Fastest data transfer system

Renesas Electronics Corp. introduces fastest data transfer system the µPD720230, a Universal Serial Bus (USB 3.0) SATA3 bridge system-on-chip (SoC) that enables fast data transfer between a USB3.0 host system and a Serial ATA (SATA) device in external Universal Serial Bus storage equipment. The SoC is said to be the world's first USB 3.0 bridge SoC that supports the UASP (Universal Serial Bus Attached SCSI Protocol) protocol to significantly speed up data throughput for large volumes of data USB storage equipment. In addition to the BOT standard for mass storage devices using USB 2.0, the µPD720230 SoC also supports the UASP protocol standardised in Universal Serial Bus 3.0 for improving the performance limits of the BOT standard. When connected to an SSD that supports 6Gbps SATA3, the µPD720230 device achieves data transfer performance in excess of 370MB/s in UASP mode as verified by the ATTO Disc Benchmark, version 2.46. The µPD720230 USB 3.0 SATA3 SoC is provided in a 48-pin QFN package, incorporates a voltage regulator, and also supports bus power modes, which contribute to miniaturisation of the end products.

Although only two states, the U0 normal state and the U3 suspend state were stipulated in the Universal Serial Bus 2.0 standard, the Universal Serial Bus 3.0 standard also stipulates the U1 and U2 power states to provide even finer-grained suppression of power consumption. The USB 3.0 SATA3 SoC reduces overall power consumption by approximately 40 per cent (when the system is in the idle state) via the new Universal Serial Bus 3.0 U1 and U2 power states, as compared to when stipulating only the U0 and U3 power states. USB 3.0 is capable of supporting data transfer rates of up to 5Gbps, which is 10x faster than the previous version of the standard, Universal Serial Bus 2.0 (currently the mainstream data transfer technology) and therefore easily supports the growing need for increased data-recording media capacities. Therefore, the USB 3.0 can reduce the data transferring time to 10 per cent from that of the USB 2.0 and automatically extends the idle time. As a result, by stipulating the U1 and U2 power states, the new SoC realises even more power conservation effect. Samples of Renesas Electronics' µPD720230 device are available now, priced at Rs.156.95 ($3.5) per unit. Mass production is scheduled to begin in October 2011 with a combined production volume of 5,00,000 units per month expected. (Pricing and availability are subject to change without notice.)