TenAsys adds enhanced Ethernet driver interface to INtime 3.1 for real-time Ethernet fieldbus applications

The new High Performance Ethernet interface for INtime RTOS applications improves real-time performance by reducing latency and eliminating jitter.

Nürnberg, Germany – November 27, 2007 –  TenAsys Corporation (www.tenasys.com), a leading provider of real-time OS software and virtualization technology, today announced the addition of their High Performance Ethernet (HPE) driver interface to version 3.1 of the company's INtime real-time operating system. This unique API features a driver interface that allows Ethernet packet buffers to be directly managed within the real-time application’s memory space. By using the HPE interface, developers are able to bypass the TCP/IP stack and tailor the number, size, type, and scheduled delivery times of Ethernet packets to meet their specific application needs.

Ethernet packets are accessed directly via a simple hardware-independent API. The new HPE interface eliminates packet copy operations; substantially reducing the latencies normally associated with Ethernet transfers. Determinism of packet transmission and reception is extremely important where real-time Ethernet applications are concerned.

"The HPE interface is a boon for industrial PCs, which almost universally include one or more standard Ethernet interfaces," said Kim Hartman, TenAsys VP of Marketing and Sales. "It enables a new level of performance for users of popular industrial software such as soft PLCs."

The HPE interface gives real-time application developers the means to control the exact time of packet transmission, using standard inexpensive Ethernet controllers. This is ideal for building Ethernet fieldbus masters for EtherCAT, Profinet, and other real-time networks. Many industrial Ethernet systems require masters with timing precision measured in microseconds in order to implement high-speed control loops. Before HPE this was only possible using expensive dedicated I/O cards. The addition of the HPE interface to the INtime RTOS makes Ethernet an even better alternative to non-Ethernet fieldbus solutions.

About TenAsys

TenAsys delivers real-time technology based on the embedded Intel Architecture (x86 processors), Microsoft Windows operating system, and Visual Studio development environment. Since 1980, customers worldwide have entrusted TenAsys RTOS products to provide reliable deterministic control of their x86 embedded computers in a wide array of mission critical applications including: medical, telecom, industrial control, robotics, test & measurement, and military applications. The TenAsys INtime RTOS for Windows, first announced in 1997, has since become a leading RTOS for the application of real-time on Microsoft Windows platforms.

Intel Corporation recognized TenAsys as Intel Communications Alliance (ICA) Member of the Year for 2006 at the Affiliate level, and also in 2006, Microsoft recognized TenAsys as its Windows Embedded Partner of the Year, ISV category, for the third year in a row.

To learn more about TenAsys, our customers, and our products please visit www.tenasys.com.

TenAsys, INtime and iRMX are registered trademarks of TenAsys Corporation. The names of other companies, products, and brands mentioned herein may be trademarks of other owners.

press contact:  Bob Patterson, MKTX, Inc., +1 503 646-6589,