Off-the-Shelf Enclosure Speeds Time-to-Market for EPIC single board computers
Off-the-Shelf Enclosure Speeds Time-to-Market for EPIC single board computers
Ampro's ReadyBox™ enclosure facilitates rapid deployment of ReadyBoard™ systems
San Jose, CA – September 13, 2004. Ampro Computers, Inc., the inventor and leading supplier of PC/104, EBX and EPIC single board computers, today announced announced the introduction of the ReadyBox™ enclosure to help OEMs and system integrators accelerate time to market with Ampro's EPIC-compatible ReadyBoard™ single board computers. The ReadyBox™ enclosure features easy access to all ReadyBoard I/O, a removable hard disk drive bay, 150w ATX power supply, and expansion "slots" for two PC/104, PC/104-Plus or PCI-104 expansion cards. ReadyBox is easy to integrate with convenient customizable I/O expansion panels.
"The strong positive response to the introduction of the EPIC standard and Ampro's ReadyBoard single board computers earlier this year has been extremely gratifying", said Joanne Mumola Williams, president and CEO of Ampro. "Initial customers indicated a need for a cost-effective off-the-shelf ReadyBoard enclosure to speed their products to market. ReadyBox is a complete, flexible, yet inexpensive solution that meets the requirements of most ReadyBoard customers."
Ampro ReadyBox (280mm x 200mm x 115mm) is designed for wall-mount and desktop applications. The ReadyBox accepts any of Ampro's five ReadyBoard product families and provides space for one or two PC/104, PC/104-Plus or PCI-104 expansion modules to be mounted on the ReadyBoard. Two easily customizable I/O panels are provided to bring expansion card connectors to the outside world. The PC-style connectors on each ReadyBoard protrude through the ReadyBox I/O panel, providing easy access to the USB ports, 2 Ethernet ports (RJ45), dual serial ports (DB9), CRT video, PS/2 keyboard and mouse port, and LEDs for power and HDD activity. Additional I/O ports provided via cable connections include two additional DB9 serial ports (for a total of four), two additional USB ports (for a total of four), a DB25 parallel port, three audio jacks (line in, line out and microphone in). The ReadyBox also provides external access to the CompactFlash slot on the ReadyBoard in a convenient, yet EMI-protected environment. ReadyBox provides a removable bay for a 2.5" hard drive. The hard disk drive may be attached either through a shock mount or fixed mount. The supplied ATX power supply provides 150w (14a @ +5v, 4.2a @ +12v), with an MTBF of 100,000 hours. An additional system fan can be easily added to improve system thermal performance. The work environment for ReadyBox is 0-50°C.
For product photos, please use the following link:
http://www.ampro.com/html/ReadyBox.gif
Pricing and Availability
ReadyBox comes complete with power supply and all cables and necessary hardware. The ReadyBox enclosure will be available in Q4. It is priced under $200 in small quantities.
About ReadyBoard
Ampro offers 12 ReadyBoard models within five major product families. The original ReadyBoard 550 (with Via Eden CPUs) and ReadyBoard 700 (with Intel Pentium III and Celeron CPUs) offer an extensive set of standard I/O functionality in a cost effective 4.5" x 6.5" EPIC form factor. The recently announced ReadyBoard 800 offers high performance Pentium M and Celeron M CPUs with DDR memory and advanced I/O functionality, including USB 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet. ReadyBoard 560 and ReadyBoard 710, also announced today, provide low cost, low power CPUs (1GHz Via Eden or 650MHz Celeron) with advanced I/O (USB 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet) along with very high graphics and video performance (AGP 8x video with hardware MPEG2 / MPEG4 decode). ReadyBox can be used with all 12 ReadyBoard models, which have connectors in identical locations with identical pin out.
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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