INIC-1430 ,The Industry’s Only FireWire Bridging Device To Deliver Full ATA-6 Support in Single-Chip Solution, Assures Users Can Use 160GB and Larger Drives through Their FireWire Ports

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Jan. 29, 2003 – Initio Corp., a leading maker of input/output (I/O) solutions for storage systems and peripherals, today announced that the Initio® INIC™-1430 IEEE 1394 ("FireWire") bridge chip fully supports the storage industry’s latest high-capacity ATA-6 disk drives. The INIC-1430, Initio's fastest bridge controller, delivers full ATA-6 support in a single-chip solution, starkly contrasting other FireWire bridge developers whose chips require external circuitry to reach ATA-6 performance levels.  With full ATA-6 support in FireWire-connected drive enclosures, users can be assured they can take advantage of the industry’s newest, highest-capacity drives. ATA-6 drives from leading manufacturers such as Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital now feature capacities of 160GB and above, all of which now can be bridged smoothly and economically to a FireWire with the INIC-1430. With the INIC-1430’s support of ATA-6, drive-enclosure makers can build storage systems that take advantage of the drives’ unprecedented high capacity and the INIC-1430’s FireWire transfer speeds of up to 400 MB/sec.

"The ATA-6 market needs a FireWire device that allows storage companies to bridge these high capacity drives to FireWire," said James Wiebe, chief executive officer of WiebeTech (www.wiebetech.com), a developer of FireWire storage systems, and writer on storage-related topics.  "With the INIC-1430, Initio gives system makers and end users a streamlined solution; the one chip handles full ATA-6-to-FireWire bridging, with no need for external circuitry between the bridge and the drive." Fully Integrated Design Featuring an integrated FireWire core, microprocessor and ATA interface, the INIC-1430 was designed to deliver all the necessary FireWire I/O components in a single chip.  The device enables manufacturers to design new FireWire-interface drives, such as disk, DVD, removable and CD-RW devices, or bridge existing designs to the interface.  The chip’s flexibility in design and the array of applications it supports combine to provide manufacturers a significant time-to-market advantage in delivering FireWire solutions, while taking advantage of the rapidly growing availability of FireWire-equipped computers and servers.

We realized long ago that with the advent of ATA-6 drives and the prevalence of FireWire in PCs and servers, there’d be a pressing need for an efficient method of bridging those two powerful technologies, in both present and future storage systems," said Eric Wilson, director of business development at Initio.  "The INIC-1430 was architected from the beginning to be used in bridging applications in which storage standards, such as ATA-6, would be fully supported." History of Leadership, Innovation Initio has been an I/O leader since its founding in 1994, providing the computer and networking markets with a family of innovative ASICs.  Since then, the company has established itself in North America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region as an leader in I/O solutions, providing some of the fastest data throughput in the computer and networking industries.  Initio entered the FireWire I/O market in 2000, with its first fully functional single-chip controllers and has since expanded the line for a broad range of storage and consumer applications. Initio recently closed another round of funding targeted at I/O product development, including FireWire products such as the INIC-1430.    With the funding, Initio is bolstering its application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) research and development programs to bring optimal I/O to a range of storage applications.

Initio Corp. (www.initio.com) is a privately held maker of input/output solutions for the information-technology industry.  Founded in 1994, Initio is based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Initio and INIC are trademarks of Initio Corporation, which may be registered in some jurisdictions.   All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

Editorial contact:
Jerry Steach
CommonGround Communications (for Initio Corp.) 650.967.3071
jsteach@pacbell.net