New from Oxford Semiconductor, the OXCB950 is a 3.3V device that provides a single, high speed serial channel from either Cardbus or PCI. Designed for use in embedded processing applications and serial add-in cards, it offers memory or I/O mapped access to the fastest available PC-compatible UART and provides data rates up to 15Mbps in asynchronous mode and128-deep transmitter and receiver FIFOs. The deep FIFOs reduce CPU overhead and facilitate high data rates. Infra-red operation is also supported. The integrated UART is software compatible with industry standard 16C550 devices and the Oxford Semiconductor OX16C95x family of high performance UARTs.

The OXCB950 is compliant to PC Card Standard 7.0 and PCI Bus Specification 2.2. It has function access to allow engineers to pre-configure the UART prior to handover to generic device drivers and features a flexible clock prescaler from 1 to 31.875.
Two multi-purpose I/O pins can be configured as interrupt input or 'wake-up' pins and the device can also be reconfigured using optional Microwire-based, non-volatile configuration memory (EEPROM).

The OXCB950 is housed in a 100-pin TQFP package. Samples are available now and the price from distributors in 1000+ quantities is us$6.42 each.

About Oxford Semiconductor :
Oxford Semiconductor Limited, (www.oxsemi.com) based in Oxford, England, designs and supplies highly integrated semiconductors for data communications and connectivity applications. Founded in 1992, the company offers a range of products covering computer-to-peripheral connection, including UARTs and parallel ports, and is developing solutions for emerging standards. Oxford Semiconductor participates in numerous industry special interest groups for the development of new data communications standards, including the IEEE1394 Trade Association, ensuring that the company continues to meet market requirements for increasingly high performance solutions. Oxford Semiconductor's UARTs break new ground in performance and integration and are being used by OEMs in applications such as remote access server, Internet servers and I/O products. The devices are also extensively used in embedded applications and industrial control solutions. The company has a strong focus on customer support through its network of resellers, in addition to support via its headquarters and design centre. In order to assist customers in minimising product development cycles, Oxford Semiconductor's design teams also undertake the design of evaluation boards, reference designs and enhanced device driver software.

Further information from:
Annie Ho
Always Communications
Tel:852 2855 7819
e-mail: annieh@agrapha-group.com

James Foster
Oxford Semiconductor
Tel: +44 1235 824900
e-mail: james.foster@oxsemi.com

James Lewis
Oxford Semiconductor Inc
Tel:1 949 348 1235
e-mail: james.lewis@oxsemi.com