Parade Technologies Enters USB 3.0 Market

Parade Technologies Ltd. announced the lowest power USB 3.0 Repeater/Redriver IC. Parade’s new PS8710A/B device is the also the first USB 3.0 Repeater/Redriver to incorporate automatic adaptive equalization, which enhances signal integrity in system designs.

"Parade has developed advanced ICs for high-speed SATA, HDMI and DisplayPort standards. It was natural that we would extend our product line to USB 3.0 as well," explains Jimmy Chiu, VP of Marketing at Parade Technologies. "We were able to leverage many of our existing technologies for adaptive equalization and power efficiency in designing our new USB device."

At 5 Gb/s, USB 3.0-also known as SuperSpeed, USB-represents a ten-fold speed increase over the widely adopted USB 2.0 HighSpeed standard. This transition to 5Gb/s challenges system designers to maintain signal integrity in notebook, docking station and other system designs. PC board traces longer than about 5 inches (127mm) from the USB host controller will require USB Repeater/Redrivers for signal reconditioning. System boards might require multiple Repeater/Redriver ICs in order to position USB ports at convenient locations on the system’s external interface.

Lowest Power USB 3.0 Repeater/Redriver Available
Parade is offering two versions of its bi-directional USB 3.0 Repeater/Redriver. The PS8710A uses a single 1.5V power supply; the PS8710B uses a single 3.3V power supply. The low-voltage PS8710A uses 30% less power in active mode than the most power efficient competing device. Both Parade Repeater/Redrivers support all USB 3.0 power management modes, which allow for standby and sleep modes when the device is not active.

The PS8710A/B is also the only USB 3.0 Repeater/Redriver available that incorporates adaptive equalization. This feature simplifies board design by enabling the devices to automatically compensate for signal losses due to variations in FR4 PC board traces and USB cable length. Competing devices on the market require manual equalizer settings, which do not allow the device to compensate for differences between various external cables or PCB boards.

USB 3.0 is the Newest Version
of the Most Widely Used Interface
USB has been widely adopted in computers, peripherals and consumer electronics. Leading market research firms estimate that more than three billion USB-enabled systems will be sold this year, increasing to more than four billion per year by 2012. The USB 3.0 interface is now incorporated into some personal computer chip sets, and wide chip set adoption is expected within the next twelve months.

Price and Availability
The PS8710A/B is sampling now, and production volumes will be available January 2011. Both devices are available in a 4x4mm 24-pin TQFN package, and are pin-compatible with other USB 3.0 Repeater/Redrivers on the market.The PS8710A/B will be available for $1.50/ea. in high volume.