Quatech Inc., a manufacturer of data communication products, has released six multiport serial Low Profile PCI boards. These boards are the first to utilize the Low Profile footprint and fully comply with all other aspects of the PCI 2.2 specification.

Low Profile PCI cards have the same signal protocols, electrical interface, and configuration as standard-height PCI boards. This allows designers to create lower profile stand-alone “thin-client” and high-density rack-mount PC chasses as low as 3.350″ while maintaining the ability to use add-in boards. Manufacturers of low profile systems include IBM, Neoware, Wyse, and several white-box companies.

Quatech’s Low Profile PCI boards are built on 32-bit addressing, and can be used in either standard or low profile PCI backplanes. Quatech products adhere to the MD1 board length specification–the smallest form of Low Profile PCI. They are also narrow enough to fit all 2U rack mount systems without using riser cards. Quatech’s serial Low Profile PCI line leverages the company’s extensive PCI expertise to provide the same rich features found in their standard PCI boards, such as four-layer board design for improved signal integrity, shared interrupts, 16-byte FIFOs, and enhanced speeds of up to 921.6 kbps.

Quatech Low Profile PCI boards have many unique features. For example, their automatic RS-422/485 transmitter enable/disable function permits the hardware itself to regulate data flow by only driving lines while actively transmitting — providing increased speed and convenience over the older software controlled method. Quatech boards also use a universal PCI connector compatible with both the 3.3V connector key required by the specification and the 5V connection used by older PC and thin client systems. This means that they can be used with current equipment and will not need to be replaced as systems are upgraded.