SPIRIT DSP brings High-Fidelity Embedded Voice to VMTS baseband chips for next-generation mobile phones

February 10, 2006 — SPIRIT DSP (www.spiritDSP.com/), a global leading provider of award-winning embedded voice and communication software products, and VMTS (www.vmts.com), provider of market-proven 2G/3G wireless solutions for mobile handset manufacturers, today announced that VMTS has integrated SPIRIT’s embedded voice products into its baseband processors to enhance next-generation mobile handsets with superior voice quality. The mass production of VMTS’s new E-Vision solution with SPIRIT’s high quality embedded voice for the wireless market will begin in March 2006.

Now SPIRIT’s voice and communication software products ensure the voice quality in a variety of applications ranging from smartphones and PDAs to high-end handsets and 3G wireless phones. Thanks to ten years of experience in embedded VoIP development and 200 successful deployments, SPIRIT is strongly positioned as the leading embedded Voice Engine provider for any platform: PC, mobile devices or SoC.

VMTS enables manufacturers to produce advanced dual-mode (GSM/GPRS/EDGE & WCDMA) wireless handsets for all major markets: Europe, Asia Pacific and US. VMTS wireless solutions provide integrated and adaptive technology for a wide range of mobile phones from mid-range to advanced high-end models. VMTS will integrate SPIRIT’s embedded voice products in its V2751 baseband for E-Vision GSM/GPRS/EDGE and U-Vision UTMS solutions. SPIRIT’s software embedded into new VMTS chips will boost the quality of 3G wireless voice communications. The key feature, based on SPIRIT’s industry-leading echo and noise cancellation solutions, is the true full-duplex voice conferencing with the best possible voice quality.

“We chose SPIRIT for the completeness and the performance of their solution which brings a high voice quality and reliability to our customers,” said Simon Tchedikian, Head of Program and Business Development at VMTS. “By exceeding actual industry standards of performance and cost efficiency, SPIRIT and VMTS contribute to leading-edge architecture of baseband-chip solution.”

“Through SPIRIT and VMTS co-operation, today ODMs using VMTS chips can be sure of the voice quality in terminal devices: it is now at the highest level,” says Slava Borilin, SPIRIT’s VoIP Product Director. “Embedded into VMTS’ Baseband silicon platform, SPIRIT’s technologies provide leadership in the new generation mobile equipment.”

SPIRIT Speech Enhancement technology, including Acoustic Echo Canceller, Noise Suppressor, several specialized Automatic Gain Controls and other voice-enhancing features, has been optimized specifically for VMTS’s SoC and DSP core requirements. It has been adopted for different acoustic hardware. Both handset and car kit applications are guaranteed to have with high voice quality and full-duplex echo cancellation wherever this SoC is deployed. SPIRIT Speech Enhancement technology is available off-the-shelf for most popular DSP and RISC platforms.

The VMTS E-Vision GSM/GPRS/EDGE platform provides a powerful, flexible and highly integrated 2.75G solution with industry-leading power consumption to handset manufacturers. E-Vision comes fully validated and certified, and uses the latest VMTS V2751 EDGE enabled base-band chip. The low-power V2751 chip brings reliable modem technology with high-performance multimedia features in one single chip. Its state-of-the-art, mature and field-proven protocol stack supports quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) operation for GSM/GPRS/EDGE and is dual-mode upgradeable with VMTS V3000 W-CDMA coprocessor. VMTS new E-Vision solution that has integrated SPIRIT’s embedded voice products will be available on the market for mass production in March 2006.

An advanced technical and time-proven practical experience which SPIRIT gained in collaborating with leading chip vendors – Agere, National Semiconductor, Philips Semiconductor, Siemens, Panasonic, Texas Instruments and Toshiba – is now implemented for VMTS baseband chips bringing a new generation of mobile phones to emerging markets. Since 2004, the world’s mobile handset market is driven by the transition from 2,5G mobiles toward 3G-enabled devices which are expected to reach 40% of 855 million units in 2008, according to Byan, Garner & Co. In-Stat reported manufacturers will produce nearly 720 million Next-Generation Mobile Phones and 3G wireless handsets in 2005 with sales generating nearly $112B in revenue.

About SPIRIT

SPIRIT DSP (www.spiritDSP.com) is the world’s leading provider of carrier-grade voice & video software engines since 1996. SPIRIT communication software is used in over 80 countries and powers more than 100 million voice channels. SPIRIT counts among its direct customers Adobe, ARM, AT&T, Blizzard, BT, China Mobile, Cisco, Ericsson, HP, HTC, Huawei, Korea Telecom, Kyocera, LG, Microsoft, NEC, Oracle, Polycom, Radvision, Samsung, Siemens, Skype, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, ZTE, and 200+ other telcos, OEMs and software vendors. SPIRIT smart-phone OEM customers’ shipments jointly exceed 60% share of the global market.