When I requested samples, I had them, two DIP's and two PLCC's, in hand within five days. I had my application running satisfactorily within a half hour after receiving the samples.

The term "ultra" was undoubtably spawned in the marketing department, where they had to come up with a moniker distingushing these single-clockers from their previous "high-speed" versions, which were four-clockers.

If you visit www.maxim-ic.com, and then search for microcontrollers, you'll find "8051 Drop-In" on the menu, and that will lead you to these, among others. It's not rocket-science.

If you're buying 10K units per buy, I doubt you'll have any trouble getting the sales staff to ensure you get exactly what you want. It's unlikely you'll need an 805x drop-in replacement, however.

There are LOTS of applications of very low volume, test fixtures, scientific equipment, medical equipment, etc, where the volume may be as large as 10 units, and it's those app's at which these are targeted. While many of these app's are pieces of equipment costing tens of millions of dollars, the investment is in the precise hardware and the firmware to control it. Think about the electronics that control an observatory's telescope and cameras.

RE