at the DSP level protects end users against hardware obsolescence. For ISP customers, this means they can connect now, and stay connected in the future. The second reason is the huge installed base of TMS320-based software-upgradeable modems already in place. Since late 1995, more than 20 million TMS320x2-based V.34 modems have been shipped, and as the world leader in DSP Solutions, TI has well-established capacity, distribution, and support capabilities to facilitate the rapid penetration of x2 on these same devices. Other 56K vendors cannot deploy as fast due to the need for hardware upgrades or replacement of current equipment. According to Casey Cowell, chairman, CEO, and president of U.S. Robotics, "USR has long depended on programmable TI DSP solutions to give our modems significant performance advantages, and we are pleased to be working with Texas Instruments to bring this new technology to market. Based on TI's leading DSP technology, we will be able to upgrade many of our existing modem architectures without any hardware changes. This flexibility is key in bringing x2 to market quickly." For future steps in data communications, TI and USR have announced a strategic initiative to deliver a family of affordable and upgradeable "hybrid" modems supporting both dial-up access x2 56 Kbps and rate adaptive Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL). The product family will be called x2/DSL and will run on TI’s TMS320C6x DSP, the world’s most powerful DSP delivering up to 1,600 MIPS. USR plans to introduce x2/DSL modems in the first half of 1998. For more information on the TMS320x2 chipsets, see the TI x2 website.