New Technology Revolutionizes Data Storage
Mar. 9 (The Arizona Republic/KRTBN)--Two digital memory cartridges -- one the
size of a piece of chewing gum, another a little larger than a postage stamp --
are fueling a revolution in consumer electronics. Digital cameras and MP3
digital music players powered by these flash memory cards are moving from
high-tech novelty to dominant technology.
Storage capacity and sales of flash memory cards are going up while size and
prices are coming down. Those four factors are projected to make flash memory
cards a $1.5billion business this year, more than double last year's figures.
The forces also threaten to eliminate film for cameras, music CDs and ultimately
videotape.
"In 2002, we'll see more digital cameras sold than SLR cameras," said Eli
Harari, president and CEO of SanDisk, the California company that pioneered the
popular Compact Flash memory cards.
"As we enter the post-PC era, we see flash obsoleting 35-millimeter film,
8-millimeter tape in camcorders, CDs," Harari said at this week's Semico
Research Summit 2000, a conference for semiconductor industry executives at the
Pointe Tapatio Cliffs resort.
Flash memory is classified as a "non-volatile" form of digital storage, meaning
that it retains its bits and bytes without a power source. Computer memory, or
RAM, only stores data as long as it has a power supply. Flash memory is also
reprogrammable, which means that it can be erased and rewritten.
Flash memory is a solid-state device and has no mechanical parts.
Some flash memory chips are embedded in devices such as computers and
cell phones. Portable or removable flash memory for appliances is given a
protective plastic package and is called a flash memory card.
Motorola and Intel manufacture flash memory, but not for flash cards.
Today's digital cameras and MP3 players owe their existence to flash
memory cards, says Connie Wong, an analyst with Phoenix-based Semico Research.
Flash memory cards started as the credit-card-sized devices most frequently
attached to laptop computers, known as PCMCIA cards or personal computer memory
cards. As they got smaller, memory became more portable, she said.
"Because they are so small, a whole new spectrum of applications is possible,"
Wong said.
Wong projects that flash memory card sales will more than double this year to
$1.5 billion. Next year, she expects sales to reach $2.8 billion.
The dramatic increase comes despite falling prices. Sales of memory card units
are expected to grow 168 percent this year to 59 million. Next year, Wong
expects unit sales to top 144 million.
The estimates are based on projections for sales of digital cameras MP3 players
and other devices that use the cards. Digital cameras are the top use for flash
memory cards, followed by MP3 players.
Harari said that storage capacity for the memory cards will increase while price
comes down.
The 256-megabit card of 1999 will hold an hour of music. By 2002, storage
capacity will quadruple to 1 gigabit, he said.
Harari said the small cards will take over the prerecorded music storage market
from CDs once the industry becomes convinced that music can be recorded in a way
that cannot be copied. The DVD industry has already developed such a system for
video, he said.
By 2008, Harari expects his company's cards to challenge the videotape industry.
At that point, the cards are projected to hold 16 gigabits of data, enough to
store a two-hour movie.
SanDisk's Compact Flash is a popular standard but not the only one. The company
faces competition from Sony, Toshiba and others. Sony is pushing its Memory
Stick standard, while Toshiba has the SmartMedia standard for its cards.
Texas Instruments Senior Vice President Jeffrey McCreary put the flash memory
card projections in more concrete terms for the Semico Summit executives:
"If you don't think (Internet audio) is going to catch on, you're just not
talking to a young enough crowd," he said "There's a freight train coming down
the tracks."
By Jonathan Sidener
-0-
To see more of The Arizona Republic, or to subscribe to the newspaper,
go to azcentral.com
(c) 2000, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Ariz. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Business News. SNDK, |
