Bridge-on-chip: the enabler of next-generation mobile Internet and voice-over-IP

A bridge-on-chip (BoC) is a highly integrated yet flexible microprocessor-based Ethernet bridging device. It integrates Bluetooth (technology that enables links between mobile computers, mobile phones, portable handheld devices, and connectivity to the Internet) baseband functionality and an Ethernet controller and on-chip memory in a single chip. It also provides a DSP-based media gateway in support of voice-over-IP (VoIP), and it comes with a full range of embedded TCP/IP software support for various applications. The BoC is a key enabler for real integration of the data and telecommunication networks and services.