No e-mail address as of yet. Here is an old article I found:
February 19, 1996, Issue: 994
Section: News
CompactFlash Gaining On Minicard
By Mark Hachman
San Mateo, Calif. - While products based on Intel Corp.'s Minicard
standard have yet to ship, the rival CompactFlash standard has signed serveral second-source agreements and has even wooed former Intel customers.
Executives from both camps will debate the merits of their respective technologies at the PC Card '96 show to be held in San Jose this week.
Five companies-three of which are expected to make formal
announcements later this quarter-have signed on to second-source
products using the CompactFlash standard for removable data storage.
Companies include Micron Quantum Devices, Boise, Idaho, which will
begin making CompactFlash by 1997.
In addition, the CompactFlash Association (CFA) announced a slew of
new members-Asahi (Pentax), Centennial Technologies, Hitachi, Micron,
Nikon, Norris Communications, Pretec Electronics, Sharp, Sony,
Thinstor, and 3M-bringing the total to 30.
The struggle to win additional manufacturing support and recognition for
each of the technologies has grown fierce. Intel customers have
complained of getting a "great deal of flak" for even sampling
CompactFlash products for evaluatory purposes. Analysts singled out
Norris Communications Corp., San Diego, as one company that made
"a bold move" to transfer its flash contracts from Intel to a CFA supplier.
Norris Communications, a maker of personal recording devices, has
faced "great pressure" from Intel to extend its current flash agreement to
future generations, sources said. Norris chief executive R. Gordon Root
denied this, but did confirm that the company's next generation of
products will use CompactFlash.
"What my engineering guys tell me is that the [CompactFlash] interface is
far better," Root said. "They compared the Minicard connector to an
LCD interface, which is designed for a single use. After its first insertion
[and removal], we detected particles on the card through an electron
microscope, showing degradation."
Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., decried the CFA's position as "defensive."And
Curt Nichols, marketing manager for flash products, stated that Minicard
has actually lured away some CFA customers. He attributed the high
number of CFA members to the restriction stating that CFA applicants
must agree to support CompactFlash specifications before joining the
organization.
But OEMs are also beginning to demand that their suppliers establish a
position on removable storage, said Connie Batchelder, senior analyst at
In-Stat, Scottsdale, Ariz.
"The one thing you can say about Intel is that they've really muddied the
waters," Batchelder said. "Before they threw their weight behind
Minicard, there was no pressure for suppliers to side one way or another.
Now we've got the PCMCIA committee stating that in five years, 50% of
their sales are going to come from consumer applications. Suppliers have
to go with their existing technology; so if they design linear cards, they
should choose Minicard."
The advantage of CompactFlash is that people prefer the
ATA/IDE-compatible interface over Intel's Flash File System, Batchelder
said. A controller built into the CompactFlash card allows it to interface
with virtually all the major operating systems, and ATA drivers are part of
the basic operating code. Executives at SanDisk Corp., Santa Clara,
noted that the Intel card requires dedicated software drivers that OS
vendors must be persuaded to include.
Intel wants to position its elastomeric connector as a more
consumer-friendly solution, but the company has a line of cards using the
PCMCIA form factor and connector that somewhat compromises its
position, Batchelder said.
I started to clean it up, but it is readabke.
Jim
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