San Jose, California-based PC-Tel Inc has launched its first 33.3Kbps single-chip data, facsimile and speech modem to use its Host Signal Processing technology. The PCT2881, designed for use with Pentium-based desktops and notebooks, is said to eliminate hardware components including data pump controller, universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter and the memory requirements of traditional hard-wired modems. PC-Tel claims that its offering uses a minimum of spare processing cycles from the host computer’s Pentium chip (less than 60MHz, the company claims), enabling the modem to operate alongside other applications. The modem is said to feature data compression, error correction, and facsimile at speeds up to 14.4Kbps. It can be configured for 16- or 8-bit AT interfaces, and supports the DSVD Digital Simultaneous Voice and Data specification for speech over data (CI No 2,498); there is no word yet on pricing.
