"..Cirrus Logic introduced the industry’s fastest CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) chip, delivering 16x write and 48x read speeds. The new encoder/decoder (CR3480) can write twice as fast and read 50% faster than CD-RW chips currently available from other manufacturers. A major manufacturer of CD-RW drives has already selected Cirrus Logic’s new chip because of its speed advantage and ease of use. (CDRInfo comment: possibly Sony..).

The full streaming feature of the CR3480 buffer manager allows the disc and the host to transfer data simultaneously, with a monitoring mechanism that prevents buffer overrun and underrun conditions from occurring. With this buffer management scheme implemented in hardware, the overhead burden on the local microcontroller is greatly reduced. This in turn leads to a shorter firmware development cycle and accelerates time-to-market. Moreover, a low-cost microprocessor can be used to control all the functions in the drive. (CDRInfo comment: Hmm..Another technology similar to BURN-Proof from Sanyo?)

The CR3480, ATAPI CD-RW encoder/decoder is packaged in a 128-pin LQFP package and is priced at $8.00 each in quantities of 25,000. The device is currently sampling with volume production scheduled for the second calendar quarter of 2000.." NULL