VIA Labs, Inc., a leading supplier of USB 3.0 integrated chip controllers, today announced the VIA Labs VL800 USB 3.0 Host Controller. Adding to the industry's leading line-up of USB 3.0 products, the VL800 is a single chip solution that allows a PCI Express-equipped platform to interface with up to four SuperSpeed USB peripheral devices simultaneously - double the capability of any currently available USB 3.0 host controller.

USB 3.0 (also known as SuperSpeed USB) allows for a maximum data transfer rate of up to 5Gbps, or ten times the throughput available to USB 2.0 based devices. Other enhancements provide for improved interaction between device and host controller, including important advancements in power management. The tremendous increase in throughput allows for the quick and easy transfer of large-volume data and will hasten the development of a new generation of high-performance consumer electronic products.

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Not only will desktop PC systems featuring the new VL800 host controller be able to transfer huge amounts of data back and forth from several devices simultaneously, but with support for the USB Battery Charging Specification the PC's USB ports can also be used to power and charge peripheral devices such as flash drives, hard drives, video cameras and mobile phones.

VIA Labs is currently the only company in the world to offer a USB 3.0 host controller with support for four downstream ports, said David Hsu, Associate Vice President, VIA Labs, Inc. The VL800 is an easy and cost effective way for motherboard manufacturers to bring additional USB 3.0 performance to their product lines, it means increased design opportunities for system integrators, and of course it means consumers can use more of their USB 3.0 devices at the same time.

The host controller's four downstream facing ports support not just SuperSpeed transfer, but are also backwards compatible with previous USB specifications and offer support for Hi-Speed (480Mbps), Full-Speed (12Mbps), and Low-Speed (1.5Mbps) traffic ensuring seamless connectivity of legacy USB devices.

For more information about the VIA Labs VL800 USB 3.0 Host Controller please visit this page.