SATA III Redrivers Integrate Adaptive Equalization Technology

Adding to the company’s family of SATA/eSATA/SAS bi-directional redriver integrated circuits are two devices claiming a number of industry firsts. The PS8521 devices are said to be the world's first 6-Gb/s SATA III repeater ICs to incorporate adaptive equalization technology, which compensates for signal loss due to variations in PCB design. Allegedly, the PS8521A is also the world's first SATA III device using a power-saving 1.5V supply voltage. Along with the PS8521B, which uses a traditional 3.3V supply, both devices employ unique SATA power management features. They detect traffic on the SATA bus, transitioning into sleep mode when no traffic is present. When traffic is detected, the devices become active with less than 10-ns latency. Additionally, programmable pre-emphasis enables the PS8521A and PS8521B to reduce signal jitter and optimizes the output eye signal for robust transmission. Both devices are sampling now with production volumes available in the third quarter. Price for either is 1.50 each in volume. Parade Technologies Inc., San Jose, CA. (408) 329-5540.