Digium Releases First Hardware-based Voice Compression PCI Express Card for Asterisk Systems

TCE400B codec card conserves CPU resources in large, custom Asterisk
installations
HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(Business Wire)--
Digium, Inc., the Asterisk Company, today released the TCE400B PCI Express card
for use with voice applications based on the open source Asterisk telephony
platform. The new card provides hardware-based voice compression and
decompression (codec) capabilities to shift transcoding from software to
hardware. Using the TCE400B in place of a software-only solution places fewer
demands on servers and frees up Asterisk to more efficiently process calls and
to provide functionality for phone systems such as call recording, conference
calling and interactive voice response (IVR).

Asterisk is the most widely used open source telephony engine and tool kit. By
offering flexibility to access and alter the software code, Asterisk empowers
developers and systems integrators to create Voice over IP (VoIP) communication
solutions that match the specific needs of a business. Many businesses use
Asterisk as a PBX to manage phone calls, but it`s also commonly used as a
gateway between IP and PSTN networks, a telephony feature server and as the
basis for call center applications.

In addition to its support for G.729a transcoding, the TCE400B gives Asterisk
the ability to convert G.723.1 compressed audio into other formats, a capability
not otherwise possible with Asterisk or software-only solutions. The card`s
capabilities allow transcoding between simple, G.711 u-law and a-law, and
complex, G.729a 8.0 kbit/s and G.723.1 5.3/6.3 kbit/s, codecs. When running in
G.729a mode, the TCE400B can support 120 simultaneous transformations; in a
mixed G.729a and G.723.1 mode, it supports 92 simultaneous transformations.

"The TCE400B will be of interest to companies using Asterisk to build feature
servers, gateways or custom systems and wanting to conserve CPU cycles," said
Bill Miller, Digium`s vice president of product management. "The card`s ability
to work with compressed audio in multiple formats also supports its use in
complex telephony environments. Overall, the TCE400B will help bring Asterisk
into more enterprise telephony environments."

For more information about TCE400B PCI Express card, visit
http://www.digium.com. It is available immediately through Digium`s network of
partners worldwide for U.S. $1,295.

About Digium

Digium, Inc., the Asterisk Company, created, owns and is the innovative force
behind Asterisk, the most widely used open source telephony software. Since its
founding in 1999, Digium has become the open source alternative to proprietary
communication providers, with offerings that cost as much as 80 percent less.
Digium offers Asterisk software free to the open source community and offers
Asterisk Business Edition and Switchvox IP PBX software to power a broad family
of products for small, medium and large businesses. The company`s product line
includes a wide range of hardware and software to enable resellers and customers
to implement turnkey VoIP systems or to design their own custom telephony
solutions. More information is available at www.digium.com.

The Digium logo, Digium, Asterisk, Asterisk Business Edition, AsteriskNOW,
Asterisk Appliance, Genuine Asterisk, Switchvox and the Asterisk logo are
trademarks of Digium, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective
owners.

Schwartz Communications
Laura Kempke, 781-684-0770
digium@schwartz-pr.com
or
Digium
Julie Webb, 256-428-6203
jwebb@digium.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009