News

PLDA, the industry leader in high-speed interconnect IP, today announced that it has begun shipping the first SuperSpeed USB Host Bus Adapter (HBA) development platform. This HBA platform will enable leading-edge companies to develop and test USB 3.0 semiconductor designs or USB 3.0 software stacks more easily and efficiently, helping get them to market quicker. The flexible FPGA-based platform can also be configured with a USB 3.0 device reference design to help test host applications and software.

Key components of the PLDA USB 3.0 HBA development platform include:

• PCI Express based USB 3.0 Host Bus Adapter card
• xHCI compliant device driver and API
• Complete hardware and software documentation

The PLDA USB 3.0 HBA provides a range of advanced features including:

• PCI Express 2.0 (Gen2) based adapter
• Single lane (x1), extensible to 4 lanes (x4)
• Integrated high-performance multi-channel DMA engine
• Full xHCI compliant implementation
• Full support for USB 2.0
• Full support for LFPS and low power modes
• 1 or 2 USB 3.0/2.0 Host ports, 1 USB 3.0 Device port
• Optimized architecture and buffering allows for ~400Mbytes/sec of sustained throughput

“From the launch of SuperSpeed USB, PLDA has been a leader in providing USB 3.0 IP and development kits,” said Stephane Hauradou, PLDA’s CTO. “As an industry pioneer, with over 1,000 high-speed interface IP designs in production, PLDA has proven to be the safe, flexible path to a successful SuperSpeed USB implementation.”

Product Availability:
The PLDA SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Host Bus Adapter Development Platform is shipping now. Visit http://www.plda.com/prodetail.php?pid=143 or contact sales@plda.com for additional information.

About PLDA:
PLDA designs and sells a wide range of ASIC and FPGA interconnect solutions including bus controllers and SoC IP. The company offers complete solutions, including semiconductor IP, hardware, software, and design services. Founded in 1996 and profitable since its inception, PLDA is privately owned. The company maintains offices in San Jose, California and headquarters in France and has a strong international distribution network. For additional information about PLDA, please visit http://www.plda.com.

Symwave, Inc., a semiconductor supplier of high-performance analog/mixed-signal connectivity solutions for the PC, consumer and mobile devices, and PLDA, the industry leader in high-speed interconnect IP, announced collaboration on a USB 3.0 interoperability demonstration at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 8-11, 2009. The demonstration will showcase real-world data transfers between a PLDA SuperSpeed USB 3.0 host and a Symwave device at 5 Gigabits per second.

 
 
 

A bridge between two standard protocols is an attractive building block for system designers. When designing an application around a standard protocol, a bridge to another protocol enables all of the benefits of that second system with a less-intensive design-process. 
One such bridge design being considered and implemented in volume today is the bridge between PCI Express and AXI protocols. PCI Express application designers are finding that this bridge offers easy implementation of its application on any AMBA-based SOC. Additionally, SOC designers are using these bridges to seamlessly communicate with PCI Express, allowing easy interface with I/O protocols either off-chip or off-board, further extending memory and computing capabilities.