Santa Clara, Calif.—Catalyst Semiconductor Inc. has added a 16-channel I²C/SMBus LED driver/blinker to its line of bus products.

The CAT9552 drives up to 16 LEDs in either programmable flashing or on/off modes. Applications include advertising point-of-sale signage with flashing LEDs, and any type of consumer or industrial equipment with on/off LED indicators.

The CAT9552 is designed with an internal oscillator and two programmable on/off or blink rate timers, adjustable from 0.02 to 5.8 seconds. This oscillator and its two timers reduce overall parts count and reduce the I²C bus traffic, which would normally occur if traditional bus expanders were used. In addition, I/Os not used for controlling LEDs can be used as general-purpose I/Os.

Pricing: $1 each, in 10,000 piece quantities.
Availability: Samples are available now; projected lead-time for production quantities is six to eight weeks ARO.
Datasheet: Click here.

Catalyst Semiconductor, www.catsemi.com