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With Device Bay, The Future Really Has Arrived, This Time By Frances Richards You say you've heard it all before, how the future has arrived, how "plug-and-play" and "hot swappable" systems are finally a reality with Device Bay remote or embedded products. The only problem was that supporting systems -- you know, little things like drives, peripherals, chips, operating systems -- weren't yet able to support Device Bay, an electrical and mechanical form factor that supports both USB (Universal Serial Bus) and IEEE 1394 high-speed serial buses. It's the timeless chicken-and-egg story with a technological twist. The good news is that it seems the future really is here this time -- in fact, Microsoft's second edition of Windows 98, which debuted this spring, now offers full Device Bay support and Apple is in progress to offer the same full support. (Did somebody say Mac? Yes, the Power Mac G3 also will feature full Device Bay support for adding on any number of peripherals.) Device Bay is on its way to becoming a standard, built-in form factor on many new computers. The truth is that Microsoft, Intel, Apple and other major players in the computer market believe that easy-to-use systems, which offer actual plug-and-play capability, will increase their market share by as much as 400%. Imagine not needing an instruction manual to add a peripheral device to your computer. Writing on the wall "Two years ago we saw the writing on the wall that ISA was definitely going away," says Kent Tabor, president of Granite Microsystems, Mequon, WI. "We knew that the new motherboards would be eliminating the ISA slot. This meant that all ISA peripherals would need to be redesigned to either PCI, USB or IEEE 1394. We placed our bets on USB, IEEE 1394 and the Device Bay form factor and that's where we put our investment and development efforts." By eliminating some of the disadvantages of designing to the PCI bus, the Device Bay industry standard allows hot-swappable, plug-and-play expansion and substitution of computer peripherals such as hard drives, floppy drives, CD-ROM drives and tape backups. Device Bay remote enclosures, commonly referred to as "condos," are designed to allow remote peripheral expansion of desktop, industrial and embedded PCs. This architecture dramatically increases flexibility and serviceability because peripherals can be quickly added or removed from a computer system without opening the enclosure, powering down or rebooting. Device Bay -- the Granite Microsystems approach Granite Microsystems DB-2200 and DB-2400 accommodate two and four Device Bay compatible
peripherals respectively. Both units have been designed to provide all required power to
each Device Bay peripheral, eliminating the need for independent peripheral power. Device
Bay remote is synchronized with the OS (operating system) and provides a high level of
data integrity by disallowing the removal of any peripheral without first closing all
applicable files and applications associated with the peripheral. In addition, the DB-2400
provides four USB walk-up ports and three 1394 walk-up ports. These ports can be used to
connect additional devices such as printers, keyboards, mice and scanners. The small
footprint (7"H x 8.44"W x 12.5"L) of the DB-2400 provides an organized and
attractive method of attaching a multitude of peripherals to any computer. The USB and IEEE 1394 high-speed serial bus lines support 127 and 63 devices respectively, thus providing virtually unlimited expansion for peripherals. "Granite Microsystems' family of Device Bay products follows the direction and insight of Microsoft, Intel, Apple and others to develop computer products that are easy to use, upgrade or expand," says Tabor. "As the ISA standard disappears from commodity computers and the number of internal expansion slots becomes less and less, our industrial and OEM customers are looking for a better solution to expand and integrate their computers. Device Bay remote products have emerged as the favored solution for OEM and industrial customers, providing them with virtually unlimited expansion while supporting both legacy (ISA) and future high-performance peripherals." Support for low and high-performance peripherals Device Bay supports both the USB port for slower, low-performance peripherals such as keyboards and mice, as well as the 1394 port for high-performance peripherals such as DVD drives, hard drives and high quality diagnostic devices. This provides the flexibility to add both low-end and high-end peripheral devices to the Device Bay port, as well as the ability to use a basic, inexpensive computer as a "shell" for a variety of applications. For example, a $400 Net PC set up in a hospital room easily could be turned into an ECG or ultrasound machine for medical personnel via the Device Bay port, or alternatively could be used as a Nintendo or DVD drive by a patient. The point is that with Device Bay, thousands of dollars may be saved per machine, by not having to purchase dedicated machines that are high-end and serve only one purpose. Cheaper, faster and hot-swappable are key words. The Device Bay solution is just starting to explode, due in large part to the full support of the major computer manufacturers, who have responded to the benefits of an economical, serviceable and easy-to-use system, which replaces both the older ISA standard that did not offer hot-swappable, plug-and-play functionality and the inherent limitations of the PCI bus. Look for the Device Bay standard to make its presence felt across all industries, including medicine, gaming, home entertainment, factory automation and others. Embedded Technology Helps Customize and Develop Printer Line In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Kyocera Electronics, Inc. (KEI), the American
printer division of Kyocera Corporation, Duluth, GA, was faced with a dilemma. Not
unexpectedly, HP was taking over the printer market, with the end result being that PCL,
its proprietary page description language (PDL) was quickly becoming the de facto
standard. To compete in this increasingly monopolized space, KEI needed to move quickly to
offer PCL emulation. Additionally, the company needed technology that would scale across a
broad product performance range and offer a quicker time to market than what would be
available if the company developed the software internally. Company officials still wanted
to be able to customize its product line-up to build a brand image and unique market
position. The company looked to Peerless Systems Corporation, El Segundo, CA, and its
embedded technology for answers. "We partner with Peerless Systems using its source code as the basis for our printer description language," says Noel Jones, KEI's director of printer marketing. "Their technology allows us to extend our imaging system through an entire range of products, from low-end to high-end production, and enables us to bring the most cost-effective printers to market." From its inception, the company has focused on embedded imaging solutions because of the many significant benefits to OEMs. For example, embedded technology reduces costs and decreases time-to-market because it eliminates the need for expensive custom external box servers. It also provides solutions that are specifically designed for the office, and are affordable and easy to use for OEMs eager to participate in the rapidly changing digital document marketplace. "Embedded technology is extremely cost-effective, especially for office products, Unlike other document imaging systems that recognize a document image as a collection of pixels, the Peerless Page Object-Based Imaging System recognizes basic imaging elements in the document, differentiating between text, line art and photographs much as the human eye does. It then converts the recognized objects to a compact object-based display list as an intermediate representation of the document to be printed. This display list is a more concise means of representing the imaging information of the document, enabling imaging data to be processed more quickly and with less memory, typically without resorting to compression techniques that degrade the image. Using this embedded imaging technology, the file is printed more efficiently and faster than other more traditional imaging approaches for high performance, photo quality output at reduced costs. KEI incorporates PeerlessPrint 5E, 5C, 6, Peerless' QuickPrint ASIC co-processor, and the Peerless Page Object-Based Imaging System in its Ecosys family of printers. This product line utilizes Kyocera's ceramic manufacturing to develop the amorphous silicon drum, which lasts approximately thirty times longer than conventional cartridge drums and requires only toner replacement and standard maintenance, eliminating the need for disposable print cartridges. For more information, contact: Peerless Systems Corporation, 2381 Rosecrans Avenue, El Segundo, CA 90245. 310-536-0908. Circle 748. Kyocera Electronics, Inc, 11465 Johns Creek Pkwy, Suite 250, Duluth, GA 30097. 770-623-2150. Circle 749. On the Web: Additional Resources, PC Interface Standards For more information, contact Granite Microsystems, 10202 North
Enterprise Drive, Mequon, WI 53092. 800-822-2983. http://www.granitemicrosystems.com |
