USB 3.0 to Be Demonstrated by ASUS and Fresco Logic

USB 3.0 has clearly been among the most discussed technological advancements of 2009 and, consequently, more than one company is planning on displaying the technology at the Consumer Electronics Show. VIA has already unveiled a single-chip USB 3.0 Hub Controller and Western Digital recently introduced its My Book 3.0 external hard drive for SuperSpeed. ASUS and Fresco Logic will please consumers’ eyes at CES with FL1000 host controller-equipped ASUS platforms as well.

The Fresco Logic FL1000 is a single-chip PCI Express to USB 3.0 host controller, which works not only with PCs but also with TVs, storage, multimedia and mobile devices. The product not only uses a cost-reducing innovative architecture and high levels of integration but also delivers high performance while minimizing design cycle times.

“This demonstration is an important example of how ASUS and Fresco Logic continue to drive market leadership and meet the demand for USB 3.0,” said Chewei Lin, General Manager, Motherboard Business Unit at ASUS. “Our collaboration with Fresco Logic has allowed ASUS to quickly introduce USB 3.0 to our major product lines just one year after the SuperSpeed USB specification was finalized. The collaboration also enables the best performance and cost ratio for our products and offers even more value to our customers.”

Among the configurations that the companies' respective booths (# S3 30368 for ASUS and # S3 30769 for Fresco Logic) will have on display are a PC camera streaming HD 1080p at 60 Hz video off an ASUS N series notebook equipped with the FL1000 host controller. Other examples will include an FL1000-equipped ASUS M4A77TD-E motherboard connected to a similar PC camera and a USB 3.0 external HDD. These exhibits are meant to demonstrate the “capture of raw uncompressed high definition video and play back from the storage device.”

“Fresco Logic and ASUS were able to benefit from each other’s core strengths to bring USB 3.0 solutions to market in so many different applications remarkably quickly,” said Jing-fan Zhang, CEO of Fresco Logic. “Fresco Logic is pleased to enable equipment vendors, like ASUS, to develop their USB 3.0 product portfolio by reducing their time-to-market, lowering power consumption, and improving their price-performance through FL1000’s innovative architecture and implementation.”

The Fresco Logic FL1000 is already available as an FL1000-enabled PCI Express card or as a discrete component. For more information, end-users may visit Fresco Logic's site.

I would like to see the benchmarks that ASUS is able to make right now with this new architecture...