Motorola Announces Passive ISDN PC Plug-In Card Reference Design for Low-Cost ISDN; Data Communications Operation Plans Specialized Chips for Passive ISDN Market.AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 1996--Motorola's Data Communications Operation, part of the Microprocessor and Memory Technologies Group, today announced a reference design for the passive (PC host-based) Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN ISDN in full Integrated Services Digital Network Digital telecommunications network that operates over standard copper telephone wires or other media. ) market: a PC plug-in card design for passive, low-cost ISDN terminal adaptor applications. It is a complete "how to" hardware reference design illustrating a low-cost, high-speed, Industry Standard Architecture (ISA (1) (Instruction Set Architecture) See instruction set. (2) (Interactive Services Association) See Internet Alliance. (3) (Internet Security and Acceleration) See .NET. ), Plug-and-Play compatible ISDN card. Due to the explosive demands for ISDN connections, ISDN system manufacturers have faced increasing pressure to lower product costs. This reference design -- a predecessor to new products for the passive ISDN market from Motorola Data Communications -- addresses system manufacturers' needs for new, low-cost ISDN system designs. "Internet user and telecommuter A person who telecommutes. See telecommuting. demands for higher-speed communication links have caused a dramatic growth in the ISDN market and driven the need for lower-cost solutions," said Trey Oprendek, marketing manager, Motorola Data Communications Operation. "Motorola is committed to delivering low-cost ISDN solutions to the market this year, starting with this reference design and moving to specialized chip solutions later in 1996." "Demand for ISDN is now starting to be realized as consumers flock to the internet and telecommuting telecommuting, an arrangement by which people work at home using a computer and telephone, transmitting work material to a business office by means of a modem and telephone lines; it is also known as telework. and as branch connectivity is becoming mainstream," said Jeremy Duke, director of research, In-Stat. "The market for ISDN is expected to grow exponentially." ISDN Reference Design The reference design is a complete hardware implementation of a passive ISDN terminal adaptor. The passive approach utilizes the host system's CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. and memory to perform the ISDN call control and data link functions, allowing for a lower-cost ISDN card. The reference design card includes a Motorola 68PM302 communication controller, Motorola U (North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. ) and S/T S/T Such That S/T Self-Titled (also seen as ST) S/T Short Ton(s) (European) ISDN interfaces, ISA Plug-and-Play circuitry and 32K x 16 SRAM See static RAM. SRAM - static random-access memory . Plug-and-Play compatibility ensures the card will register in the host system and be able to arbitrate for memory and Interrupt Request (IRQ (Interrupt ReQuest) A hardware interrupt on a PC. There are 16 IRQ lines used to signal the CPU that a peripheral event has started or terminated. Except for PCI devices, two devices cannot use the same line. ) resources on the host system in cooperation with the other system functions. The 68PM302 communication controller's serial channels, Inter-chip Digital Link (IDL (1) (Interface Definition Language) A language used to describe the interface to a routine or function. For example, objects in the CORBA distributed object environment are defined by an IDL, which describes the services performed by the object and how the data ) interface and memory controller provide low-level protocol processing and data buffering for the three ISDN communication channels. Supporting the Motorola U and S/T transceivers allows systems manufacturers to use the design in system models for both the North American and European markets. The design also allows both transceivers to be mounted simultaneously, though only one interface may be used at a time. The 16-bit card also incorporates 32K x 16K buffer memory and allows one interrupt to the host system on any of 11 ISA IRQ lines. For debug To correct a problem in hardware or software. Debugging software means locating the errors in the source code (the program logic). Debugging hardware means finding errors in the circuit design (logical circuits) or in the physical interconnections of the circuits. support, the board includes various Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and probe points. A 6-pin connector is available for debugging the IDL bus, and 4 x 20-pin debug connectors are available for ISA and 68K bus logic analyzer tracing. Hardware Requirements The passive ISDN card requires a host personal computer (386-class is required; 486-class or higher is recommended) with at least one 16-bit ISA slot running