The intelligent PCL-844+ is virtually a self contained computer. The card has an onboard DSP processor that takes over the processing load from the host PC. When you are transferring large amounts of data from multiple ports, servicing the interrupts alone consumes a large percentage of the capacity of your computer’s CPU. PCL-844+ serves as a high-speed dedicated interrupt processor. PCL-844+ also has 1 MB of SRAM which can store serial data and reduce host CPU loading effectively. When PCL-844+ initializes, it downloads the driver software (which functions like a PC’s BIOS) into its onboard DSP. This improves performance and makes version upgrading easy so there is no hardware redundancy. PCL-844+ has a universal PCI connector that is compatible with both newer 3.3 V PCI bus and the traditional 5 V PCI bus. It also provides a convenient utility program called ICOM Tools to help test the PCI card performance by analyzing the port status. The menu commands and toolbar buttons of ICOM Tools acts as a PC-based data scope that lets you set a trigger condition, capture the communications data and monitor the signal status. ICOM Tools is applicable to all series of Advantech ICOM cards. The intelligent PCL-844+ 8-port RS-232 or RS-422 interface card is designed for industrial applications where a PC needs to communicate with terminals, modems, or other instruments. RS-422 apllications have to use the optional OPT8FP, 8-port RS-232 to RS-422 converter with 2500 VDC isolation protection. You can install up to four PCL-844+ cards for total of 32 ports in any PCI bus-based PC.