Oxford bridge IC increases data transfer

The bridge IC from Oxford Semiconductor Ltd offers increased data transfer performance.

The next-generation version of the OXFW911, the OXFW911plus includes an ARM7TDMI processor, an ORB coprocessor and a high performance buffer manager, that combine to implement the 1394 transaction layer and SBP-2 protocol.

Offered in a 100-pin TQFP package, the OXFW911plus IDE interface meets common drive operating modes, including PIO 0-4, DMA 0-2, UDMA 0-6 (master and slave) and 48-bit LBA for large drives. Capable of handling multiple IDE devices simultaneously, the bridge chip offers designers the facility of hardware-based disk striping and spanning functions to increase data transfer speeds.

The inclusion of a 64KB of on-board Flash memory allows the OXFW911plus firmware to be upgraded via the FireWire serial bus using standard programming utilities provided by the company. Supporting the SBP-2 protocol, the OXFW911plus will function with generic OS drivers - Windows 98 2nd Edition and above and Mac OS 9.0 and above. It also supports SBP-3 Fast Start.