The industry's first USB 3.1 interoperability demonstration

"The successful demonstration between ASMedia's USB 3.1 host controller IC, the first USB-IF certified USB 3.1 product, and the Synopsys DesignWare USB 3.1 IP is a significant milestone in accelerating the development of products that offer 10Gb/s USB data transfer speeds," said Weber Chuang, Vice President of Marketing, ASMedia. "Proven interoperability of USB 3.1 IP and ICs demonstrates the USB 3.1 ecosystem is ready to support new product development and help system architects and designers meet the growing demand for fast transfer of digital content."

Synopsys' DesignWare USB 3.1 device controller IP supports all USB data transfer rates and power-down capabilities. The IP's small gate count and support for low power options, such as hibernation, minimise power consumption for power-sensitive digital home applications. The IP is backward-compatible with existing DesignWare USB 3.0 software stacks and device protocols, enabling designers to reuse their existing software code to save months of software development time. Based on the DesignWare USB 3.0 controller IP architecture, which has shipped in hundreds of millions of SoCs, the DesignWare USB 3.1 controller IP enables designers to integrate USB 3.1 functionality with significantly less risk and faster time-to-market.

The ASM1142 host controller IC is the first USB-IF certified USB 3.1 host controller chip on the market and is shipping in volume on PC motherboards and add-in cards. The IC integrates two internal regulators to supply normal core power and suspend core power, supporting drivers for Windows 7, Windows 8.0, Windows 8.1 and various Linux Kernels. The ASM1142 host controller IC bridges a PCIe interface to two USB 3.1 ports, enabling USB transfers at 10Gb/s and supporting all USB specifications.

"Synopsys' successful interoperability demonstration with ASMedia's USB 3.1 host controller IC gives designers confidence that they can incorporate DesignWare USB 3.1 IP into their SoCs with less risk," commented John Koeter, Vice President of Marketing for IP and Prototyping, Synopsys. "With hundreds of millions of chips deployed with DesignWare USB 3.0 IP, Synopsys continues to deliver high-quality USB IP that helps designers implement the latest functionality into their SoCs and deliver differentiated products to the market faster."

The DesignWare USB 3.1 device controller IP is available now. ASMedia's USB 3.1 ASM1351 host controller IC is available now and shipping in volume.