FireWire development kit to drive 1394b serial bus adoption

TI has licensed Unibrain's ubCore version 4.0 FireWire driver suite that will be bundled with its 1394b chipsets, the TSB82AA2 and TSB81BA3. Designed for high-speed data transmission, the TSB82AA2 and TSB81BA3 1394b-compliant chipsets enable speeds up to 800-Mbits/s for quick download of large amounts of data for applications such as video-on-demand or backing up a RAID array.

The Unibrain driver stack is a set of low-level drivers with a top-down layered structure that provides the physical interface to various 1394 devices. Features include full and native 1394b support at 800-Mbits/s, 1394b Cat5 and POF support at 100-Mbits/s and 200-Mbits/s, respectively. It also includes 1394a and 1394b IIDC camera support.

The ubCore combined with FireAPI, Unibrain's 1394 development toolkit, provides software developers with a set of functions and tools, in kernel or user mode, to help integrate 1394 technology into products.

"Software availability and support for 1394b has been one of the key barriers to rapid market adoption of this high-performance serial bus, and we have now eliminated that barrier," said Zephra Freeman, marketing manager, PC connectivity, TI. "To support the growing demand for 1394b and to ensure interoperability, TI is making these drivers available at no charge to our customers."

1394b technology builds on the strengths of 1394a, but includes new capabilities. With more bandwidth, it can transmit data at 800-Mbits/s and eventually 3.2-Gbits/s. And it incorporates networking capabilities over distances of 100 meters over CAT-5 and plastic optical fiber.

"We are working very closely with TI and Unibrain to find creative ways to further accelerate the adoption of 1394 for peripheral products as well as motherboards, said James Snider, executive director of the 1394 Trade Association. "With the upcoming release of 1394c (1394 and Ethernet combined) and wireless 1394, we are anticipating large demand for 1394-based products."

Texas Instruments Inc. 1-972-644-5580, www.ti.com.

Unibrain S.A., 1-925-866-3000, www.unibrain.com.