Voice over Packets

Talk given by Kevin McIntyre 1 1 ZARLINK Semiconductors 1 INTRODUCTION. Zarlink Semiconductor is a provider of TDM voice/data switching chips, with the broadest line of TDM switches in the industry establishing a leadership in timing chips for T1/E1 equipment. " Zarlink holds a strong portfolio of intellectual property, numbering about 2,100 patents and pending applications in key technologies such as voice and packet processing, optical, RF, and digital design. In Fiscal 2002, R&D spending was US$83.5 million or 38% of revenue " (www.zarlink.com, March 2003). The rapid growth, increasing bandwidth and the availability of low-cost multimedia end systems has made it possible to use the Internet for multimedia applications ranging from telephony to conferencing. Due to the tremendous financial gains, IP has become the de-facto protocol for multimedia communications. Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP) or IP telephony, involves the real-time delivery of voice between tow or more parties, across networks using the Internet protocols. On the other hand, next generation networks can be divided into the access network i.e. cable, dial, Ethernet, wireless, xDLS, ISDN. And the core network based on packet switching, which can guarantee an efficient use of bandwidth and higher bit rates i.e. ATM and IP networks such as the Internet. The intelligence of these networks will sit in the " Edge " between the access and the core network. However there is a lot of TDM equipment and lines (as