Boise, Idaho–In-System Design Inc. (ISD), a system-on-chip design company specializing in digital bridging solutions, announced today that its Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 high-speed bridge chip, the ISD-300, has successfully met the compliance testing standards set by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) for inclusion in its Integrators List.

“The ISD-300 makes it possible for computer storage manufacturers to easily adapt ATA and ATAPI storage devices to USB 2.0,” says Jack Wood, USB 2.0 program manager for ISD. “Based on the interest expressed in our demo devices at Comdex in November, we know that peripherals OEMs are eager for easy-to-integrate USB 2.0 high-speed bridge solutions like the ISD-300.”

The USB specification is a standardized peripheral connection developed by leading PC industry companies. USB facilitates the integration of new peripherals with improved plug and play, data transfer speeds nearly 100 times faster than the original serial port connections, and support of multiple device connectivity.

“The introduction of tested and certified USB 2.0 devices is important to continuing the high-quality experience that USB offers,” says Jason Ziller, Intel technology initiatives manager for USB 2.0. “By introducing the first certified USB high-speed peripheral bridge device, ISD has made an important contribution to furthering USB 2.0 as the preferred connection for most PC peripherals.”

Fabricated by NEC Corp., which contributed its USB 2.0 SERDES transceiver core, the ISD-300 is based on In-System Design’s fourth generation digital bridge technology. The device will be manufactured in a 100-pin TQFP package and is currently available for sample. Volume shipment will begin in first quarter 2001.