Cypress ships USB host mass storage reference design kit

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, Dec 20, 2004

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:CY), the market-share leader in USB, has announced general availability of its USB host mass storage reference design kit (RDK) for embedded applications. The CY4640 hardware/software solution enables mass storage devices to seamlessly exchange data from one point to another without the aid of a PC.

Designed for use with Cypress's EZ-Host family of USB embedded host controllers, the CY4640 supports several types of USB mass storage class peripherals including USB hard drives, NAND flash drives, mass storage class-compliant MP3 players and digital still cameras. The kit also supports internal storage devices, such as hard drives, via the EZ-Host controller's on-chip IDE interface.

"With the proliferation of MP3 players, photo printers and DVD recorders, there is an increasing demand for host-enabled storage devices," said Bassil El-Kadi, USB Host and OTG product manager in Cypress's Personal Communications Division. "This kit simplifies the integration of USB technology into PC peripherals and many other consumer appliances--even designers with little knowledge of USB or mass storage class can now easily develop products that host USB storage devices."

The CY4640 includes the USB host software stack, a mass storage class driver, a file system and associated supporting software modules, as well as a sample application layer and hardware that enable customers to evaluate a design at various stages of development. The kit provides license- and royalty-free source code IP for all components.

The USB Host Mass Storage Reference Design Kit is available now and priced starting at $199 (MSRP).

Featuring a 16-bit RISC controller, large memory and low power, Cypress's EZ-Host embedded controllers operate as either a host or peripheral device, depending on the application. EZ-Host (CY7C67300) is a multiport controller featuring two individually configurable two-port serial interface engines (SIEs) and a configurable I/O block that can connect to numerous standard interfaces. The product is targeted at wired USB devices ranging from DVD players, set top boxes, Internet appliances and print servers. Cypress's USB embedded host family of products also includes EZ-OTG (CY7C67200), a USB controller based on the USB On-The-Go (OTG) protocol that enables direct connectivity between portable devices such as cell phones, PDAs, video and still cameras, MP3 players and mass storage peripherals.