Atmel Extends Foray into IA

By Veronica Hendricks
iApplianceWeb
(06/21/01, 08:48:38 AM EDT)

Moving further and further into the Internet appliance space, Atmel Corporation's new AT75C220 Smart Internet Appliance Processor, Ethernet (SIAP-E), is an IC targeted at Internet applications. The SIAP-E features a dual-MAC Ethernet port plus bridge that allows a telephone to be inserted into an Ethernet LAN, with calls being carried by Voice-over-IP (VoIP). This eliminates the need for the entire telephone-cabling network in an office building or campus. The telephones and PC equipment are integrated into a single network, and can share functions such as voice-synthesized emails read over the telephone. Other applications include secure extranets and any Internet appliance that is linked to an Ethernet LAN.

Built around an ARM7TDMI microcontroller core, the AT75C220 features a caller-side OakDSPCore with dedicated memory dimensioned for the integration of all telephony functions. Advanced peripherals, such as an interrupt controller and peripheral data controller, providing a DMA function, enhance the real-time performance of the microcontroller, enabling it to run all the required applications while keeping power consumption to a minimum. Atmel's CMOS fabrication technology enables the size, and therefore the cost, of this system-on-chip to be reduced to a minimum.

The AT75C220 is supplied with a customized version of the Linux operating system and a comprehensive library of fully qualified application software modules. A development board and comprehensive set of Windows-based development tools are available. Application developers are only required to provide the top-level software in order to make their product unique. This complete hardware/software solution reduces time-to-market and minimizes risk.

The AT75C220 is available now. Prices are less than $10 in volume.