Modular Telephony Hardware Design How separating interfaces improves reliability and reduces costs

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Problem 2001: Obsolescence

• Designs were extensions of ISA card adapters

• Based on 8-bit technology• On board software was highly

optimized to get maximum performance from minimal hardware

• Shared memory interface: low throughput, high use of PCI bus

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Problem 2001: Obsolescence

• Adequate for speeds to 2Mbps but impossible to scale

• Expensive to make• Hard to debug because of on-

board microcode• Conclusion: We had to move to

modern FPGA-based bus master designs

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Advanced Flexible Telephony (AFT)

• AFT architecture splits the host interface, telephony interface and DSP resources

• Common host interfaces forall cards

• Common telephony interfaces for both PCI and the newer PCI Express motherboards

• DSP resources also separated so that different DSP functions can be integrated across all designs

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A family of telephony cards

Base PCI or PCI Express card

Optional DSP module for echo cancellation and transcoding

Personality Card: Quad port analog module

Personality Card: Octal port T1/E1 module

Personality Card: Quad port T1/E1 module

Personality Card: Dual port analog module

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Compared to dedicated designs:

Does it cost more than dedicated designs?

ABSOLUTELY!

– Extra circuit boards

– Expensive inter-PCBconnectors

– Added assembly costs

– Complications related to security and FPGA programming

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WHAT DO WE GET FOR THE MONEY???

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Experience=Reliability

Base card

Telephony card

Total failure rate

Fai

lure

Rat

e

Time

VoIP Time

Base card

Telephony card

Total failure rate

VoIP Time

Time Shift

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So for a start we get a lot better reliability for the money!

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Manufacturing and Support cost

Manufacture cost

Support cost

Manufacture cost

Support cost

Conventional card Modular card

Similar total cost of production

Costs on the Production Side

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Total Cost of Ownership

Purchase cost Purchase cost

Maintenance cost

Maintenance cost

Conventional card Modular card

Lower TCO

Costs on the Ownership Side

RMAs, troubleshooting, Field replacements, etc.

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Manufacturing management

• Sangoma sells 30+ different card/Telco combinations, for example the A101 single T1/E1 card has four variations:

– A101 PCI– A101 PCI with hardware EC– A101 PCI Express– A101 PCI Express with hardware EC

• Total volume of all cards is high, but volumes of individual products can be very small

• Inventory control, manufacturing management and parts ordering would be a huge job for 35+ designs.

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Manufacturing management (2)

• Because of the modular design there are much fewer manufactured circuit boards than products, leading to large production volumes.

• Statistically, it is much easier to predict the demand for large volumes than small volumes

• Commonality of parts makes for easier ordering processes

• The result is that we are much more likely to be able to supply from stock, especially for items that are less popular

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We also get better stock and Manufacturing Control

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Stocking Benefits

Stocking Levels

Stocking Levels

Conventional card Modular card

Reseller Stocking levels

Six week’s supply

Two week’s supply

Saving in capital investment

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Stocking Benefits (2)

Out-of-stock costs

Out-of-stock costs

Emergency shipping

Emergency shipping

Conventional card Modular card

Out-of-stock: Supplier and Customer

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Conclusions:

• Modular telephony card construction has higher manufacturing costs

• Reduced support costs allow us to sell these expensive cards competitively

• Additional hard cost benefits accrue to both the supplier and the customer in terms of:

– Lower support costs for VARs, OEMs and customers – Reduced capital expenditure in standing inventory– Fewer out-of-stock occurrences, leading to lower irritation

factor and lower shipping costs.

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Questions?