Embedded BIOS Support for Bus Master IDE Announced by Symphony Laboratories and Phoenix Technologies; Added BIOS Functionality Enables New Enhanced Controller from Symphony.SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 5, 1995--Symphony Laboratories, a maker of core logic chip sets and I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output products for personal computers, and Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : PTEC PTEC Pinellas Technical Education Centers (Clearwater, FL) PTEC Pharmacy Technician Educators Council PTEC Psychiatric Technician PTEC Plastics Technical Evaluation Center PTEC Page Table Edit Control ), the world's leading supplier of system-level software for PC manufacturers and an emerging supplier of consumer-level software, jointly announced today availability of embedded support for Symphony's bus master integrated drive electronics See IDE. Integrated Drive Electronics - Advanced Technology Attachment (IDE) controller, the SL82C105 Sonata chip, in Phoenix's standard BIOS product line. "The Symphony Sonata Bus Master IDE controller meets today's increasing system performance requirements, particularly in the demanding area of multimedia applications," said Clay Clatur, vice president of Phoenix Technologies' Desktop Division. "By embedding support for Symphony's Sonata into PhoenixBIOS 4.0, we can increase overall system performance without sacrificing the limited base memory of the PC." The integration of bus mastering technology increases system performance of the PC to the end user by increasing data transfer rates and decreasing local bus bottlenecks. To take advantage of the bus master IDE enhanced capabilities, an additional device driver is added to the system. Normally, this requires the system OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and or end user to use drivers in a configuration file, adding overhead to base memory. Modifying the system BIOS eliminates this requirement. This enhanced functionality is currently available in PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 5. "Integrating support of our Sonata bus master controller into system firmware is an important step in the evolution of this new enhanced IDE interface," said John Monti, Director of Marketing for Symphony Laboratories. "By working with Phoenix, we were able to enhance our product, integrating technology to enhance PC features and functionality for the widest range of OEM manufacturers and end users." The new SL82C105 supports up to four disk drives, new faster data transfer modes (PIO mode 3,4 and 5 and DMA (1) (Digital Media Adapter) See digital media hub. (2) (Document Management Alliance) A specification that provides a common interface for accessing and searching document databases. modes 0,1 and 2), and supports Logical Block Addressing See LBA. (storage) Logical Block Addressing - (LBA) A hard disk sector addressing scheme used on all SCSI hard disks, and on ATA-2 conforming IDE hard disks. The addressing conversion is performed by the hard disk firmware. (LBA (Logical Block Addressing) A method used to address hard disks by a single sector number rather than by cylinder, head and sector (CHS). LBA was introduced to support ATA/IDE drives as they reached 504MB, and Enhanced BIOSs in the PC translated CHS addressing into LBA ), allowing hard drive capacity of up to 8 gigabytes. The chip also supports the ATA (1) (AT Attachment) The specification for IDE drives. See IDE. (2) See analog telephone adapter. ATA - Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface, for support of CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). devices. The SL82C105 is geared toward high-performance PCI-based systems running DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, NetWare, and OS/2. Symphony Laboratories designs and markets core logic chip sets and peripheral ICs for the manufacturers of desktop and notebook personal computers, workstations, intelligent terminals, servers, and other high-volume computer architectures. Symphony Laboratories is located at 4000 Burton Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054. Telephone: (408) 986-1701; fax: (408) 986-1771 Phoenix Technologies Ltd. is the leading supplier of system-level software to PC manufacturers worldwide, and is an emerging supplier of Phoenix-brand software to PC users. The company's system-level software products, such as PhoenixBIOS, NoteBIOS, PhoenixVIEW, MultiKey and PCM (1) See phase change memory. (2) (Plug Compatible Manufacturer) An organization that makes a computer or electronic device that is compatible with an existing machine. +, allow PC manufacturers to increase product differentiation, reduce product cycle time to market as well as cut internal engineering costs. Capitalizing on its unique industry position and resources, Phoenix is developing an expanding family of software products for consumers such as Phoenix Eclipse FAX, Phoenix CD Essentials and Phoenix HomeOffice Environment, that increase personal computer functionality and make PCs easier to use. Information on all Phoenix Technologies products is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.ptltd.com. -0- NOTE TO EDITORS: The Phoenix logo is a registered trademark and PhoenixBIOS*, NoteBIOS*, PhoenixVIEW, PCM+*, Phoenix HomeOffice Environment, Phoenix Eclipse FAX*, and Phoenix CD Essentials* are trademarks of Phoenix Technologies Ltd. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CONTACT: Phoenix Technologies Ltd. Tom Benoit, 408/452-6507 or The Benjamin Group, Inc. Gary Quackenbush, 408/559-6090 |
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