LeCroy Portable USB 3.0 Analyzer

LeCroy Corporation introduced a new USB 3.0 protocol analyzer designed to lower the cost of testing SuperSpeed USB devices. With an introductory price of $4,950, the Advisor T3 combines LeCroy’s proven 5Gps serial data know-how in a new, highly portable form-factor. Measuring 5" x 6" x 1.2", it offers a comprehensive feature set with full support for USB 3.0 and 2.0 analysis.

As LeCroy’s value-priced analyzer solution, the Advisor T3 will be an important enabler for developers interested in accelerating their SuperSpeed USB product introductions. This small, compact analyzer brings LeCroy’s accuracy and reliability outside the lab environment. Small enough to pack beside a laptop, the Advisor T3 is a solution for the Field Applications Engineer as well as the design and development engineer.

The Advisor T3 enjoys broad interoperability with early SuperSpeed devices by leveraging years of expertise at LeCroy in high-speed signal probing. The Advisor is based on LeCroy’s Voyager verification system – the world’s most widely used SuperSpeed USB analyzer – and includes the same market-leading reliability as the flagship system.

The Advisor T3 has the full benefit of the intuitive CATC Trace view with its ease of use and understanding for USB protocol. The de facto standard for USB debug, this unique hierarchical display provides visibility at the packet level and also includes comprehensive decoding of higher level USB events. Notably, the analyzer features hardware-based event triggering that makes it easier to pinpoint specific traffic conditions.

"As the number of mass storage vendors using our USB300 SATA Bridge IC continues to grow, the availability of low-cost test tools will only help drive faster industry adoption of SuperSpeed USB," said Reid Augustin, VP of Product Development at LucidPort Technology Inc., a fabless semiconductor company developing SuperSpeed USB and Wireless USB controllers. "With its small size and low price, LeCroy’s Advisor T3 should allow storage OEMs to equip more test benches and ultimately shorten the product verification cycle."

"First and foremost, the Advisor T3 brings accurate 5Gbps data capture that’s essential for troubleshooting SuperSpeed USB issues," said Mike Micheletti, Product Manager at LeCroy. "And there’s no compromise on debugging features with spool-to-disk capture, 2GB built-in memory, event triggering and full decoding of the new USB Attached SCSI (UAS) protocol."

Bridging SATA storage devices to USB 3.0 has become a key application area for SuperSpeed USB development. Storage vendors are combining low cost SATA drives with the USB 3.0’s plug-n-play interface to provide high performance storage for the consumer market. The Advisor T3 simplifies debugging of bridge environments by seamlessly synchronizing with LeCroy’s new low-cost STX-M6-1 SATA analyzers. Together, the Advisor T3 and the STX-M6-1 provide a true multiprotocol monitoring solution.

The Advisor T3 is available now in a protocol analyzer-only configuration with support for USB 3.0/2.0; or as a USB 2.0-only configuration that is upgradeable to add SuperSpeed analysis features. The Advisor T3 will be offered at an introductory price of $4,950 and will begin shipping in July 2010.