Ampro Announces QNX® Neutrino® OS Support for Six Single Board Computers

Ampro Computers, Inc., the inventor and leading supplier of CPU modules and single board computers (SBCs) for non-backplane embedded systems, announced at this week's Embedded Systems Conference the immediate availability of complete QNX Neutrino v6.2.1 support for six Ampro single board computers and modules. Ampros support consists of drivers for all devices on the six Ampro boards, distributed on a CD for system OEMs to build board support packages (BSPs) for the QNX Neutrino real-time operating system (RTOS). With this support, Ampro allows medical, industrial control, transportation, and data acquisition OEMs to quickly bring up their hardware and software. The supported boards feature various Intel Architecture (x86) embedded processors from 486-compatible through Pentium® III.

Ampro Announces QNX® Neutrino® OS Support for Six Single Board Computers

Choice of CPUs Gives Medical and Industrial OEMs a Fast Track to Market

San Francisco, CA (PR Web) April 22, 2003. Ampro Computers, Inc., the inventor and leading supplier of CPU modules and single board computers (SBCs) for non-backplane embedded systems, announced at this week's Embedded Systems Conference the immediate availability of complete QNX Neutrino v6.2.1 support for six Ampro single board computers and modules. Ampros support consists of drivers for all devices on the six Ampro boards, distributed on a CD for system OEMs to build board support packages (BSPs) for the QNX Neutrino real-time operating system (RTOS). With this support, Ampro allows medical, industrial control, transportation, and data acquisition OEMs to quickly bring up their hardware and software. The supported boards feature various Intel Architecture (x86) embedded processors from 486-compatible through Pentium® III.

"Many Ampro customers use QNX OS technology in their medical and industrial products," said Paul Rosenfeld, Ampro's CTO. "While Ampro has often helped customers to bring the QNX OS up on our boards, this announcement marks the first time Ampro has shipped QNX drivers to our customers as part of our standard development kits, which will significantly reduce the time our customers need to get their innovative products to market."

"From highly integrated development tools to professional services and training, QNX Software Systems is dedicated to helping developers build s reliable products in the shortest timeframe possible," said Linda Campbell, director, segment management, QNX Software Systems. "Ampros board support packages complement the inherent productivity advantages of the QNX Neutrino RTOS and QNX Momentics development suite, allowing developers to get started right out of the box."

Each QNX board support package (BSP) based on Ampro's CD contains the initialization code and device drivers for various peripherals in an embedded system, including 10/100BaseT Ethernet, CRT and Flat Panel graphics, serial and parallel ports, IDE and floppy disk drives, USB and AC97 sound. The operating system uses the BSP layer to talk to the actual hardware devices. Ampro not only distributes drivers to its customers, but also provides support to customers using these drivers.

Ampro's drivers for QNX Neutrino are included in its QuickStart Kits and Development Systems. QuickStart Kits also provide the single board computer, memory, cables, documentation and other software useful to help an OEM get a jump start on development. Development Systems provide the single board computer and memory mounted on a chassis with power supply, hard disk drive, floppy disk drive and CD-ROM.

Ampros QNX Neutrino support is available immediately on six Ampro single board computers and modules. In the PC/104 form factor, QNX Neutrino support is available on the new 486-based CoreModule 400 PC/104 SBC, which features the STMicroelectronics STPC® Atlas processor with integrated 2D graphics and 10/100 BaseT Ethernet, and on the CoreModule 4Gn CPU module, offering 486-class performance for low cost control applications.

To satisfy developers who require Pentium-class hardware for application performance, Ampro also offers QNX Neutrino support on the EBX-compatible Little Board P5v, which uses the 266MHz Pentium "Tillamook" processor on a full-featured SBC.

For OEMs who want to customize their I/O, Ampro supplies QNX Neutrino support for the EnCore 500 module, also with the "Tillamook" processor, the EnCore 400 module using the STPC Atlas CPU, and the EnCore 700 module, which features a choice of 850MHz Pentium III or 300MHz Celeron processor with integrated AGP graphics. Each module brings the PCI bus, Ethernet, video, IDE, serial, parallel, USB, IrDA, keyboard and mouse signals to a standardized baseboard interface to allow the baseboard designer to easily select and extend the peripherals without cabling.

Price and Availability
Ampro will include QNX Neutrino drivers free of charge in the QuickStart Kit and Development System for each corresponding SBC and CPU module. Availability is scheduled for mid-May. Ampro's QuickStart Kits start at only $895 for board, memory, cables, QNX Neutrino RTOS evaluation CD with development environment, and Ampro's BSP. SBCs and processor modules are currently in volume production, and start at under $300 in moderate volumes.

About Ampro Computers, Inc.
Ampro Computers, Inc. is the leading global provider of modular embedded computing solutions for OEM applications. Ampros mission is to provide time saving solutions for embedded systems designers that accelerate the product deployment process. Ampro pioneered the embedded PC industry creating the popular PC/104 and EBX standards. The new EnCore family enables designers to obtain all the benefits of an off-the-shelf CPU solution while maintaining the flexibility of a full custom design. In addition to EnCore, Ampro offers three product lines; PC/104-compatible CoreModule CPUs and MiniModule expansion products, and EBX form factor Little Board single-board computers (SBC). Ampro was awarded Electronique magazines Electron dOr 2002" for subsystems for the EnCore M2 product. For more information about Ampro Computers, please visit http://www.ampro.com.

About QNX
Founded in 1980, QNX Software Systems is the industry leader in realtime, microkernel OS technology. The inherent reliability, scalable architecture, and proven performance of the QNX Neutrino RTOS make it the most trusted foundation for future-ready applications in the networking, automotive, medical, and industrial automation markets. Companies worldwide like Cisco, Ford, Johnson Controls, Siemens, and Texaco depend on the QNX technology for their mission- and life-critical applications. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, QNX Software Systems maintains offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, and distributes its products in more than 100 countries worldwide. Visit http://www.qnx.com.

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Ampro is a registered trademark and EnCore, CoreModule, MiniModule, and Little Board are trademarks of Ampro Computers, Inc. QNX and Neutrino are registered trademarks of QNX Software Systems Ltd. in certain jurisdictions. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.