Ampro Reduces the Cost of Rugged ETX® Systems
Ampro Reduces the Cost of Rugged ETX® Systems
Via Eden™ CPUs, thick PCB, and +85C operation enable rugged ETX® applications
San Jose, CA – January 18, 2005. Ampro Computers, Inc., the world's first and only manufacturer of rugged ETX® modules, announced today the rugged Ampro ETX® 550 computer-on-module as a lower cost alternative to the Intel® CPU-based Ampro ETX® 700. Ampro offers system OEMs a choice of 300MHz Via Eden™ ESP 3000, 533MHz Eden ESP 5000, or 1GHz Eden ESP 10000 processors. The Ampro ETX® 550 has the same capabilities as other Ampro rugged products including 0.093" (2.4mm) thick circuit board (PCB) for rigidity, extended temperature operation from -40 to +85°C, conformal coating option for moist and corrosive environments, resistance to shock and vibration and Ampro’s industry leading embedded BIOS extensions. Equally unique to Ampro ETX® products is the choice of short or tall module connectors, which allows baseboard components to be placed under the module without violating connector specifications. This announcement extends the Ampro ETX® product line from 300MHz Via Eden to 1.4GHz Low Voltage Pentium® M 738 (with performance equivalent to a 2GHz Pentium 4).
"Ampro is proud to broaden its rugged ETX® product offering, while other ETX® suppliers continue to fail to deliver a solution that meets the needs of ETX® users who require extended temperature operation and rugged resistance to shock and vibration," said Joanne Mumola Williams, president and CEO of Ampro. "Ampro's long-term experience with wide temperature support, conformal coating, and HALT testing can fix the problems that military, transportation, industrial, and medical OEMs are experiencing with desktop grade ETX® modules that are not suitable for rugged applications."
One of the techniques Ampro employs in its rugged ETX® 700 modules is the use of a 50 percent thicker PCB, the same thickness as our LittleBoard™ and EnCore™ products. The thicker board provides extra rigidity needed to avoid flexing the board during installation on a baseboard as well as extra copper to smoothly dissipate heat throughout the module. Ampro uses temperature and voltage margin testing early and throughout the design phase to ensure that Ampro ETX® modules meet the demands of rugged applications. Besides board thickness, Ampro has re-used other techniques from its earlier single board computer designs to achieve ruggedness. To learn more about how Ampro's proven approach to rugged design is applied Ampro ETX® modules, download the Rugged ETX® White Paper: http://www.ampro.com/html/Embedded_Design_Resource_Center.asp.
The Ampro ETX® 550 module features a choice of Via Eden processors plus all the component subsystems expected in a state-of-the-art computer-on-modules module. The module includes a 10/100BaseT Ethernet controller and an advanced AGP 4X video controller with CRT and flat panel support through the standard baseboard LVDS interfaces. Other onboard controllers provide AC97 sound, 4x USB, 2x full modem TTL serial ports (RS232/422/485 transceivers are added on the baseboard) and all standard PC architecture elements. Full PCI and ISA expansion capability are provided to the baseboard. Embedded enhancements added by Ampro include watchdog timer, battery-free boot (in case the battery for CMOS settings fails or is not installed for harsh environments), USB boot, serial console, and BIOS recovery. Optional LAN Boot supports loading the operating system over the Ethernet port using protocols such as PXE or DHCP. Ampro offers a 3-year warranty that covers optional extended temperature testing and conformal coating.
For product photos, please use the following links:
http://www.ampro.com/html/ETX550.gif
Pricing and Availability
Ampro ETX® 550 is available for evaluation, with production quantities available beginning in January. Prices start at under $300 in production quantities.
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 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 four product lines: PC/104-compatible CoreModule CPUs and MiniModule expansion products, EBX form factor LittleBoard single board computers, and EPIC form factor ReadyBoard single board computers. For more information about Ampro Computers, please visit http://www.ampro.com.
AMPRO is a registered trademark and EnCore, CoreModule, MiniModule, ReadyBoard, LittleBoard and Little Board are trademarks of Ampro Computers, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Media Contacts:
Ampro Computers, Inc.
Victoria Kostka
Tel: 1-408-360-4324
Email: vkostka@ampro.com
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