News | August 3, 2000

Long Product-Life Cycle of New PC Motherboards Meets Continuing ISA Interface Needs of Industrial Applications

Source: ITOX, Inc. (Industrial Technologies Of eXcellence), a member company of the DFI group

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ, March 31, 2000 - - The new industrial PC motherboards from ITOX, Inc. have been designed to meet the growing ISA interface needs of computer telephony systems and other industrial PC applications in the wake of PC99 mandates. Effective January 1, 2000, CTI system integrators and other manufacturers that build systems based on commercial PC platforms will be forced to find new sources for ISA slots due to the PC System Design Guide published jointly by Intel and Microsoft which calls for the total elimination of ISA interface slots.

The ITOX GCB60-BX and GCB50-BX industrial PC motherboards combine the power and economy of Intel Celeron class processors with the strength of the Intel BX chip set. The GCB60-BX supports two ISA slots, one shared ISA/PCI slot, three PCI slots, and one AGP slot on an industry-standard ATX-format motherboard. The GCB50-BX supports up to three PCI or two ISA cards on an industry-standard baby AT-format motherboard.

The front side bus of both motherboards operates at speeds of up to 100 MHz to support current and future Socket 370 versions of the Celeron processor, and is produced under strict revision control guidelines to assure users of a long and stable market life cycle. The ITOX GCB60-BX and GCB50-BX also feature voltage, fan speed and temperature monitoring. ITOX plans to keep the board in production for at least three years.

ITOX attributes the increased demand for its GCB60-BX and GCB50-BX in part, to the PC99 mandate that new PCs entering the market after January 1, 2000 will no longer support the ISA interface. In fact, ISA is no longer supported by the new Intel chip sets.

However, ISA remains the most cost-effective interface for low-density CTI voice cards and other specialized industrial PC expansion cards. Further, the majority of entry level and mid-range voice messaging systems currently in production continue to use ISA-based voice cards.

ITOX is a leading developer and manufacturer of application-specific computer platforms for computer telephony and industrial applications, and is certified to ISO 9002 standards. It is a major supplier of PC computers and embedded systems used in light industrial environments for voice messaging, data acquisition, medical electronics, industrial control and security monitoring systems. ITOX is a member company of DFI, one of the world's top ten manufacturers of PC motherboards.

For additional information, contact Gene Grunza, director of marketing, ITOX, Inc., 8 Elkins Road, East Brunswick, NJ 08816, www.itox.com. Telephone: 1-888-200-ITOX, Ext. 7102, FAX: 732-390-2817.