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                        Aston Bridgman
                        NEC Corporation
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*****For immediate use September 2, 1997

NEC Releases ATM SAR Controller With Built-in MPEG Engine for Transfer of Full-motion Video Over ATM Networks

UPD98409

µPD98409

NEC Corporation (NEC) has today begun sample shipments of a new ATM SAR (segmentation and re-assembly) controller known as the NEASCOT-S40C with a built-in MPEG packet transfer engine for transferring moving pictures over an ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) network. It is ideally suited for use in set top boxes (STB) and network interface cards.

The new product (µPD98409) enables high-speed communications at a maximum of about 155 megabits per second (Mbps) when used in an STB connected to an ATM network, or in a network interface card mounted in a workstation or personal computer. It features:

  • Built-in MPEG packet transfer engine:
    A built-in MPEG packet transfer engine transfers MPEG data (in MPEG transport stream packets) from an ATM network directly to an MPEG decoder, taking the burden off the central processor unit (CPU);

  • Internal control memory for 64 VCs (virtual channels):
    Internal memory which can contain the control information required for 64 virtual channels (VCs) suitable for STBs, thus eliminating the conventional need for external memory for storing that information;

  • Support for a wide range of line interfaces:
    Support for a wide range of line interfaces, such as ADSL, ATM-25M, and SONET/SDH, by connecting an external PHY device to a UTOPIA interface; and,

  • PCI host bus interface:
    A built-in peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus interface that is used as a host bus interface.

Samples of the new product will be priced at 5,000 yen each. Production at a rate of 20,000 units per month is scheduled to begin in November 1997.

Background

ATM networks were first employed for wide area networks (WANs) and local area network (LAN) backbones, which must handle large quantities of data. In addition to LAN and WAN applications, ATM is increasingly being applied to a wide range of fields. These fields include home and small office access systems, such as ATM over x Digital Subscriber Lines (xDSL), a technology for high-speed communications using existing telephone lines.

Quality of service (QOS), as supported by ATM, is very well-suited to multimedia communication. As the amount of communication data and the number of data types (voice, image, and text) have increased with the surge in the number of Internet users, ATM communication has become popular because of its high-speed and compatibility with multimedia communications. ATM has become essential to the support of future services such as video on demand (VOD) systems, which require the transfer of large-volume full-motion video data.

The µPD98409 has been developed in response to this market trend. The ATM SAR controller has a built-in MPEG transfer engine and VC control memory. Its specifications make it ideal for use in STBs that receive services from an ATM network, or in a network interface card mounted in a workstation or personal computer used as a multimedia terminal.

The release of this new product will enable the development of low-price ATM equipment, and further increase the population of ATM networks. Moreover, NEC will continue to develop and supply ATM LSI devices in response to market demands for multimedia, thus promoting further expansion of the ATM market in general.

For Outline of Main specifications of the µPD98409 and Detailed feature descriptions for the NEASCOT-S40C, please see the attached sheet.

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Terms

ATM: Asynchronous Transfer Mode
A transmission/reception method in which all signals including voice, images, and computer data are digitized and split into 48-byte segments. Each segment is assigned a 5-byte header containing information such as the destination, and the resultant 53-byte data is used as a unit of transmission/reception, called a cell. The primary advantage of ATM is high-speed transmission, enabled by simplified processing with fixed-length cells. ATM enables the multiplexed transfer of voice, images, and computer data over a single transmission line.

MPEG transport stream
A data format for MPEG data based on communication circuits, is formed by 188 byte units.

PHY: Physical
Refers to the physical layer, the bottom layer of the ATM protocol. The ATM physical layer is responsible for actually sending a cell onto the transmission line. To do so, it generates a transmission frame and maps a cell onto the frame.

SAR: Segmentation And Reassembly
One of the ATM adaptation layer functions of the ATM protocol. This function, called the SAR sublayer, segments a data unit into cells and reassembles it from cells.

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