With the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), embedded system designers must currently source, program and serialize Media Access Control (MAC) addresses from the IEEE-Registration Authority (RA) for all connected products. Only sold from the IEEE-RA in blocks ranging from 4,000 to 16 million, small-to medium-size businesses are left to pay higher costs for low-volume services. Helping eliminate the need to self-procure and manage these unique identifiers from the IEEE-RA, Microchip released the SST26VF Serial Quad I/O (SQI) 3V Flash family which is NOR Flash devices to offer integrated MAC address options. The devices fulfil the plug-and-play storage solutions for connected applications that use Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, IEEE 802.15.4 and FireWire. The devices also provide cost-effective solutions since they do not have minimum order requirement and are pre-programmed with EUI-48 and EUI-64 addresses. The pre-programmed SST26VF family of devices come with uniquely pre-programmed EUI-48 addresses and are flexible MAC address chips that help designers save time and costs while accelerating time to market for low-to mid-sized volume production.
The EUI-48 and EUI-64 node addresses consist of an Organizational Unique Identifier (OUI) and an Extension Identifier (EI). The EI is assigned and managed through each company by building a unique EI into every product, thereby ensuring a globally unique Extended Unique Identifier (EUI) node address for every device used or shipped. Also the OUI is purchased from the IEEE by individual companies. The device MAC address options are available at Flash densities of 16 megabit (Mb), 32Mb and 64Mb. For development, the Microchip provides pre-programming services for customer firmware.
SST26VF064BEUI, SST26VF032BEUI and SST26VF016BEUI Features:
- A six-wire, 4-bit I/O interface: This allow low-power and high-performance operation in a low pin-count package.
- 8-pin SOIC and 8-contact WSON packages: Helps in occupying less board space and lower overall system costs.
- Rich SQI flash, with flexible write-protected functionality: This ensure code cannot be inadvertently over-written or erased.
- High endurance, low operating currents and low power draw: This make the devices ideal for industrial and consumer cloud-connected applications.
Applications Includes:
- smart hubs for homes
- smart home appliances
- building control equipment
- factory automation
- security and surveillance equipment
The SST26VF064BEUI is available for $2.37, the SST26VF032BEUI is available for $1.46 and the SST26VF016BEUI is available for $1.13, each in 10,000-unit quantities.
