Micom Communications Corp, Simi Valley, California has announced a low-end addition to its range of voice and data network servers. Called Sprinter, it is aimed at those firms with a head office and just one or two branch offices, that want to consolidate their voice and data transmissions over a single leased line link. Sprinter can be used over 9.6Kbps to 64Kbps lines and comes in two versions, one of which combines voice and data, while the other also has a facsimile capability. To maximise bandwidth usage, the products are said to incorporate speech compression, dynamic bandwidth allocation and silence compression to provide a 10-to-1 bandwidth advantage. Indeed, the firm reckons that voice and facsimile are compressed to the extent that they use only 2% and 1.6% of the bandwidth of a 64Kbps line respectively. Each Sprinter can accommodate only one voice and one facsimile channel, but more than one of the products can be chained if more channels are required. The products are due to ship in volume in around two weeks, and they will cost about UKP1,350 for the data/voice/fax model, approximately UKP1,190 for the data/voice model.
