Brainboxes, specialists in serial technology and tailored Bluetooth wireless systems, today announced the launch of its first card from a new range of universal PCI that supports both 5 volt and newer 3.3 volt standards. The complete new range of Universal PCI cards will shortly follow the WHQL approved UC-101 and will be based upon the same technology. This Low Profile card (UC-101) is the first of the new range of products using a new chip based upon Intellectual Property developed by the company over the last 3 years. The Brainboxes 1+1 UC-101 card has one standard 9-pin RS232 COM port, plus a second RS232 connection. UC-101 is designed to suit the retail and financial sectors with some of the key applications for Brainboxes’ latest RS232 serial card being connection to modems, instrument control, or remote access servers.

The Brainboxes UC-101 has just been approved by Microsoft’s WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs) which means it meets the Designed for Windows XP standard and carry the “Designed for Windows” logo.

With a bracket 8cm in height, the Brainboxes UC-101 confirms to Low-Profile PCI, the standard for modern space conscious systems.

The UC-101 uses Brainboxes own BB16PCI958 industry leading UART giving 128 byte transmit and receive FIFO and more efficient data transfer due to greater control of FIFO trigger levels and readable FIFO levels. The UART drives an on board COM port with a second serial COM port on the flying lead header, both use male 9 pin ‘D’ type connectors.

The UC-101, as the whole PCI range, is plug and play automatically configuring the card for trouble-free operation – ensuring there are no device conflicts. Brainboxes Serial Solutions Device Driver CD contains the necessary software support for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Millennium, Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows NT4 and Linux. Windows Server 2003, Windows XP and Windows 2000 signed drivers are included. Manuals, Test and Terminal, and sample programs with full source code, are supplied on CD.

Eamonn Walsh, managing director of Brainboxes, commented, “This is a significant step forward for us. After several years of hard work, we have launched a product that simultaneously supports Universal 3.3V/5V PCI and has the coveted Microsoft WHQL Approval, with device drivers support for virtually every Operating System. This card uses our own industry top performing UART all in a highly integrated near 1 chip solution that only requires line drivers. We have clearly demonstrated our industry leadership by our innovation.”

Microsoft established its “Designed for Windows” logo to help customers identify products that deliver a high-quality computing experience with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system. The “Designed for Windows XP” logo on a product indicates that the product will be stable when running Windows XP; the related software or driver components can be installed or removed easily; and the basic experience with the product and the operating system will be the same or better after upgrading to future versions of Windows.

The Brainboxes UC-101 is available now direct from Brainboxes as well as distributors in the UK, Europe and the USA.