Global IP Sound, best known for their fantastic codec and voice engine that handles packet loss, jitter, and delay, employed by the likes of Skype, Gizmo Phone, and GoogleTalk has now decided to enter the VoIP hardware space. Specifically, they are planning on offering their award-winning codec & voice engine to ATA manufacturers to be embedded. If the ATA manufacturers jump on board, this will mean much better sound quality for home broadband VoIP users, particularly during periods of Internet congestion.

Today GIPS announced Voice Quality Enhancement (VQE) for ATA. The module uses GIPS patented echo cancellation technology to improve voice quality in low-complexity ATA box solutions. It joins GIPS VQE suite of products, which also includes modules for soft phone applications and hardware IP-phones.

“The demand for VoIP equipment is poised to explode over the next several years as home users adopt the technology, and chip makers and ATA manufacturers are anxious to bring their products to market quickly,” said Jan Linden, a Vice President of Engineering at Global IP Sound. “In the same way that our earlier VQE modules empowered applications vendors, VQE for ATA utilizes GIPS unmatched, field-proven technology to put the highest-grade echo and noise cancellation technology available today into the hands of the ATA market.”

GIPS VQE for ATA leverages GIPS' expertise and experience to provide a comprehensive packaged solution designed to effectively manage the unique and complex issues related to voice processing in VoIP-based ATA devices. The module improves the quality of VoIP conversation in customer premise equipment (CPE) solutions by removing network echo and noise, and by adjusting speech levels in order to give users a reliable and comfortable listening experience.

VQE for ATA eradicates the need for designers to acquire individual speech processing capabilities separately via a comprehensive suite of technologies including Network Echo Cancellation Integrated Access Device (NEC IAD), Noise Cancellation (NC), Noise Suppression (NS), Automatic Gain Control (AGC), Voice Activity Detection (VAD) and Comfort Noise Generation (CNG). The NEC-IAD in VQE complies fully with the G.168 standards for echo cancellation. GIPS patented filter placement allows product designers to use shorter filters, in order to maximize CPU resource usage and reduce cost per channel for the end-customer.

The solution is optimized for small footprint devices and allows chip integrators to readily integrate capabilities quickly, in order to rapidly get their solution to market while delivering the highest quality levels possible to end users.

The software solution gives vendors the flexibility to port the software to any platform of their choice.