Boasting a broad array of advanced connectivity and multimedia features, the VIA VT8237 redefines the South Bridge role in PC architecture, bringing the latest serial and storage technologies to a wide end-user audience

Taipei, Taiwan, 2 July 2003 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, today announced the introduction of the advanced new VIA VT8237 South Bridge, which can be coupled with the complete range of VIA core logic North Bridges for ultimate performance and connectivity across the full spectrum of Intel®, AMD and VIA processor platforms. Featuring the world’s first integrated multi-configuration Serial ATA/RAID controller, the VIA VT8237 will be key to driving the Serial ATA hard disk drive technology mainstream and facilitating the performance and data integrity benefits of RAID across a wider platform.

“Serial ATA will be very important for the PC industry, as it will have a huge impact in terms of hard drive performance and platform and system level design innovation,” said Richard Brown, Associate Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “The sophisticated integration of both this and multi-configuration Serial RAID within the advanced VIA DriveStation Controller Suite of the VT8237 brings these key technologies to the mainstream at minimal extra cost, ensuring their much wider and much more rapid adoption by the market.”

The VIA VT8237 has been designed from the ground up to meet the increasing demands of today’s software while providing all the necessary headroom for the data-intensive applications of tomorrow. Previously confined to niche enterprise and enthusiast segments, the VT8237 brings to the mainstream for the first time the latest high performance storage technologies, Serial ATA and RAID, as well as a host of connectivity features such as USB 2.0 and 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet, as well as the Ultra V-Link chipset interconnect with over 1GB/s of bandwidth.

“The VIA VT8237 extends the boundaries of South Bridge connectivity and multimedia technology, providing rich I/O functionality across the board of processor platforms for complete flexibility and scalability for our motherboard partners,” said Chewei Lin, Vice President of Product Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “At the same time, our V-MAP pin-compatibility with the previous well-established generation of VIA South Bridges slashes product development costs and cycles, enabling a much faster time to market and giving our customers that all-important competitive edge.”

The VIA VT8237 comprises four distinct application segments: the new VIA DriveStation™ Controller Suite with the first native support for Serial ATA RAID, the VIA Advanced Connectivity Suite that includes support for eight USB 2.0 ports, the VIA Vinyl™ Multi-channel Audio Suite for superlative onboard sound, and the VIA Modular Architecture Platform (V-MAP) providing maximum flexibility to motherboard manufacturers.

The VIA VT8237 South Bridge and the VIA DriveStation Controller Suite

The VIA DriveStation Controller Suite in the VIA VT8237 provides the most comprehensive set of high performance integrated storage interface technologies available on the market today. Combining the high speed 150MB/s dual channel Serial ATA connections to the latest Hard Disk Drives with the exceptionally fast storage disk data transfer and optimal data integrity configurations of Serial ATA/RAID through the user friendly V-RAID Tool software interface, the VT8237 enables a whole new end-user audience to benefit from the very latest storage technologies, as well as offering full backwards compatibility with the installed base of Parallel ATA devices.

The VIA VT8237 South Bridge and the VIA Advanced Connectivity Suite

The VIA VT8237 extends VIA’s strategy of integrating the latest appropriate connectivity technologies into the South Bridge, with support for eight high speed USB 2.0 ports at up to 480Mb/s transfer and enterprise class 10/100Mb/s Fast Ethernet, as well as providing established technologies such as the PCI interface and LPC bus with the necessary support for all current peripherals.

The VIA VT8237 South Bridge and the VIA Vinyl Multi-channel Audio Suite

As PC audio becomes an increasingly crucial factor in purchase decisions, the VT8237 provides support for the VIA Vinyl Multi-channel Audio Suite, delivering a platform solution to enable the highest levels of onboard audio performance. Enabling six-channel and the only 8-channel onboard solution, with support for 24/96 resolutions, the VT8237 with VIA Vinyl Audio delivers a full featured, rich, warm audio experience.

The VIA VT8237 South Bridge and the VIA Modular Architecture Platform (V-MAP)

The unique VIA Modular Architecture Platform (V-MAP) ensures that the VIA VT8237 is pin-compatible with the previous generation of South Bridges, such as the VT8235CE, considerably reducing design times and thus speeding products to market. The VT8237 also features the new Ultra V-Link chipset interconnect bus that delivers high data throughput of up to 1066GB/s with low latency from the South Bridge to a wide array of VIA North Bridges, including the very latest platforms. The VIA Hyperion unified driver base is another major feature of V-MAP, that allows end users to benefit from seamless hardware and software compatibility and optimize system performance.

Further information on the new VIA VT8237 may be found on the VIA website at: http://www.via.com.tw/en/apollo/vt8237.jsp.

A White Paper covering the principal technologies of the VT8237 in further detail may be downloaded from the product webpage or here: http://www.via.com.tw/en/apollo/vt8237.pdf.