TransProcessor Packaged IN A PC Card-New IC Offers Home Users Cheap ATM Acess

By Mark Hachman
San Mateo, Calif- Currently housed in a PC Card, NEC's TransProcessor IC offers increased performance for linked PC's and peripheral devices, and promises cheap access to ATM (asynchoronous transfer mode) for networked homes of the future.
The TransProcessor, which is attached to a separate 64-kilobyte ROM with an x16 configuration, sells for about $10 in volume. The device is packaged in the Trans PC Card, said Roy DaSilva, senior manager of ASSP marketing for NEC Electronics Inc.,Mountain View Calif. It was jointly developed with Trans Digital Corp.,Fremont Calif.
Users have access to a sustained data transfer rate of 2.5 megabytes per second, with 8 megabytes of bandwidth over an accompanying 25- pin parallel cable. The result is a simulated client/server environment. Entire programs, such as multimedia presentations or data from digital cameras, can be shared between PC's in minutes, although programs cannot be run directly from the "host" machine. File transfer and data management software are embedded in the ROM.
The goal of the TransProcessor is to make data transfers over unshielded cable at about the same speed as transfers between DOS directories on a hard disk, Dasilva said. "If you can achieve this sort of speed with a distance transfer, then you can start networking," he said. "If you're speaking of multi-media computing as a whole, we're finding that one file is greater then the capacity of a floppy disk drive, which are being eliminated to reduce weight anyway. The trend is toward PC Cards".
With the TransProcessor, users can experience SCSI-like connectivity, without the parallel-port bottleneck, over a distance of up to 100 meters. That speed is eight to 10 times faster than the proposed enhanced parallel-port specifications, Dasilva said. Negligible emission levels are do to a low signaling frequency of approximately 1 megahertz.
Though packaged in card form, the two-chip device can be easily incorporated into multifunction cards for a host of other applications.
"By placing a number of these on an ISA bus, you have a high-speed, low-cost solution-essentially cheap ATM for SOHO [small office/ home office] users," said Thomas Chai, senior manager of research and development for NEC. The device supports 10 bidirectional data line, five status lines, and 8-bit read/write data access. Moreover, a PC equipped with the TransProcessor can transfer data at maximum speed to printers or other peripherals through its standard parallel port.
Samples of the 5-volt device, packaged in a 100-pin TQFP, are available. Volume orders are priced at $10 in 10,000-piece lots. The Type 1 Trans PC Card will retail for $149 per card and $49 for a universal cable for a parallel and printer port. A manufaturing kit is also available from Trans Digital for $750.

Electronic Buyers' News - November 13, 1995.