Bottom feeding network appliances

Hi,

A while ago, I was involved with an open source VoIP
phone design. But, too many of those folks have
"other commitments" and this isn't a big priority
for them. OTOH, *I* would like to get some devices
made for use, here, ASAP.

So, I've decided to "go it alone". This makes things
a *lot* easier as I no longer have to worry about
other folks' needs/wants/etc. Instead, I can just
focus on getting the job done as I see fit (for *my*
needs).

And, in harmony with my other design principles. :>

I think what I need (hardware) can be summarized as:
- SoC (real estate is critical -- perhaps 2 sq in)
- low power (existing phone is powered from CO battery
so there is NO cost for that -- why would I want to
increase my power consumption in the station set
when I will already have to deal with the hub/switch's
power needs 24/7!)
- 10 bit (?) linear CODEC at ~10KHz (or a companding
CODEC)
- 10Mb/s Network interface
- 2 or 3 digital I/O's (things like hookswitch, etc.)
- probably 8KB RAM would be enough (optionally, move
the entire application into RAM with a tiny ROM/FLASH
loader)
- depending on RAM (and CODEC characteristics), probably
16K of TEXT -- maybe less (depends on how I chose to
implement the network stack)
- reasonably low MIPS as the most complex thing here is
packet handling
- one timer (more is nicer but not essential -- depending
on how capable the instruction set is)
- some sort of watchdog to handle silicon glitches (there
won't be any software bugs -- so the hardware has to behave
24/7/365)
- available in low volumes and reasonable cost (I only want to
buy a dozen or so -- ideally, just a "sample" lot)
- friendly fabrication (i.e., no BGA's)
- free toolchain

I think this covers *all* of the requirements. So, any
capabilities above and beyond aren't worth anything in
terms of cost, board space, power consumption, etc.
OTOH, anything that gives me an alternative to some of
these might have offsetting justifications (e.g., a
BT transceiver replacing the 10BaseTX interface).

The goal here is for me to learn something for other
upcoming projects while tackling a current need at the
same time. "Make one to throw away".

I'd be interested in folks' recommendations as to specific parts.
And, pointers to any reference designs (mainly for the hardware
as I suspect my software implementation will be radically
different from a traditional approach).

Thanks!
--don
.

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