Table of Contents:

Definition and Overview

1. Introduction

2. Universal Port Overview

3. Universal Port Architecture

4. Universal Port Implementation Challenges

5. Selecting an RAS Solution Partner

6. Summary

7. References

8. Universal Port Software Features

Self-Test

Glossary

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Another trend is the realization by equipment manufacturers that it is much harder for them to differentiate by developing the physical link layer and controller software that is required to perform the modem, fax, and voice functions required for universal port. With the widespread adaptation of V.90 ITU standard, equipment manufacturers can no longer justify the engineering costs to develop, test, and maintain this software and are instead looking to add differentiation elsewhere in the system. These manufacturers are looking for silicon vendors to provide a complete solution of silicon and hardened software along with indemnification. The silicon must be an open platform with a compelling product road map to ensure that future products will meet the ever-growing demands of the service providers. This section identifies the key considerations in selecting an RAS solution partner.

Architecture Efficiency

From a silicon perspective, the overall architecture efficiency of the solution is essential. The big three evaluation criteria from a customer perspective are as follows:

• power per channel—typically the most critical technology constraint for very-high-density applications
• channel density—e.g., square inches or millimeters per channel
• cost per channel—always an important issue

Customers have been burned by new silicon and are typically not willing to design next-generation production on chips that exist on paper or appear too far in the future, because the credibility of the chip production schedule may be questionable. Samples must also be available in a timely fashion to commence board design and perform system integration test.

Proven software solutions must be available to meet time-to-market needs. There must also be a commitment from the solution provider to continue to add value to the software by implementing new features. The solution provider must also have a strong and dedicated customer-support infrastructure to provide support during the development, deployment, and product maintenance phases.

The silicon must be part of an overall road map that provides flexibility to the equipment manufacturer based on product needs (e.g., the ability to offer high-density, modem-only solutions as well as universal port solutions). An open silicon architecture is highly desirable to allow the customer to provide differentiated features and to make use of third-party software to speed time to market.

The software must be modular to allow different combinations of features based on customer needs. The software should also have built-in test/remote debug capabilities.

Due to the sheer wealth of new features fueled by universal port, it is important for the software to be written and maintained in a high-level language such as C. This requires the availability of good development tools, including an efficient C compiler, linker/locator, and debugger.

The solution provider must provide a good silicon and software road map to allow equipment manufacturers to preserve their investments going forward. The road map should address processing performance, power consumption, cost, external interfaces, different memory configuration, and software features over time. The solution provider should be committed to supply future standards (e.g., V.92 and V.44) and provide headroom in the architecture to add as future software upgrades.

The solution provider must have a strong patent portfolio to provide customers with indemnification against patent issues that may arise regarding technology implementation.