SONY INTRODUCES HIGH-SPEED SERIAL BUS
IEEE1394 INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
Truly Universal Input/Output Connection Has Arrived
LAS VEGAS, COMDEX/Fall 96, Booth #L2225, Nov. 18, 1996 -- Sony Electronics announced today two
integrated circuits incorporating the High-Speed Serial Bus IEEE1394 LSI: a LINK-LSI,
CXD1947Q, for host controller applications on the PCI Bus and a PHY-LSI, CXD1944R
at 200Mbits/sec. The new products are the company's first in a broad and versatile family of components that its
vertically integrated semiconductor operation -- Sony Semiconductor Company of America (SSA) -- plans to introduce
in the months ahead.
IEEE1394 is a high-speed serial bus standard that allows computers, digital A/V equipment and multimedia
peripheral equipment to be easily connected via cables. With IEEE1394, consumers now have the potential to create
their own personal home network. The IEEE1394 standard can also be incorporated into digital A/V products such as
set-top boxes, DVD, video editing and video conferencing applications.
The PHY-LSI is a mixed signal device that supports multiple 1394 ports. It includes the logic needed to perform
arbitration and bus initialization functions. The LINK-LSI transmits and receives 1394 formatted data packets
and supports isochronous data or asynchronous data transfers. Isochronous data transmission is critical to making
real-time multimedia applications possible.
The key to suing the IEEE1394 standard as a multimedia connection is optimizing the use of isochronous data
with the consumer products. According to Vishwanath Nayak, SSA marketing director for multimedia products,
Sony is "uniquely positioned" to test and simulate the use of isochronous data transfer because of its
array of consumer products.
"Sony chose the IEEE1394 standard as the basis for this new family of LSIs because of such merits as a
high-speed transfer rate, scaleability, real time data processing, simple connections and low cost,"
commented Nayak.
"Sony as a whole joins with many other PC and consumer A/V companies in actively promoting 1394 and 1394a
as a cost effective technology that enables the convergence of the PC and A/V industries," said Scott
Smyers, director of advanced digital interface technologies for Sony's U.S. Research Laboratories in San Jose.
Both LSIs have circuitry to support A/V protocols for use in applications connecting IEEE 1394-compliant digital
A/V products, such as VCRs, to a computer.
More than 50 consumer and computer electronics companies have formed the 1394 Trade Association to support the
standard, with Sony being a leading player in defining the 800Mbps and 1.6Gbps standard under the 1394a
Working Group.
Engineering samples of both LSIs will be available in the first quarter of 1997, with volume production
scheduled to begin by the middle of the year. In sample quantities, the CXD1944R
and the CXD1947Q will be offered at $20 and $50 each, respectively. In
production quantities, pricing will be significantly reduced.
Sony Semiconductor Company of America (SSA) is a divisional company of Sony Electronics Inc. SSA is a
leading OEM supplier of semiconductors, including Static RAM, CCDs, TV and audio ICs, digital filters,
serial/optical communication ICs, cellular/PCS ICs and multimedia devices. The company's discrete components
include laser diodes, variable capacitance diodes, and GaAs FET devices.
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