MS-DOS MS-DOS in full Microsoft Disk Operating System Operating system for personal computers. MS-DOS was based on DOS, developed in 1980 by Seattle Computer Products. Microsoft Corp. bought the rights to DOS in 1981, and released MS-DOS with IBM's PC that year. or Windows operating system. The design's ISA Plug-and-Play logic requires a driver in either the PC BIOS or system software to configure the Plug-and-Play hardware. The design requires one PC IRQ line and a 16K block in the PC memory map and can operate in either 8- or 16-bit ISA bus mode. Application Software Third-party developers porting application software to the reference design platform include CoSystems (Santa Clara, Calif.), Link Technology (Holland, Penn.), TeleSoft International (Austin, Texas) and Telenetworks (Petaluma, Calif.). "The Motorola passive design will make it possible for a manufacturer to turn out a product in a few months if they choose an experienced software company," said Christopher A. Cox, vice president of marketing at TeleSoft International. "Our TsLink3 software is tightly coupled with the Motorola hardware as a result of our hands-on experience in developing our own hardware platforms, and TeleSoft code is proven compliant in the ISDN markets worldwide." Availability Full system demos of this design will be available through the third-party developers listed above (see contact information attached). For more information on the passive ISDN reference design, contact Rex Kiang kiang: see ass. 512/891-2429. With 1995 worldwide sales of $8.5 billion, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector is the largest U.S.-based broad line supplier of semiconductor solutions. Motorola is one of the world's leading providers of wireless communications, semiconductors and advanced telephone, two-way radio, paging and data communications, personal communications, automotive, defense and space electronics computers. Motorola semiconductors power communication devices, computers and millions of other products. Motorola's 1995 sales were $27 billion. Support for the Motorola 68302 ISDN Reference Design "We are excited about the opportunity to address the ISDN market with our software solutions, in conjunction with Motorola's Passive ISDN PC Card. CoSystems offers a fully developed modular, portable and scaleable ISDN, Multi-link PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) The most popular method for transporting IP packets over a serial link between the user and the ISP. Developed in 1994 by the IETF and superseding the SLIP protocol, PPP establishes the session between the user's computer and the ISP using protocol stacks for Microsoft Windows 95 Miniport, as well as NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification) A network driver interface from Microsoft. See network driver interface. NDIS - Network Device Interface Specification 3.1 and other operating environments such as Solaris, VxWorks and AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive) IBM's Unix-based operating system which runs on its Intellistation workstations and pSeries, p5, iSeries and i5 server families. ." -- Shirish Patel, president, CoSystems, Inc. "The market for ISDN Internet access equipment is booming and Motorola couldn't have entered it at a better time. Telenetworks of Petaluma, Calif., is the world's leading supplier of ISDN protocol stacks with over 200 licensees world-wide. Its field-proven Windows 95 software, combined with the Motorola card will provide a fully functional ISDN terminal adapter A device that adapts a computer to a digital ISDN line. Like a modem, it plugs into the serial port of the computer or into an expansion slot. Some terminal adapters use the parallel port for higher speed. ." -- Loren Dooley, president, Telenetworks "The Motorola passive design will make it possible for a manufacturer to turn out a product in a few months if they choose an experienced software company. Our TsLink3 software is tightly coupled with the Motorola hardware as a result of our hands-on experience in developing our own hardware platforms, and Telesoft code is proven compliant in the ISDN markets worldwide." -- Christopher A. Cox, vice president of marketing, TeleSoft International -0- Note to Editors: All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CONTACT: Motorola Data Communications Rex Kiang, 512/891-2429 (Reader Contact) rex_kiang@oakqm3.sps.mot.com or Cunningham Communication, Inc. Cathy Keller, 408/764-0782 (Editorial Contact) cathy@ccipr.com 68302 Passive ISDN Application Software Contacts Co Systems, Santa Clara CA Samuel Ng, 408/522-0507 samng@cosystems.com or Link Technology, Holland PA Jeffrey Ramsey, 215/357-3354 x11 or Telenetworks, Petaluma CA Byron Mandel, 707/778-8737 byron@tn.com or TeleSoft International, Austin TX Christopher Cox, 512/373-4224 (Marketing) ccox@telesoft-intl.com Karen Bauer (Editorial) kbauer@telesoft-intl.com |
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