Tundra Semiconductor Broadens PCI Express Portfolio with Tsi381

OTTAWA, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tundra Semiconductor Corporation (TSX:TUN), a leader in System Interconnect, today launched the Tundra Tsi381(TM) single lane PCI Express(R) (PCIe) to PCI Bridge. Pin compatible with competing PCIe bridge products, this new product offers Tundra customers a superior solution with lower latency and better throughput than competitive offerings.

The Tsi381 is ideal for applications that need to bridge from PCIe to PCI devices. Its flexibility, high performance, small footprint, and low power consumption make the Tsi381 ideal for numerous consumer and enterprise applications such as: line cards, network interface cards, motherboards, PC adapter cards and option cards, multi-function printers, media centers and digital video recorders.

Tundra entered the PCIe market in May, 2007 with the launch of the Tsi384(TM), a four-lane PCI Express to PCI-X Bridge. "Tundra's PCI product portfolio is further broadened today, with the launch of the Tsi381 PCI Express Bridge. Customers can now take advantage of another superior quality Tundra product that delivers product design excellence and reliable supply to enable their products to get to market ahead of the competition," said Benny Chang, Tundra's Chief Technology Officer. "The Tsi381 was designed by our Hyderabad, India and North American engineering teams to compete with and beat PCIe bridges currently in the market, on performance, latency and throughput. Customers that take advantage of this new product offering, receive Tundra's world-class customer service and support," continued Chang.

Product Features

Compliant to the latest PCI Express Base 1.1 specification, the Tsi381's x1 PCIe Interface enables the bridge to offer exceptional throughput of up to 2.5 Gbps. The device's PCI Interface can operate up to 66 MHz and offers designers extensive flexibility by supporting three types of addressing modes: transparent, opaque, and non-transparent. Transparent mode operation is available for efficient, flow through configurations, while non-transparent bridging allows isolation between the Tsi381's PCIe and PCI domains. Non-transparent bridging also enables multi-host systems and is used in applications such as intelligent adapter cards. Opaque mode provides semi-transparent operation for multi-processor configurations and enhanced private device support. The Tsi381 through its efficient architecture and deep buffering offers low latency and superior system performance. Its rich feature set provides designers with the ability to maximize performance for a wide range of PCI Express bridging applications.

Pricing, Availability and Design Support Tools

The Tundra Tsi381 is sampling now and will be in volume production early Q1 2008. The Tsi381 is designed to operate at industrial temperature range (-40 degrees to +85 degrees). Currently sampling in a RoHS compliant, 13x13mm BGA package it will be available in both standard and RoHS compliant packaging at full production. The Tundra Tsi381 is available through Tundra's worldwide sales network and at www.tundra.com/buynow. Volume pricing starts at $7.50 USD for 10K units. For documentation, including; ordering information, feature sheet, user manual, and hardware manual to assist in accelerated development with the Tsi381, visit www.tundra.com/Tsi381.