FDI USB-Dongle and Derivative Board Family Now Available at Digi-Key.

THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. -- Digi-Key announced today that it is now stocking the newly released Future Designs, Inc. USB-Dongle and Derivative Board family, allowing for quick and easy ICP or ISP programming of many popular NXP Semiconductors microcontroller families such as LPC9xx and 89V52X2. The unit also provides a low-cost platform for testing or prototyping of simple microcontroller-based designs.

The USB-Dongle provides a virtual COM port interface to the PC and allows hex files to be downloaded and programmed using Flash Magic or other common utilities. It also provides all power needed by the various derivative boards so no external power supply is required. Low cost derivative boards are available for many different microcontrollers from NXP. Details are available at www.teamfdi.com/USBDongle.

The initial product release includes seven derivative boards with nine others scheduled for release next quarter. The USB-Dongle is priced at $17 (quantity 1) with derivative boards ranging from $5 to $10, depending on complexity. This means a low-cost, $22 to $27 solution is now available for prototyping and programming of dozens of different microcontrollers from NXP Semiconductors. Digi-Key is stocking the USB-Dongle and all members of the derivative board family as an extension of its existing agreement with Future Designs, Inc.

"We are very pleased to add these new products from FDI to our product offering," said Mark Larson, Digi-Key president. "Digi-Key serves thousands of design engineers who are sure to find these high-quality, low-cost prototyping and testing solutions to be of consequential interest."

"These new low-cost demo and programming boards greatly reduce the initial cost of developing with any of the microcontroller families from NXP Semiconductors," said Kent Lowman, Future Designs director. "The Digi-Key catalog, Web site, and overnight delivery options allow design engineers to have these new tools in their hands tomorrow if needed."

Product Highlights Include:

* Low-cost tool for programming and prototyping

* Supports many NXP microcontrollers

* USB port powered so no external power supply is required

* Supports USB 2.0

* Plugs directly into any standard USB port - great for laptops

* Works with NXP free Flash Magic software that can be downloaded from the Web

About Digi-Key Corporation

Digi-Key has earned its reputation of leadership by its total commitment to service and performance. As a full-service provider of both prototype/design and production volume quantities of electronic components, Digi-Key has been ranked #1 for Overall Performance for 16 consecutive years from among more the 200 distributors in the United States (EE Times Distribution Study/May 2007). Offering more than a million products from more than 350 of the world's leading manufacturers, Digi-Key's commitment to inventory is unparalleled. Access to the company's broad product offering is available 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week at its top-rated Web site www.digikey.com.

About Future Designs, Inc.

FDI is a design and technical services organization founded in 1989 that specializes in embedded product design and development and is a design consultant for a wide variety of products from NXP Semiconductors. FDI supplies in-circuit USB programmers for the P98LPC900 family, the LPC2000 ARM7 family and the P89C51 family of Flash microcontrollers from NXP as well as LCD demo kits, protocol converters, and 12C software and development boards. FDI's team of experienced engineers can handle all electrical, mechanical, software, manufacturing and systems engineering requirements. For more information, visit www.teamfdi.com.