Storage: SMSC Introduces Industry's First Single-Chip USB Floppy Disk Controller - Standard Microsystems USB97CFDC - Product Announcement - Brief Article

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, July 19, 1999

Standard Microsystems Corporation (SMSC) announced Monday its introduction of the USB97CFDC, the industry's first single-chip USB Floppy Disk Controller.

The USB97CFDC leverages SMSC's experience as a supplier of USB and PC I/O ICs by integrating the USB endpoint control and floppy disk controller into a single chip to facilitate USB floppy disk drive designs.

The USB97CFDC, with its 82077AA-compatible floppy disk controller, advanced digital data separator (DDS), and 16 byte data FIFO, enables the implementation of a high-performance USB floppy disk drive at very small incremental cost. "SMSC has merged its proven FDC expertise and its USB controller based on its patented MMU architecture into the USB97CFDC. This offers the floppy drive manufacturer a USB interface in the presently existing form factor with no performance penalty," stated Henry Wurzburg, SMSC's Director of Strategic Marketing and System Engineering for Connectivity Products.

As a substitute for traditional modular or external floppy disk drive solutions, the USB97CFDC allows the disk drive designer to build a fast, hot-pluggable drive for all floppy disk formats (720 KByte, 1.2 Mbyte, or 1.44 Mbyte). The USB97CFDC complements today's ultra-slim notebook designs with its low-power 3.3V design with 5V tolerant I/O operation and the lowest possible system current draw (typically less than 100(mu)A) during SUSPEND mode operation. The USB97CFDC is 100% compliant with the USB 1.1 and USB Mass Storage Class Specifications published by the USB Implementers Forum.

Standard Microsystems provides a complete development environment for the USB97CFDC, consisting of an evaluation and software development board, reference design, and sample USB enumeration software. Licenses are available on a per-use basis for firmware for UFI- and 8070i-based command set drives and Windows 98 host drivers. These licenses are provided free of charge, in most cases, with the purchase of the USB97CFDC.

Datasheets, evaluation boards, and qualification samples are available immediately. Production will be available in August. Packaged in a 100-pin thin quad flat pack (12mm x 12mm x 1mm), the USB97CFDC is priced at $7.05 in quantities of 10,000.

Standard Microsystems Corporation is a worldwide supplier of metal-oxide-semiconductor/very large scale integrated (MOS/VLSI) circuits for the personal computer, peripherals and embedded systems marketplace. SMSC has a leading position in input/output (I/O) circuits for PCs, with over 100 million units shipped and, additionally, supplies circuits for PC connectivity and local area networks.

Standard Microsystems is based in Hauppauge, New York and maintains offices worldwide, including locations in North America, Asia, Europe and Japan. SMSC operates engineering design centers in San Jose, CA; Westborough, MA; Hauppauge, NY and Austin, TX. More information about the Company is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.smsc.com.