The MSP-BRI PCM interface is a general-purpose ISDN Basic Rate interface for host-based
telephony media processing. It allows the BladeWare OEM to address markets where BRI is prevalent in
office environments.
One ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI) supports two independent telephone channels. Using digital encoding,
BRI is carried over a single twisted pair between the telephone end office to the customer premises, where
the two-wire signal (the U interface) is converted to a four-wire signal (the S/T interface) by a
network-termination device called an NT-1. The MSP-BRI interfaces with the four-wire S/T interface,
deriving the two telephone channels, called bearer channels, and one 16-Kbit signaling channel,
called a D-channel, and implements the ISDN protocols to give fast detailed call control
.
The MSP-BRI is a half-height PCI or PCI Express board with 2, 4, 6… to 24 BRI lines/ports using one
expansion-card slot. Each individual card has up to three dual BRI daughtercards to provide six basic-rate
interfaces or 12 telephhone lines. Up to four boards can be interconnected on a “micro backplane” to expand
the assembly to 24 basic-rate interfaces.
A daughtercard can assume either the NT (network termination) or TE (terminal equipment) function,
depending on how it is inserted into the main board. To change modes, simply unplug the daughtercard,
turn it over, and re-insert it. This feature allows the implementation the ISDN equivalent of station and
office trunks.
The MSP-BRI is also available with Commetrex’ optional OpenMedia media-processing software environment.
OpenMedia is a comprehensive multi-stream software environment that permits the user to efficiently
develop host-based signal-processing functions.
