American Megatrends and VIA Labs Collaborate in Delivery of VL800 Host Controller Chip - World’s First xHCI-compliant 4-port SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Host Controller

Thursday: November 4, 2010

Editorial Summary:

• American Megatrends (AMI) and VIA Labs collaborate on the delivery of the new VL800 host controller chip, the world’s first 4-port USB 3.0 host controller
• AMI’s xHCI BIOS module provides essential support for the speed, power savings and virtualization support that is at the core of the xHCI architecture
• The VL800 Host Controller Chip is fully compatible with the eXtensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI), to meet today’s needs for performance, efficiency, USB resource management and support for native USB device sharing across Virtual Machines

NORCROSS, GEORGIA / TAIPEI, TAIWAN - American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), a leader in BIOS and computing innovations, and VIA Labs, Inc., a foremost supplier of USB 3.0 integrated silicon components, announce their collaboration as VIA Labs delivers its new VL800 host controller chip, the world’s first 4-port USB 3.0 host controller. This delivery establishes VIA Labs and AMI as market leaders in USB 3.0 component and BIOS development, respectively.

The VL800 from VIA Labs is the world’s first 4-port USB 3.0 host controller. It represents an easy and cost-effective way for motherboard manufacturers and system integrators to bring USB 3.0 performance to their product lines, and allows consumers to use more of the latest USB 3.0 devices at the same time. As VIA Labs prepares the VL800 host controller for mass production, AMI’s xHCI BIOS module provides essential support for the speed, power savings, and virtualization support that the xHCI architecture offers.

The launch of the VL800 Host Controller Chip from VIA Labs is notable as the world’s first 4-port xHCI-compliant Super Speed USB 3.0 component. The eXtensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI) architecture provides a new industry standard for interfacing to USB devices, and delivers the extensibility necessary to meet today’s needs for speed, power savings, and virtualization support. With greatly improved protocol efficiency, xHCI enables platforms to become more power efficient without sacrificing performance. Also, the new xHCI architecture enables USB resource management and adds support for native USB device sharing across Virtual Machines.

Since its inception, AMI has been a consistent leader in the technology industry. AMI was the first BIOS vendor to support USB in the BIOS, first to create a GUI BIOS interface with mouse support, first to integrate diagnostics, and first to support ACPI with AMIBIOS®. Now, AMI extends its history of innovation and industry firsts by becoming the first vendor to develop and provide the xHCI BIOS module to key customers like VIA Labs.

S. Shankar, President and CEO of American Megatrends, commented that "xHCI will become the mainstream of USB support and will be the version targeted by the major OS and chipset vendors. As a technology leader, AMI is aware of its responsibility to support new industry standards and has always been committed to being the first to deliver these in the form of high-quality solutions for our customers. Now that USB 3.0 has become one of the key technologies for our customers’ products, AMI's support for xHCI will give them peace of mind, knowing that the products they are delivering today will be viable as adoption of USB3.0 becomes further entrenched. Providing first access to key new technologies is one of the primary components for maintaining strong, long-term partnerships with our customers."

"As the USB 3.0 market matures and VIA Labs’ VL800 host controller heads to production, more and more of our customers have made the move to UEFI and require BIOS support for the xHCI protocol," said David Hsu, Associate Vice President of VIA Labs, Inc. "Working with AMI has enabled us to meet our customers' requirements while delivering a unique 4-port USB Host solution. While the majority of USB 3.0-equipped systems are shipping with only one or two SuperSpeed ports, the next wave of devices will support four or more, and now with BIOS support from AMI, the VL800 is well positioned for that push."

About VIA Labs, Inc.
VIA Labs, Inc is the foremost supplier of controller ICs that drive USB 3.0 products. As the first company to offer a complete USB 3.0 product portfolio from Host to Hub to Devices, VIA Labs has demonstrated its leadership and commitment to nurturing the growth of the SuperSpeed USB ecosystem. A wholly owned subsidiary of x86 platform provider VIA Technologies, Inc., VIA Labs leverages its experience in high-speed PHY design and complete system integration to offer customers industry leading technology along with guaranteed high quality and implementation support.

About AMI : Founded in 1985 and known worldwide for AMIBIOS®, American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) supplies state-of-the-art hardware, software, and utilities to top-tier manufacturers of desktop, server, mobile and embedded systems. AMI’s industry leading Aptio® V UEFI BIOS firmware, innovative StorTrends® Network Storage hardware and software products and MegaRAC® remote server management solutions continue to garner industry acclaim and awards around the world. In line with the diversity of its technology and product line, AMI is a member of a number of industry associations and standards groups, such as the Unified EFI Forum (UEFI), the Intel® Intelligent Systems Alliance and the Trusted Computing Group (TCG). Headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, AMI has locations in the U.S., China, Germany, India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan to better serve its customers.

For more information on AMI, its products or services, call 1-800-U-BUY-AMI or visit www.ami.com.

Statement of Liability: © 2013 American Megatrends Inc. Product specifications are subject to change without notice. Products mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. All rights reserved. No warranties are made, either express or implied, with regard to the contents of this work, its merchantability or fitness for a particular use. This publication contains proprietary information, which is protected by copyright. American Megatrends reserves the right to update, change and/or modify this product at anytime.

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