Philips Semiconductors Announces Innovative 1394 Reference Design Kit; RDK Helps Designers Incorporate IEEE 1394 Nodes into Digital Products.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 22, 1998--Philips Semiconductors today announced the availability of an innovative 1394 Reference Design Kit (RDK) designed to help engineers incorporate IEEE 1394 technology into a variety of digital consumer products.

A critical component of the company's systems approach, the RDK contains all the hardware and software needed to design a 1394 node and also allows designers to use the same piece of equipment throughout the design and test process. The RDK was developed in conjunction with Vitana Corp., a Canadian supplier of reference design kits to the semiconductor industry.

Based on Philips Semiconductors' advanced 1394 chipset, the RDK's flexible set-up makes it easy for designers to gain experience with IEEE 1394. The kit allows them to test various design options and includes a bread board area for prototyping. An on-board microcontroller runs a complete transaction layer and complements the Physical and Link layers with ROM and RAM, which is available for downloading user applications.

Software is written in 'C' and includes the transaction layer source code, which is included in the kit free-of-charge. A monitoring program for PCs offers various settings and functions, and allows access to chip registers along with on-screen monitoring of asynchronous transactions. This provides simple verification of transaction layer software functionality.

The RDK also solves the dilemma of whether a fault lies in hardware or software. In the final development stages, the RDK is particularly useful as a debugging node for testing hardware implementation.

Philips Semiconductors produced the RDK to simplify the incorporation of IEEE 1394 technology into: video cameras, digital video recorders, DVD players, set top boxes, and personal computers using multimedia applications. In addition, the RDK can be easily linked to related products, such as MPEG2 decoders, digital video decoders and multimedia processors, all necessary building blocks that are needed for complete system design. A working platform, the RDK is priced at $395 and can be ordered via the Internet at: http://www.vitana.com/philips/datasht.htm About Vitana Corp.

Founded in 1992, Vitana Corp. designs, manufactures and markets non-contact 3D gauging and inspection equipment for use in factory automation and quality control. In addition, the company supplies component hardware and software that enable OEMs to include custom laser-based 3D scanners into their applications. The company is headquartered in Gloucester, Ontario. About Philips Semiconductors

Philips Semiconductors Inc., a subsidiary of Philips Electronics North America Corp. and an affiliate of Royal Philips Electronics, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the ninth largest semiconductor supplier in the world. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by regional customer applications labs. Additional information on Philips Semiconductors can be found on the home page at www.semiconductors.philips.com.