Digium PCI Express Cards for use with Asterisk based Telephone Systems
We were thrilled when we heard Digium was releasing a full line of PCI Express (PCIe) cards for digital T1 and E1s interfaces. We were even happier after we saw the specs and the new features. PCIe is a serial bus that offers no compatibility with older buses and it is fast becoming the dominant form factor in expansion cards for server, workstation and desktop systems because it offers numerous performance benefits over traditional PCI and PCI Extended interface formats.
There are 2 new models TE420 and TE220 (4 or 2 E1/T1/J1) that include the awaited slot PCI-e. Supporting PCIe x1, the TE220/TE420 may be used in any available PCIe 1.0 compliant slot – 1x, x4, x8, and x16 without considerations for voltage selection or lane size.
The TE220 may be combined with the existing Digium’s VPMOCT064 Octasic DSP-based echo cancellation module. The VPMOCT064 provides the G.168 algorithm which performs 128ms of echo cancellation across all 64 channels in E1 mode or all 48 channels in T1/J1 modes. Bundled with the VPMOCT064, the product SKU is TE220B.
On the other hand the TE420 will combined with the existing Digium’s VPMOCT128 Octasic DSP-based echo cancellation module, providing the G.168 algorithm and performing 128ms of echo cancellation across all 128 channels in E1 mode or all 96 channels in T1/J1 modes. Bundled with the VPMOCT128, the product SKU is TE420B.
The cards look similar than the other PCI model and the configuration (zaptel.conf and zapata.conf) is the same; meaning it is not necessary to modify anything when you change from PCI to PCIe, in fact, once the card is plugged into the box, the BIOS detects it and assigns an IRQ, and when you load zaptel it detects a new 4th generation card.
Another reason these new PCIe cards from Digium will be popular is the price; these cards are 40% cheaper than the standard PCI cards Digium had been offering which makes them considerably more attractive. In addition to being less expensive than their previous cards, their price is even more attractive than their competitors cards. This gives Digium cards a huge edge in the open source marketplace, where low cost plus quality is a primary purchase factor.
With these new PCIe cards, Digium is back to being the technology leader in the telephony card space plus Digium offers the widest range of cards and compatibility options in this space by continuing to support all interface cards based on the PCI and PCI Extended formats.
The new PCIe products have been in development for quite sometime now, but finally Digium has launched these line of PCI Express Cards for use with Asterisk based Telephone Systems. Digium has taken its time to release these cards because they want a professional product that will compliment their existing product line.
Maritza
