ESS unveils series of modem, audio sets

Electronic News, Oct 14, 1996

Fremont, Calif.--ESS Technology has unveiled a series of modem and audio/telephony chipsets for the PC and consumer communications markets and plans to demonstrate them at the upcoming Fall Comdex '96 conference in Las Vegas.

The chipsets, which will be priced ranging from $30 to $40, consist of the TeleDrive ES2810/ES2820 digital signal processors (DSPs) and ES2818/ES2819 mixed signal analog front-end devices which operate using ESS' V.34bis algorithms. The ES2820 is claimed by the company to be the industry's first single modem chip to support V.34bis, full-duplex speakerphone and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) V.70 DSVD standard.

The ES2810 TeleDrive modem solution is a two-chip set that includes the ES2810 DSP and ES2819 dual high-performance codec to deliver ITU compatible V.34bis data up to 33,600 bps, V.17 fax, voice answering machine and full-duplex speakerphone functions. The design implements a host-based controller, VoiceView support and V.80 synchronous access for H.324 video conferencing applications.

The ES2820 TeleDrive modem solution is a pin compatible superset of the ES2810 solution with full support of the ITU V.70 DSVD standard and international approval requirements. The ES2820 is claimed by ESS to be the industry's first single modem chip to support V.34bis, full-duplex speakerphone and V.70 DSVD. Both the ES2810 and ES2820 DSPs include integrated ISA/PnP interfaces, are software upgradeable and do not require any external memory. The ES2820 has the additional capability of being configured to support a PCI interface.

Both the ES2810 and ES2820 modem processors are designed to be integrated with ESS' family of desktop and notebook audio ICs to permit concurrent audio features such as full-duplex stereo, DOS game compatibility, ESFM music synthesis and digital mixing. ESS' audio/telephony combination solutions share many of the audio functions ostensibly allowing design efficiencies for speakerphone and telegaming applications.

"Providing low-cost communications technology for Internet access, telegaming and video conferencing applications is a great complement to our existing audio and video multimedia product lines," said Fred Chan, ESS Chairman and CEO.

Samples of the ES2810 and ES2820 chipsets are scheduled to be available by the end of this year, with production quantities planned for the first quarter of 1997.