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Enabling voice on WLAN: a straightforward development project.

Article Excerpt
Wireless LAN (WLAN) and Voice over IP (VoIP) are no longer considered emerging technologies. But if seeing is believing, then all we have to do is reference the WLAN phones that offer voice services to understand that wireless IP phones are now as real as wired IP phones.

As semiconductor companies have optimized and cost reduced their WLAN and IP phone chipsets, a WLAN IP phone is now a straightforward development project for OEMs and ODMs that have WLAN or IP experience.

WLAN is undoubtedly an enabling technology for the mobile world. Since 2002, the shipments of both access points (AP) and client units have been growing at rates in excess of 80% annually. More recently, shipments to the consumer space have been growing to exceed 100% annually with close to 10 million APs shipped in 2003. This growth has driven competition among semiconductor suppliers. Today, several companies provide mature chipsets and software for the 802.11b standard. These solutions cover the MAC and transceiver functions as well as the controlling software. An example of such a solution is shown in Figure 1.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

To switch gears, let's also look at how pervasive VoIP has become. VoIP is just as important and prevalent as WLAN, successfully emerging as a technology that brings real value to its users. With much patience and perseverance, VoIP is now well understood by carrier class equipment providers that have been shipping equipment for several years. More recently, VoIP has been available to the consumer through specialized service providers offering pricing and features, as yet unheard of from traditional voice companies. Similarly, anticipation has driven silicon suppliers to create solutions that address the IP phone. A simple block diagram of such an IP phone chip is shown in Figure 2.

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

The two solutions described above illustrate the major building blocks for a WLAN IP phone. At the heart of a typical WLAN IP phone unit is...