| Press Release *****For immediate use April 16th, 2002 NEC Announces World's First EHCI 1.0-Compliant USB 2.0 Host Controller LSI Chip Company Targets Portable PC Market with Expanded Connection OptionsTOKYO and SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 16, 2002 - NEC Corp. (NASDAQ: NIPNY) and its wholly owned subsidiary in the United States, NEC Electronics Inc., today announced they have developed a Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 host controller to be fully compliant with the Enhanced Host Controller Interface specification (EHCI) version 1.0. With this enhancement, NEC's USB host controller, the µPD720101, enables high-speed signaling and delivers up to 20 percent more bandwidth than NEC's previous EHCI version 0.95-compliant host controller. The new product also features low power consumption, making it ideal for use in portable personal computers (PCs) and other peripherals. NEC will be demonstrating the µPD720101 host controller at WinHEC 2002 (April 16-17), booth #615 in Seattle. "With the growing demand for high-performance multimedia peripherals such as DVD-ROM drives, video cameras and broadband Internet connections for portable applications, NEC sees USB 2.0 as a key market for its electron device solutions business," said Hidetoshi Kosaka, general manager, Network System LSI Development Division, NEC Corporation. "NEC has led the industry in delivering USB 2.0 solutions and has seen rapid adoption of our products, having already shipped more than four million EHCI 0.95-compliant host controllers as of March 2002. As we continue to expand the USB 2.0 standard to deliver an enhanced user experience, we expect to see products based on this standard continue to penetrate the PC market." "The release of Microsoft's native USB 2.0 support for the Windows XP operating system earlier this year and NEC's release of EHCI 1.0-compliant hardware are huge steps forward for USB 2.0 adoption," said David W. Williams, director of Windows Hardware Platform Strategy at Microsoft Corp. "We're pleased that our mutual customers will be able to take full advantage of high-bandwidth, power-efficient USB 2.0 interfaces to connect a variety of devices to their PCs and enable new device scenarios." Jason Ziller, chairman of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) and Intel technology initiatives manager, said, "USB 2.0 is experiencing rapid adoption by major technology OEMs, and we expect to see an increasing number of PCs sold in 2002 support the technology. As a leading supplier of USB 2.0 controller solutions, NEC has played a major role in delivering this connection technology to the market." With support for the EHCI specification, which describes the register-level interface for a USB 2.0 host controller, NEC can deliver a high-performance solution. Revision 1.0 of the interface allows the implementation of both discrete- and integrated-compliant EHCI host controllers, improving data transmission with up to 20 percent higher bandwidth than EHCI 0.95-compliant devices. Optimized to deliver best-in-class performance for the portable PC market, NEC's µPD720101 chip offers up to 90 percent lower power consumption at 11 milliamps (mA) in PC standby mode or 220 mA in an unconfigured state. Additionally, high-speed peripherals can connect to NEC's new host controller using up to three-fifths less power than with the company's first USB 2.0 host controller LSI chip. The new host controller is offered in a small 144-pin QFP/FPBGA package, enabling low-cost board designs. Pricing and Availability About NEC USB 2.0 Products About NEC Corporation About NEC Electronics Inc. ***
PRESS CONTACTS: |
