Tensilica Adds G.729AB Speech Codec for Its Popular HiFi 2 Audio Engine

Fully Compliant With ITU Specifications for G.729 Standard with Annexes A and B

SANTA CLARA, Calif., – January 31, 2007 – Tensilica, Inc. today introduced another codec for its popular HiFi 2 Audio Engine and Diamond Standard 330HiFi processor core which are specifically optimized for audio in mobile multimedia devices. The G.729AB speech codec, mostly used in Voice over IP (VoIP) applications, is fully compliant with ITU (International Telecommunication Union) specifications for the G.729 standard with annexes A and B. As an ITU standard, G.729 is one of the most tested and lowest bandwidth digital speech transmission standards.

“Our HiFi 2 Audio Engine customers have requested the G.729 speech codec for the development of their next generation VoIP enabled products,” stated Larry Przywara, Tensilica’s director of mobile multimedia products. “With toll quality performance at very low bandwidth, G.729 support has become a standard requirement in VoIP systems.”

The G.729 data compression algorithm compresses voice audio at low bit rates, offering opportunities for significant increases in bandwidth utilization in existing telephony applications. Tensilica’s codec implements G.729A, which is compatible with G.729 but requires less computation, and G.729B, which is a silence compression scheme with Discontinuous Transmission (DTX), Voice Activity Detection (VAD), Comfort Noise Generator (CNG) and Silence Insertion Descriptor (SID).

Pricing and Availability

The G.729AB codec is available now for all licensees of Tensilica’s Diamond Standard 330HiFi or the Xtensa HiFi 2 Audio Engine. Pricing starts at $8,000 for a decoder single project license.

About Tensilica

Tensilica offers the broadest line of full designer configurability with the Xtensa processor family and controller, CPU, and specialty DSP processors on the market today, in an off-the-shelf format via the Diamond Standard Series cores. Tensilica’s low-power, benchmark-proven processors have been designed into high-volume products at industry leaders in the digital consumer, networking, and telecommunications markets. All Tensilica processor cores are complete with a matching software development tool environment, portfolio of system simulation models, and hardware implementation tool support. For more information on Tensilica’s patented approach to the creation of application-specific building blocks for SOC design, visit www.tensilica.com.