ExpressCard technology is emerging
with faster speeds and better efficiency than the typical PCMCIA and PC Cards,
connecting high-bandwidth peripherals to notebooks and other portables. The
ExpressCard’s credit-card like format gives way to a smaller, faster and more
desktop-friendly format. Gone are the days of laptops manufactured with PC Card
slots and are swapped out with smaller, slimmer and thinner ExpressCard portals.
Quatech’s new Performance ExpressCard line supersedes older technology and are
engineered for new laptop models. Quatech’s ExpressCards are designed in the
smallest form factor -34. ExpressCard 34 is compatible with all ExpressCard
slots - 34/54. Quatech’s PXP ExpressCard solutions accommodate I/O expansion and
connectivity to serial and parallel devices in mobile laptop applications.
Available in one, two and four port serial configurations, the Performance
series of ExpressCards offer easy-to-upgrade PC Card technologies, while
integrating popular external peripheral functionality via ExpressCard module
form-factor. Differing from other products line, the PXP series was designed
with PCI Express (PCIe) power control and design core rather than using USB
controller interfaces. Advantages of a PCIe-based ExpressCard design are in the
core interface to the laptop’s motherboard. The PCIe bus interface is the
successor to the PCI bus, which in turn was the successor to the ISA bus to
which built-in ports were originally attached. As such, the ExpressCard adapter
design utilizes a PCIe-based design and can still directly use I/O space
addresses and interrupts, thus more closely emulates built-in ports than can be
done via USB-based design. Moreover, because there's no USB stack for the
drivers to contend with, throughput can be higher and latency will be lower
(considerably so in many cases). Due to improved data transfer rate, the
ExpressCard is considerably more efficient for multi-tasking operations. The PXP
series support data rates of up to 921.6Kbps, which provides steady flow of data
throughput. Quatech’s PXP series is a great solution to connect with existing
peripherals and maintain compatibility and functionality with their current
application software.
