PCtel modems first to use MMX

PCtel, the Californian modem and comms company, has become the first vendor to support Intel's Pentium MMX technology.

MMX is a technology just announced by Intel to include multimedia extensions to the processing power of a high-speed Pentium processor.

According to PCtel, by supporting MMX on its modems, super-fast and cost-effective multimedia communications across existing analog modem bandwidths are possible

Intel's MMX architecture incorporates a `virtual' DSP facility, together with instructions to accelerate multimedia and communications applications for faster and more effective graphics, video, picture processing and music synthesis.

According to Intel, MMX support data compression systems much more powerful than existing V.42bis technology will allow. Data compression rates of between 30 and 50 per cent better than even the best V.42bis engines will be possible, officials claim.

To date, V.42bis compression rates of 4:1 are possible using conventional technology. Hayes and a few other vendors have pushed compression rates as high as 8:1 by using an enlarged data dictionary, although such compression rates are normally only possible between modems of the same brand and with selected 7bit data files or streams.

According to Peter Chen, the company's president, PCtel plans to include support for Intel MMX with its HSP modem architectures to achieve analog modem speeds far in excess of the 33.6Kbps V.34x extension to the basic V.34 standard about to be ratified by the ITU.

MMX instructions process multiple data elements in parallel using a technique called Single Instruction Multiple Data.

PCtel claims that tests on development systems have enhanced performance from 30 to 50 per cent with its HSP MODEM, depending on the application used.