OPTi Ships Core Logic Chipsets For Adastra Systems Embedded Computing Platforms; OPTi's Chipsets Power Venus 486 and Pentium Single Board Computers.

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 1997--OPTi Inc. announced today that it is shipping core logic chipsets to Adastra Systems Corporation for its Venus family of embedded computing platforms.

Adastra Systems designs and manufactures sophisticated embedded systems for OEM and end users focusing on highly integrated Pentium and PC/AT 486 single board computers. The OPTi FireStar (82C700) and 82C465MVB mobile chipsets are featured in the Venus family of Pentium/PCI and 486 single board computers. The VNS-486 offers 486 computing power, exceptional peripheral integration and rugged industrial design. The VNS-686 offers all this plus Pentium computing power.

"We selected OPTi's core logic chipset as the ideal solution for our highly integrated, small form factor embedded computing products," said Marc Brown, president of Adastra Systems. "This allows Adastra to provide OEMs with a wide range of features and performance for their unique applications."

"OPTi's mature core logic silicon provides a perfect platform for implementing low-cost, high-function 486 embedded products," said Richard d'Sa, vice president of U.S. and European sales at OPTi. "This is a new and growing market in which OPTi looks forward to participating."

OPTi FireStar (82C700) 64-Bit CPU Single Chip Solution

The FireStar 64-Bit CPU single chip core logic solution combines high performance features with space saving design capabilities for embedded applications. FireStar is compatible with the AMD K6 processor, the Intel low power Pentium, and the Cyrix 6x86 processor. The scaleable features of FireStar allow design of a high performance multimedia solution, or a highly-integrated, low-cost solution.

FireStar also supports Fast Page Mode DRAM, EDO DRAM, and synchronous DRAM (can be mixed) for further options when designing the system. FireStar also supports synchronous L2 Cache with all DRAM types. The highly concurrent cycles and deep buffering features of FireStar also improve the system performance.

OPTi Mobile Chipset with PCMCIA 

The OPTi 82C465MVB is an advanced single chip 486 core logic design offering high performance and comprehensive power-management features. It is a highly integrated device that supports 32-bit 486, 5x86, and Intel Hummingbird architectures.

It implements ISA-compatible core logic, with power management and CPU thermal management hardware, in a single device. Its feature set provides an array of control and status monitoring options, all accessed through a simple and straightforward interface. All major BIOS vendors provide extensive software "hooks" that allow system designers to integrate their own special features with minimal effort.

Venus Class 80486 Single Board Computer

The VNS-486 supports 486 and 586 CPUs with internal speeds up to 133 MHz and up to 64M bytes of EDO or Fast Page Memory DRAM. The local-bus Super VGA subsystem is flat-panel compatible (3.3V or 5V), offers 512K or 1M of video RAM, and includes an interface for direct digital video input. The Ethernet network interface, NE2100 compatible, is based on a high performance bus-mastering architecture.

The SCSI is Fast SCSI-2, capable of 10M bytes/sec burst transfers. Other onboard features include two local-bus EIDE ports, a floppy disk controller, two enhanced parallel ports, four deep FIFO serial ports (RS-232, with RS-485 and IrDA options), keyboard, PS/2 mouse, real-time clock, solid state disk memory, and a watchdog timer. Its dimensions are industry standard 5.75" x 8". Expansion is via a PC/104 embedded ISA bus.

The embedded features of the VNS-486 include non-volatile backup of CMOS memory, a watchdog timer, power management, and extended environmental specifications. An optional 4.5M byte solid state disk with read/write file system support is available.

Venus Pentium Single Board Computer

The VNS-686 supports Pentium CPUs with clock speeds to 200 MHz and up to 128M bytes of EDO DRAM or SDRAM. It has an on- board 256K synchronous burst L2 cache. All major on-board peripherals are high performance PCI, including flat-panel compatible SVGA, a Fast Ethernet, and Fast and Wide SCSI.

Additional on-board features include two local-bus EIDE ports, a floppy disk controller, two enhanced parallel ports, four deep FIFO serial ports (RS-232, with RS-485 and IrDA options), keyboard, PS/2 mouse, real-time clock, solid state disk memory, and a watchdog timer. Expansion is via a PCI mezzanine bus for high speed and a PC/104 embedded ISA bus for more traditional applications.

The embedded features of the VNS-686 include Flash-backed CMOS memory, a watchdog timer, power management, and extended environmental specifications. An on-board sensor monitors CPU temperature. An optional 2.5M byte solid state disk with read/write file system support is available. The PCI and ISA expansion bus connectors are pin-and-socket for mechanical stability.

Adastra Systems Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets embedded control systems and services for the OEM market. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Hayward, California. Adastra's customers include many Fortune 500 companies, and a wide variety of applications such as medical instrumentation, GPS technology, manufacturing automation, multimedia systems, mobile computing and scientific and test equipment. For more information, contact Adastra at Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone], and home page at www.adastra.com .

OPTi, Inc., founded in 1989, is a leading independent volume supplier of core logic and multimedia silicon solutions to the personal computer market. OPTi supplies core logic desktop and notebook, and multimedia chipsets to top PC manufacturers including Adastra Systems, Apple Computer, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and Sharp Electronics.

OPTi is headquartered in Milpitas, California, and the Company's customers include many of the major PC OEMs in the world. OPTi stock is traded on the NASDAQ, National Market under symbol OPTI. For more information about OPTi's products, contact 408/486-8000. Home Page at http://www.opti.com .

CONTACT: OPTi Corporate Communications

Janet L. Courtenay, 408/486-8216