Commetrex Releases HMPturbo(TM) Transcoding Subsystem
Product Soups up HMP Media Servers
ROSWELL, Ga., Dec. 8 / -- Commetrex announced today the immediate availability of HMPturbo, a transcoding subsystem (http://www.commetrex.com/products/ctmiddleware/hmpturboprodbul.html ) that increases the system density of media servers that use host MIPS for signal processing (HMP media servers). For those media servers that do not have a signal-processing capability, HMPturbo will add it, allowing high-value functions, such as high-performance call-progress analysis for outdial or T.38 fax terminations, to be easily added.
Powerful servers and IP telephony have given rise to the HMP media server. The term "HMP" is loosely applied since not all HMP media servers actually process a call's media stream. The IETF RFC2833, which specifies how in-band telephony tones can be transported in RTP packets, allows the signal processing needed to detect these tones to be outsourced to the media gateway. And messaging can be implemented by simply storing the RTP packet payload and playing it back when needed.
But what happens when real media or signal processing is required? That's when Commetrex says you need HMPturbo. Cliff Schornak, Commetrex' CTO, explained: "Often the requirements for in-band call-progress analysis for dial-and-deliver applications in messaging servers exceed the capabilities of media gateways. And what if voice messages are stored in G.711 or G.726, and the playback requires a different codec, perhaps a MIPS-hungry low-bit-rate vocoder? And terminating faxes sent by a low-function endpoint that does not support T.38, the ITU specification for real-time IP-transported fax, is possible with HMPturbo." HMPturbo can also include Commetrex' TerminatingT38, the industry's first combination of T.30 and T.38, allowing T.38 faxes to be terminated on a media server.
HMPturbo Transcoding Subsystem is available in two versions: one requires no additional hardware. It's for the "signal-processing-challenged" media server that needs HMPturbo to meet additional requirements, as described above. Packet buffers are sent to the subsystem through an easy-to-use API. The subsystem can handle, for example, in-band call-progress analysis, DTMF, real-time IP fax (G.711 or T.38) termination (and relay), and vocoder transcoding. The second version is functionally identical and exposes the same API, but uses Commetrex' MSP-320 DSP-resource PCI board to really "turn on the turbo." The same media-processing functions are available, but they are executed by the board's DSPs.
The MSP-320 includes two TI TMS320C6201 DSPs, each with the resources to process 20 G.729a/b streams or approximately the same number of V.17 receivers.
Commetrex pricing for the system is dependent on the list of media technologies included, but the typical SDKs license fee is $15,000.
About Commetrex
Commetrex Corporation develops and markets enabling technologies designed to shorten the time to market and reduce the development cost of integrated- media telecommunications equipment. Long known for its market-leading fax and other licensed technologies, Commetrex has recently completed a multi-year development effort to offer the equipment developer middleware software products and a media-stream framework, plus a comprehensive line of PCI and CompactPCI DSP-resource and network-interface boards.
CONTACT: Alex Adams of Commetrex Corp., +1-770-449-7775 x320, or fax, +1-770-242-7353, or marketing@commetrex.com
