Ampro Lowers the Cost-of-Entry of Intel®-Based Modular Designs

XTX 800 offers long-lifecycle Pentium® M and Celeron® M CPUs at aggressive prices SAN JOSE, CA, March 30, 2006.-Ampro Computers, Inc., a leading supplier of standards-based computer systems and modules, announced today a solution for embedded system OEMs who prefer to design with the low-power Centrino® processors from Intel, but must have a low price. Ampro's new XTX 800 Computer-on-Module (COM) is cost-optimized for commercial grade applications (0 to 60°C) and even plugs into existing ETX baseboards that are not using the ISA bus. Using the latest Celeron® M and Pentium® M processors based on the "Dothan" core, the XTX 800 module provides the long lifecycle benefits of Intel's embedded roadmap, which is critical for devices that require agency certifications. Starting below USD $300 in volumes, the XTX 800 COM features 10/100 Ethernet, Serial ATA (SATA), six USB 2.0 ports, and PCI expansion. Visit ampro.com/html/XTX_FormFactor_800.html for product information. "For years, Ampro has been known for rugged SBCs and modules for the embedded market," said Joanne Mumola Williams, president and CEO of Ampro. "The XTX 800 demonstrates Ampro's capability to deliver low-cost Intel-based solutions in the popular ETX and XTX format. Ampro's presence in the XTX market assures embedded system integrators and manufacturers that their investments in custom baseboard designs and low-cost systems can be preserved for years to come." The XTX 800 module comes with a choice of 800 MHz, 1.0 GHz, or 1.4GHz CPUs, all with Thermal Design Power (TDP) ratings of 5-10 Watts for simplified system design. The use of DDR RAM to 1GB is important for cost and longevity. The module also contains (6) USB 2.0 ports, both EIDE and Serial ATA (SATA) interfaces for migration, 10/100 Megabit Ethernet, PCI expansion, and RoHS compliance. XTX modules plug into a baseboard to allow customization of board size and shape, I/O circuitry, connector locations, and easy migration to higher performance processors and chipsets as they are introduced. The XTX 800 is designed with ACPI 2.0 support with the exception of S3 Suspend-to-RAM. OEMs interested in S3 Suspend-to-RAM should consider Ampro's existing XTX 820 for low-cost designs or the ETX 802 for rugged designs. In addition, XTX 800 does not include PCI Express(TM), but provides a plug-compatible upgrade path to the XTX 820 to allow OEMs to transition smoothly to PCI Express when needed. Ampro's focus on cost optimization for XTX 800 and a plug-compatible roadmap means that OEMs and integrators only pay for functionality that is being used. The XTX 800 QuickStart Kits include drivers and Board Support Packages (BSPs) for Windows® XP, Windows XP Embedded, and Windows CE 5.0, as well as a full Linux® 2.6 distribution (Fedora(TM) Core 3). Pricing and Availability RoHS-compliant XTX 800 modules begin shipping by mid-April, 2006. Prices start below $300 in moderate quantities. About XTX XTX is a new industry standard, supported by a worldwide consortium of embedded module manufacturers. XTX uses the same four baseboard connectors in the same locations as ETX, and the module holes and dimensions are identical for seamless migration from a mechanical standpoint. There is one board size, the same as with ETX, so that OEMs are not designing to a moving target. Electrically, only the signals on one connector are different (ISA bus). For OEMs not using ISA, XTX modules plug directly into existing ETX baseboards, permitting the easiest possible access to the latest chipset technology, graphics, and processors and preserving investments in custom baseboards. Unlike other COM architectures, XTX retains support for legacy peripherals such as serial ports, parallel port, floppy drive, Parallel ATA (IDE) and PS/2 keyboard and mouse. For more information about the new module standard, visit www.xtx-standard.org. The new XTX standard provides a "bridge to the future" by replacing the ISA bus signals in the ETX standard with four PCI Express lanes, two Serial ATA ports, two additional USB ports and the new desktop-standard Low Pin Count (LPC) bus. All other ETX signals remain unchanged. The LPC bus has already replaced the ISA bus in desktop and notebook PCs and chipsets, and is used primarily for BIOS flash and legacy Super I/O devices. Access to both the PCI bus and the LPC bus at the XTX baseboard interface gives OEMs two options for generating the ISA bus if needed for simple I/O expansion: Through a PCI-to-ISA bridge, or through an LPC-to-ISA bridge placed on the baseboard. With this "bridge to the future" that does not sacrifice the present, baseboards can implement PCI Express and Serial ATA when it is convenient for each OEM, not when forced upon them by the supply chain. Other new module standards use completely different connectors, signals, locations, and board sizes, with inconsistent and optional pinouts for the module types, which necessitates a substantial baseboard re-design to access new processors and chipsets, even when PCI Express and SATA are not required by the application in the short term. 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 and EPIC Express standards. Ampro offers the ReadySystem Computer as a complete turnkey industrial computer solution, the ReadyPanel Computer as a touch-screen Panel PC solution, ETX and XTX Computer-on-Modules, PC/104-compatible CoreModule CPUs and MiniModule I/O 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. Contact Name: Victoria Kostka E-mail: vkostka@ampro.com