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Micrel Announces Next Generation Wireless VoIP Router Reference Design

Partnerships With Arcturus Networks And LSI Logic Offers Value-Add Technology Solutions For Growing VoIP Market

San Jose, Calif., Oct. 19, 2004 — Micrel Inc., (Nasdaq:MCRL), an industry leader in Power, Connect and Protect? IC solutions, today announced that it has launched the next-generation wireless VoIP router reference design that reduces component count, lowers system cost and supports voice port scalability. The design is the result of an extended joint technology effort between Micrel, LSI Logic and Arcturus Networks, targeted at VoIP applications. The Company’s new reference design is a take-to-market solution providing comprehensive hardware and software for ODM’s to easily design a VoIP router product for their customers. The KS8695PX + LSI403LC and the KS8695PX + LSI403LP reference design options are currently available and scalable to support 2, 4 or 8 VoIP port for SOHO to SMB applications and are software upgradeable to support Voice over WiFi.

“The next evolution of the SOHO/SMB gateway promises the addition of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology,” noted Dr. Jung-Chen Lin, Ethernet vice president, Micrel. “VoIP enables consumers and small businesses to meet their telephony needs using a broadband connection at significantly reduced costs when compared with traditional telephone services. With the introduction of our new reference design, Micrel and our partners have made this exciting new technology easy to bring to market.”

“Residential/SOHO gateway and router device manufacturers will benefit from the expertise that Micrel, Arcturus Networks and LSI Logic bring to the networking industry, and we are excited to be a part of this best-in-class solution,” said Tuan Dao, vice president and general manager of the LSI Logic DSP Products Division. “The combination of LSI Logic’s ZSP voice processing solutions, Micrel’s multi-port gateway-on-a-chip and Arcturus Networks’ RG software technology all add up to an opportunity for customers to differentiate their products.” The Market for SOHO/Residential and SMB Wireline/Wireless Routers, with VoIP, is estimated to be a $2 Billion market by the year 2006 with a year-to-year growth estimated at 30 percent.^*

“The residential VoIP market is currently experiencing strong growth worldwide,” said Jon Arnold, VoIP Leader for Analyst firm Frost & Sullivan. “The North American market alone is forecast to exceed 18M subscribers by 2008. From 2005-2008, this represents an explosive CAGR of 78 percent. In addition, we foresee strong growth in the converged residential gateway device market; an area that offers consumers significant value by providing multiple services all within a single-box solution.”

Micrel’s KS8695PX Ethernet chip forms the core of today’s voice-enabled broadband gateway router. It features a powerful ARM9 processor that handles routing functions and call processing, has a built-in managed 5-port Ethernet switch, with MACs and PHYs to accommodate network interfaces, and a PCI interface for wireless LAN support. This intelligent blend of a processor with network and peripheral interfaces offers the customer a highly integrated, reliable, low power solution with low overall design cost and effort.

The VoIP solution’s voice compression, G.168 echo cancellation and telephony functions are handled via the signal processing functionality of the LSI Logic ZSP voice processor. The ultra low-cost LSI403LC ZSP voice processor seamlessly interfaces with Micrel’s KS8695PX network processor to provide a turnkey VoIP solution. It supports G.711, G.723.1, G.726 and G.729AB voice CODECs with up to 4 low bit rate voice ports. The LSI403LC is easy to integrate and provides ample on-chip memory that eliminates the need for external SRAM to lower BOM cost. The higher-performance LSI403LP voice processor is also available to support up to 8 voice ports for SOHO applications.

The VoIP software developed by Arcturus leverages the processing power and networking capabilities of the Micrel chip along with the signal processing functionality of the LSI Logic voice processor. The resulting solution delivers full SIP signaling and conformance to Telephony RFCs (Request for Comment) that Service Providers require for their networks. The ability to provision, update and control end devices creates additional value for Service Providers and simplifies the support process for ODMs. The Arcturus solution consists of MIBflex?, a software-development framework that provides management, routing and control functionality, and SIPstream?, which provides high-quality voice and any other functionality (Caller-ID, call waiting, conference calling, etc.) that consumers require for their VoIP solutions.