digital voice board at Comdex

[karn@qualcomm.com (Phil Karn)]

Last week at Comdex, I happened across Digicom Systems' booth. They're
selling a PC board with a programmable DSP chip from Analog Devices
that can be programmed to act as a sound card or as any of several
dial modems up to V.32bis. AND... it can be programmed with the GSM
vocoder algorithm (approx 13 kb/s).

The price was reasonable, too...in the $100 range, as I recall.

This could be the enabling product for a homebrew secure telephone.
The board can't act as a vocoder and modem simultaneously, so you'll
need either two boards, or one board plus a conventional modem. But a
vocoder that operates within dialup modem rates has been the roadblock
so far in a secure telephone. Anyone interested?

The address on Digicom Systems' flyer is 188 Topaz St, Milpitas CA
95035.  Voice: 800-833-8900. Fax 408-262-1390.

Naturally, I have no connection with this company other than as a
prospective customer.

--Phil