Comtrol Corporation RocketPort Plus 422 SMPTE serial port expasion card/adapter, 8-port RS-422/DB9F, p/n: 98010-0, 5300007

Finally, a high-density, low-cost RS-422 multiport serial card that can support any x86-based PCI-bus platform! The RocketPort 422 provides four or eight native serial COM ports, delivering high-speed RS-422 connections using standard DB9 cables. It is ideal for the high-reliability and long-distance requirements of process control and data acquisition applications.

RocketPort 422 Highlights

• Up to 32 COM ports can be added in a single PC without using any IRQs!
  
• 460 Kbps on all ports simultaneously!
  
• Integrated ASIC minimizes host CPU utilization
  
• DTE/DCE selectable on each port
  
• PCI-bus platform
  
• Optional interface cable options:
  --DB9 male
  --SMPTE 207M
  (for broadcast applications)
  
• RocketPort 422 products are packaged complete with industry-standard OS drivers

"Comtrol was the first to have a PCI-based RS-422 product with an SMPTE 207 broadcast interface that was supported under NT … The RocketPort PCI 422, with its selectable features, provided the flexibility we require and performed great."

--Sze Chan, Engineering Manager
Sea Change International

Fully Integrated ASICs

Other serial cards use numerous components to accomplish their tasks. Each of these components and its mounting on the card means an increased risk of failure. Comtrol's RocketPort products feature fully integrated ASICs designed to reduce the number of components and improve reliability.

Larger Transmit and Receive FIFOs Speed Data Transfer

The large FIFOs on the RocketPort 422 ensure sustained transfer rates by buffering data when the CPU is busy. Many serial cards have very small FIFOs, or buffers, used for transmitting and receiving data. With smaller buffers, a card must stop each time the buffer fills and wait for the data to clear. This continual starting and stopping increases the load on the CPU and reduces the overall performance of the card. The large buffers incorporated into the RocketPort 422 card help ensure consistent, high throughput even on heavily loaded servers.