14 DAY TRIAL // VIA Labs has sent out a press release just a few moments ago to let us know the company has managed to gain USB-IF certification for two of its SuperSpeed USB 3.0 host controllers, the VL800 and VL801.
Both of these solutions are single chip USB 3.0 host controllers, which enable a PCI Express equipped platform to interface with USB SuperSpeed and are usually embedded into motherboards that don't offer native support for the USB 3.0 interface.
At the hardware level, the solutions are nearly identical, but the VL801 provides support for only two such ports, while the VL800 provides four downstream facing ports.
"VIA Labs has been a leader in developing a full spectrum of SuperSpeed USB products," said Dr. Daniel Lin, president of VIA Labs, Inc.
"With multiple USB 3.0 ports becoming a standard feature, SuperSpeed USB is set for mass-update in the coming year. With a broad install-base to drive device makers, many exciting and new innovative products are already starting to emerge," concluded the company's rep.
The certification of VIA Labs SuperSpeed USB host controllers provides the assurance that these products will work together with the billions of USB-enabled devices available on the market at this point in time.
VIA Labs is currently shipping both of these host controllers to its customers, and these are already in use in a few motherboard models like the Zotac built Z68-ITX WiFi.
At the end of last week, VIA Labs also introduced a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 four port hub controller chip with support for the USB Battery Charging Specification (BCS) technology, which enables fast charging for BCS-compatible devices.
This chip has yet to be certified by the USB-IF group and will most probably take a while for that to happen.