Winbond Launches Industry's First Hardware Monitor IC Featuring Speech Function and ASF Specification Compliance

Business Wire, Sept 26, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 26, 2001

Winbond Electronics Corporation, a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions, today announced that it has launched the W83791D, the industry's first hardware monitoring IC featuring both speech functionality and compliance with the Alert Standard Forum (ASF). The new IC solution is the only speech-enabled option of its kind on the market today.

The W83791D can simultaneously monitor 10 voltage inputs, three fan speed inputs, three remote temperatures and chassis intrusion or security events. Temperature sensing can be performed by thermistors, bipolar transistors, or via a CPU thermal diode. The W83791D provides up to five Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) outputs for two modes of Winbond's Smart Fan(TM) control: "Thermal Cruise(TM)" and, "Speed Cruise" modes. The chip can also issue a variety of warnings including voice warning, beep tone warning, System Management Interrupt (SMI); Over Temperature (OVT); or IRQ signals for system protection. In addition, the W83791D provides programmable Voltage Identification (VID) outputs to alter the voltage for the CPU per the Intel(TM) VRM9.X and VRM8.4 Voltage Regulator Module specifications. The chip is currently sampling and is priced at $2.20 U.S., in 1,000 unit quantities.

W83791D can serve as an ASF sensor and respond to an ASF LAN IC request to implement the network management functions in an OS-absent state. Through the W83791D, the network server is able to monitor the environmental status of the client system in an OS-absent state via Platform Event Trap (PET) frames returned from the W83791D. These parameters include temperatures, voltages, fan speeds, etc. Additionally, the W83791D supports SMBus 2.0 Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) commands. This eliminates address conflicts by dynamically assigning a new unique address to W83791D using the chip's Universal Device Identification (UDID).

W83791D's speech function is enabled through an integrated programmable speech synthesizer and external flash memory chip(s) that store voice data. The W83791D confirms the presence of the CPU and supports five external H/W events, 17 hardware monitor events, and 128 internal programmable event traps. Voice data stored in the external flash memory, Winbond's W55FXX chip solution, can be modified or edited using the Voice Editor(TM), a free Windows utility software program from Winbond. The speech warning function can provide remote and local diagnostics when the system fails to boot, or malfunctions. This technology enables multi-language speech output and web-based speech data download. This feature can significantly reduce support costs associated with customer service for system vendors. For the customers who plan to use Winbond's H/W monitor integrated I/O chip W83627HF, W83697HF or W83637HF series, Winbond provides the industry's speech-only option, the W83791SD.

Through the application software or BIOS, the users can read all the monitored parameters of the system. A pop-up warning message can also be activated when the monitored item is out of proper/preset range. Application software choices include Winbond's Hardware Doctor(TM) and Intel LanDesk Client Management (LDCM).

W83791D was recently recognized as one of the top three finalists in Best Product Award of Computex Taipei 2001. The W83791D achieved this honor by providing the industry with an innovative design, value-added features and reduced total cost of ownership -- all in a single-chip solution.

About Winbond

Winbond Electronics Corporation was founded in 1987 and is based in Hsinchu Science-Based Park, Taiwan. It has since become the largest branded IC company in Taiwan, offering a broad range of PC and peripheral-related ICs, consumer electronics ICs, multimedia ICs, and memory ICs. Winbond is a market leader in the telephone dialer, PC I/O controller, memory, speech synthesizer and MPEG decoder markets. With four wafer fabs currently in operation, the Company utilizes process technologies ranging from 1.0um down to 0.175um. Winbond has more than 4,500 employees worldwide with design centers located in Hsinchu, Taiwan; Shanghai, China; San Jose, California; Austin, Texas; and Herzilya, Israel. World Wide Web WECA home page: http://www.winbond-usa.com; World Wide Web corporate home page: http://www.winbond.com.

Note to Editors: Winbond, Smart Fan, Voice Editor and Hardware Doctor are registered trademarks of Winbond Electronics Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.