Audiocodes - which is exhibiting its wares this week at INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo, WEST - has introduced a new line of Transcoding Resource Blades which are designed to handle the complex transcoding processes required in IP Multi-media Subsystem (IMS) architecture and other VoIP implementations.

The new blades - which are based on Audiocodes’ popular IPmedia product line - have been “enhanced” with new features which facilitate the complex wireline and wireless transcoding processing required for IMS. When integrated into related IMS hardware, they are said to result in better audio quality - but perhaps more importantly they transcode multiple voice and video data sessions in IMS architecture with much greater accuracy and efficiency.

Typically, each time audio or video data becomes compressed and decompressed via a codec, some of the “lesser important” data becomes lost or discarded. This “packet loss,” although minimal on all-IP networks (and it depends on how aggressive the compression is), can result in an erosion of content which is eventually discernible in the form of poor sound or picture quality. These lost or separated packets are typically referred to as compression artifacts - and are typically a result of the latent error in lossy data compression.

Audiocodes claims its new family of TRBs addresses the challenge of compressing and decompressing the multiple types of voice and video data handled on an IMS-capable network. In other words, the boards transcode both voice and video data with fewer compression artifacts – meaning that the data retains a higher degree of integrity as it traverses the network, thus resulting in better quality voice and video on the user’s end. The blades support IP-to-IP conversion of a wide range of standard and low bit-rate LBR coders, including: G.711, G.726, G.727, G.723.1, G.729.a, iLBC, GSM-FR, GSM-EFR, AMR and others. In addition to voice coders, the TRB family also supports encryption/decryption, conversion of G.711 fax to T.38 and a number of DTMF conversions.

“One of the widely understood challenges of the IMS architecture and Peer-to-Peer VoIP applications is transcoding,” said Sharone Ben-Levi, vice president of marketing, blade business line at AudioCodes (News - Alert), in a press release. “The TRB family of blades solves this challenge by offering a range of high-performance, low-latency IP-to-IP transcoding solutions that are vastly more efficient than host-based solutions.”

Mike Thorp, vice president and chief technical officer at Soleo Communications, a supplier of platforms, applications, and professional services to directory and operator services providers, explained that when his company was developing its Soleo XML Network Gateway (News - Alert), “we faced a significant challenge of how to accomplish transcoding within our speech-based platform using our existing server platform.” He said by integrating AudioCodes’ IPmedia transcoding resources into the Soleo platform, “we were able to solve our transcoding challenge and broaden our addressable market into a number of new wireline and wireless customers.”

The TRB product family comes in a number of blade form factors and densities, including:

--IPM-260/TRB - PCI form factor, supporting up to 120 transcoding Sessions
--IPM-1610/TRB - cPCI form factor, up to 240 transcoding sessions
--IPM-6310/TRB - cPCI form factor, up to 1008 transcoding sessions

In addition, Audiocodes plans to unveil an AdvancedTCA (News - Alert) form factor product in early 2007.

For more information, visit www.audiocodes.com/trb.

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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.