Toshiba Rolls Out Eight Additional SDHC Controllers For North American Customer Base

Standalone Controllers Offer Flexible Configurations of Interfaces, Media and Features to Suit Wide Range of Handheld Consumer And Communications Applications

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) today announced the North American availability of eight additional members of its family of Secure Digital host controllers (SDHCs). Still the only standalone chips that provide a dedicated hardware interface for Secure Digital (SD) memory, SmartMedia(TM) and MultiMedia cards (MMC), these new devices can be integrated into laptops, cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras and other mobile products. Customers can select the SDHC with the blend of bus interface, media support and features right for their specific application. The new chips join Toshiba's first SDHC, TC6371AF, which has been designed into Tiqit Computers' eightythree handheld computer (see companion press release also issued today.)

"Since co-inventing the SD specification three years ago, Toshiba has been developing a full line-up of SDHC components targeted at the handheld consumer and communications segments. We've tailored our product line for our North American customers and are now announcing availability of eight additional devices," said Farhad Mafie, vice president of TAEC's ASSP Business Unit. "Strong local customer demand led to the development of these devices, including the TC6391XB, which incorporates popular USB support." He added that the devices are already being designed into a number of applications.

SDHCs control SD and other media cards by considering all the possible operations performed by the cards and allowing each operation to be controlled through the use of various internal registers. Features include:

     -- Flexible slot configuration to allow various media types to be defined

     -- SDIO card access and control available on some devices

     -- Versatile Standard Memory interface that ensures an easy-to-use
        connection to static RAM-like interfaces

     -- Popular bus interfaces including PCI, PC Card (PCMCIA) and USB,
        depending on device

     -- Enhanced performance with ability to read/write to several pages or
        blocks at the same time

     -- Power-down mode to reduce power consumption


     Summary of New Members of SDHC Product Line

     Device    Bus Interface      Media Supported     Features        Package

     TC6374AF  PC Card ATA        SD Memory Card                      LQFP128
               (PCMCIA)           (MMC) x 1
                                  Smart Media x 1
                                  PCMCIA x 2

     TC6477AF  Standard Memory    SD Memory Card      Security        LQFP100
               Interface          (MMC) x 1           CPRM-based
               (SRAM-like)        [SD Memory Card     encryption/
                                  (MMC)/              decryption
                                  Smart Media] x 1    circuit

     TC6377XB  Standard Memory    SD Memory Card      Security        FBGA121
               Interface          (MMC) x 1           CPRM-based
               (SRAM-like)        [SD Memory Card     encryption/
                                  (MMC)/              decryption
                                  Smart Media] x 1    circuit

     TC6380AF  Compact Flash      [SD Memory Card     SDIO            LQFP128
               or Standard        (MMC)/SDIO Card]    compatibility
               Memory Interface   x 1
               (SRAM-like)        Smart Media x 1

     TC6384AF  Standard Memory    SD Memory Card                      LQFP100
               Interface          (MMC) x 1
               (SRAM-like)        [SD Memory Card
                                  (MMC)/
                                  Smart Media] x 1

     TC6384XB  Standard Memory    SD Memory Card                      FBGA121
               Interface          (MMC) x 1
               (SRAM-like)        [SD Memory Card
                                  (MMC)/
                                  Smart Media] x 1

     TC6387XB  Compact Flash or   [SD Memory Card     SDIO            FBGA64
               Standard Memory    (MMC)/              compatibility
               interface          SDIO Card] x 1
               (SRAM-like)        Smart Media x 1

     TC6391XB  Standard Memory    [SD Memory Card     Companion       PBGA225
               Interface          (MMC)/SDIO Card]    chip for
               (SRAM-like)        x 1                 Intel StrongARM
               PCMCIA             Smart Media x 1     (SA-1110) and
               (Compact Flash)                        Xscale (PXA-210
                                                      & PXA-250) MPUs
                                                      USB support for
                                                      3 USB host ports
                                                      for computer
                                                      peripherals
                                                      Serial I/O for
                                                      PDC/cmdaOne
                                                      Controls low
                                                      temperature
                                                      polysilicon
                                                      TFT-LCD

Availability and Pricing

Samples of all eight devices are available now. With the exception of TC6391XB, the devices are in full production with TC6391XB slated to be in full production in September 2002. Sample pricing in 100-piece lots is as follows:

     -- TC6374AF:  $10.95
     -- TC6377AF:  $6.47
     -- TC6377XB:  $6.47
     -- TC6380AF:  $6.47
     -- TC6384AF:  $6.14
     -- TC6384XB:  $6.14
     -- TC6387XB:  $5.00
     -- TC6391XB:  $8.34

About Toshiba and SD Technology

Toshiba Corporation was one of the original three companies who developed the SD standard in 1999. As a co-inventor and market maker, Toshiba views SD technology as part of a comprehensive strategy to develop and promote removable memory cards, chips and products and systems using the media. SD is a small format for data storage roughly the size of a postage sta