Intel concedes defeat in small-flash-card war
By Anthony Cataldo
TOKYO - Intel Corp. has conceded defeat in its effort to promote the Miniature Card flash-memory module as the de facto standard for portable consumer electronics devices, leaving the rival CompactFlash and SmartMedia camps to battle for dominance in the small-form-factor flash-card market.
Even so, Intel said it will continue to look to the Miniature Card as a vehicle to sell its most advanced multilevel-cell (MLC) flash devices, which the company claims are making headway in a number of application areas here.
Introduced in 1996, the Miniature Card - which measures 38 x 33 x 3.5 mm - was touted as a low-cost flash card that uses a software-based File Transfer Layer versus the hard-disk-like ATA interface supported by Toshiba Corp.'s SmartMedia and SanDisk Corp.'s CompactFlash. The Miniature Card format had the backing of some of the heavy hitters in flash memory, including Advanced Micro Devices, Fujitsu and Sharp.
Despite its fast start, Miniature Card has been eclipsed by rival formats, largely because the mechanics of the card proved ill-suited for portable applications. Miniature Card uses an elastomer connector that takes up a considerable amount of real estate and requires users to partially rotate the card when it is inserted. Its relatively large size also translated into higher cost.
"The mechanical characteristics of the Miniature Card were not acceptable in portable consumer electronics applications," said Hisashi Nagai, marketing manager for Intel K.K.
A spokeswoman for Intel's flash-memory group in Folsom, Calif., downplayed the role of the Miniature Card in data-storage applications. "We aren't winning in [data-only storage], but that's not a segment we're going after. Our focus is on code and code-plus-date in applications like digital audio recorders, resident flash, networking, etc."
With Miniature Card now out of the picture for a large portion of portable consumer devices, Nagai said he expects OEMs will weigh the relative merits of SmartMedia and CompactFlash. "From a cost standpoint SmartMedia is more attractive, and CompactFlash is most attractive in terms of interfacing to the computer infrastructure," he said.
Nagai added that it would be technically difficult for Intel to back either one of these standards since they are tailored to accommodate the flash memory of either SanDisk or Toshiba. SanDisk has promoted the use of NOR-based flash memory along with a microcontroller within the flash module, a model that Intel has opposed because of cost reasons. Toshiba's SmartMedia is based on serial NAND flash architecture.
The rivalry between these two small-form-factor flash-card standards is heating up in Japan, the hotbed of digital-camera development. The competition has touched off a publicity campaign that in some instances has stretched the boundaries of public relations. SanDisk, for example, recently sent e-mail to reporters pointing them to Usenet groups where some users were supposedly airing their complaints about SmartMedia. To further complicate matters, Sony Corp. threw itself into the fray in recent weeks by introducing its Memory Stick format.
For Intel, the loss of the digital-camera market should be of no great consequence to its bottom line, since only about 10 percent of flash memory is used for so-called data-storage applications, Nagai said. The vast majority of flash is used for code storage, such as in cellular phones and PC BIOS applications. Intel has the largest market share among all flash-memory vendors for such applications, followed by Advanced Micro Devices.
Even so, the failure of Miniature Card amounts to a missed opportunity for Intel to make inroads into a highly visible market segment as it ramps up its most advanced 32- and 64-Mbit StrataFlash devices. These products employ MLC technology that permits the storage of 2 bits of data per cell. Intel claims that squeezing 2 bits into one flash cell gives it about a 30 percent cost advantage over conventional flash. Indeed, most flash-memory companies are studying MLC technology, but so far only Intel and SanDisk have announced real devices employing the technology.
Intel said StrataFlash is flexible enough to be used in a range of applications, including both code storage and data storage, or applications that need both. The company now provides a software tool called Flash Data Integrator for its Boot Block devices, allowing data to be partitioned into different data types. Nagai said Intel will eventually provide similar software tools for StrataFlash. Meanwhile, potential StrataFlash customers are starting to line up after showing some hesitancy to be early adopters of such a new technology.
In Japan, for example, Intel has nabbed one StrataFlash customer that makes arcade games on several platforms. The customer, which Intel declined to name, is using the flash memory for main program code storage, traditionally a task left to mask ROMs. The use of flash memory gives users the option of downloading a new game, Nagai said. Other applications that will incorporate StrataFlash are networking devices such as routers and switches, he said.
There are still some promising prospects for StrataFlash in future consumer electronics devices based on the Windows CE operating system, Microsoft Corp.'s real-time operating system that is gaining cautious acceptance among Japan's consumer electronics giants. Windows CE 2.1 will include support for linear flash data storage, which will effectively allow data to be stored on flash without the need for ATA emulation. That opens up the possibility for StrataFlash to be employed for data storage either in a removable data card or on the motherboard.
"We are getting lots of designs on Windows CE right now," Nagai said. "In Japan we will see this by the end of this year or next year." |
