Ampro Announces Four Pentium® M SBCs Based on Microsoft Windows® CE 5.0

Low Power CPUs enable high-performance fanless applications SAN JOSE, CA., April 19, 2005. Ampro Computers Inc., the inventor and leading supplier of PC/104, EBX and EPIC single board computers, today announced the immediate availability of four of Ampro's latest single board computers (SBCs) based on the Microsoft Windows® CE 5.0 operating system. Featuring the lowest power versions of Intel's® state-of-the-art, notebook-class processor technology for embedded lifecycles, the MightyBoard(TM) 800, ReadyBoard(TM) 800, LittleBoard(TM) 800 and Ampro ETX 800 will run high-performance multimedia embedded applications based on Windows CE 5.0 such as imaging, gaming, kiosk, advertising displays, medical information systems, HMI (human machine interface) and industrial automation. Ampro uses the most efficient processors on Intel's applied computing roadmap to give embedded system manufacturers and integrators immediate access to the highest performance fanless processors available. Without a CPU fan or AGP graphics card fan, these applications can achieve high reliability and quiet operation, leading to better OEM and end-user experiences. Windows CE 5.0 can be quickly configured to occupy a relatively small amount of system RAM and storage space. Reliability can be further improved by substituting solid state storage such as CompactFlash® or other IDE storage module. Ampro's Embedded BIOS extensions include USB Boot and LAN Boot capability to complement the high-speed USB 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet ports, so these boards can load and quickly boot Windows CE 5.0 from a USB 2.0 peripheral or even over a network. "Windows CE 5.0 provides a powerful, configurable graphical user interface with multimedia application support in a small footprint, appropriate for embedded devices," said Paul Rosenfeld, chief technology officer of Ampro. "Together with Ampro's fanless Pentium® M solutions available in four form factors, OEMs can build more powerful systems than ever before without sacrificing reliability by using 20+ Watt CPUs that require cooling fans." "Ampro's low-power CPUs running Windows CE 5.0 are a solid option for OEMs looking to standardize on a high-performance yet reliable platform," said Jane Gilson, director for the Mobile and Embedded Devices Division at Microsoft Corp. "The support for rich graphics and multimedia in Windows CE 5.0, combined with the Ampro SBCs, provides a powerful embedded computing platform that helps device-makers quickly create a wide range of devices that deliver a customized end-user experience." Using the comprehensive Platform Builder tools for Windows CE, Ampro quickly and efficiently created a Board Support Package (BSP) for Windows CE 5.0. The BSP contains device drivers and initialization for the video and peripherals of the each of the four boards, including USB 2.0 support that is not widely available. Ampro distributes the BSP and provides support to customers. The processor options for these four Pentium M SBCs and modules have the lowest thermal design rating of the Intel Pentium and Celeron processors with embedded life cycle support. The 1.4GHz Low Voltage (LV) Pentium® M 738 (Dothan core, 10w TDP), 1.0GHz Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Celeron® M 373 (Dothan, 5w TDP) and 600MHz ULV Celeron M (Banias, 7W TDP) processors have comparable performance to 1-2 GHz Pentium 4 processors at a fraction of the power dissipation, making them ideal for reliable and quiet fanless systems. The MightyBoard 800 (Mini-ITX: 6.7" x 6.7"), LittleBoard 800 (EBX: 5.75" x 8"), ReadyBoard 800 (EPIC: 4.5" x 6.5") and Ampro ETX 800 (ETX: 3.7" x 4.5") feature a 400MHz front side bus with the Intel® 855GME chipset. These products feature CRT and LVDS flat panel (LCD) interfaces, (4) USB 2.0 ports for high-speed peripheral connectivity, dual Ethernet ports except ETX 800 (Gigabit and 10/100 Megabit), high performance DDR memory and AC'97 audio. With integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics 2 technology (AGP 4x), high performance is provided without the noise and reduced reliability of fans on AGP graphics cards. Other embedded features include RS-422/485 serial ports and 5-volt only power supply requirement. Besides integrated LAN Boot and USB Boot, Ampro's Embedded BIOS includes configurable interrupts, watchdog timer, low voltage detection, battery-free boot and serial console. Pricing and Availability Ampro's 800 series products start at under $500 in production volumes and are available immediately. The QuickStart Kit for each product includes the Windows CE 5.0 Board Support Package (BSP). Application development tools and OS licenses are available from Microsoft's authorized distributors. About Ampro Computers, Inc. Ampro Computers, Inc. is the leading global provider of modular embedded computing solutions for OEM applications. Ampro's mission is to provide time saving solutions for embedded systems designers that accelerate the product deployment process. Ampro pioneered the embedded PC industry creating the popular PC/104 and EBX standards, and recently co-invented the new EPIC standard. The EnCore and ETX families are rugged Computers-on-Modules (COMs) products which enable designers to obtain all the benefits of an off-the-shelf CPU solution while maintaining the flexibility of a full custom design. In addition to EnCore and ETX, Ampro offers PC/104-compatible CoreModule CPUs and MiniModule expansion products, EBX form factor LittleBoard single-board computers (SBCs), EPIC form factor ReadyBoard SBCs, and Mini-ITX form factor MightyBoard SBCs. For more information about Ampro Computers, please visit www.ampro.com. AMPRO is a registered trademark and CoreModule, EnCore, LittleBoard, Little Board, MightyBoard, MiniModule, ReadyBoard, ReadyBox, and ReadySystem are trademarks of Ampro Computers, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.