[Asterisk-Users] [ot] Grandstream hardware

[Bob Knight]

Scott Stingel wrote:

>>What *I* want to know is why someone has not made a CHEAP PCI card with
>>4, 8, or 16 of these DSPs on it.  This kind of card would provide
>>
>>    
>>
>
>Expanding a bit on Nicolas' message, DSP software is complex, and there is
>not a huge number of people who do it well.  So along with the board layout
>and production cost (not trival for a 6- or 8-layer board), you have the
>programming cost for both the PGA (programmable gate array) device(s) and
>the DSP.   You also have the cost of the DSP simulators, driver development
>etc etc.
>
>All of these must be amortized over the number of boards you expect to sell
>- that's why the board price can get so high.  Dialogic's D600-2E1 JCT
>boards etc cost well over US$10000.  The whole point of the asterisk/digium
>exercise is to move the complex software to the PC and take advantage of the
>economies of scale that it brings.
>
Don't forget power and HEAT!
When I was making Portmasters at Livingston/Lucent we made modem boards
with a bunch of DSP's sitting on TDM's.  Some of those DSP's are great
BTU generators.  Some times you have to clock the DSP at slower speeds 
just to
keep the heat down.

-- 
Bob Knight
[-w] the work option
bk at minusw.com
925-449-9163