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Technology Stocks : SILICON STORAGE SSTI Flash Mem -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Haynie who wrote (690)	7/20/2000 7:54:32 AM
From: Allegoria	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1881

SST tackles embedded storage Jul. 14, 2000 (Electronic Engineering Times - CMP via COMTEX) -- SAN MATEO, CALIF. - Silicon Storage Technology Inc. is moving into embedded data storage with a flash-based chip that uses the same data storage technology the company already uses in its flash cards. The first chips, with densities up to 64 Mbytes, can replace hard-disk drives in applications needing limited storage capacity, the company said. "We have taken the same basic technology as in our flash card products and put it into a chip form," said Samuel Nakhimovsky, product marketing manager for the mass-storage line at SST (Sunnyvale, Calif.). SST has mainly supplied code storage products: about 75 percent of its sales come from that market. But with the rise of consumer electronics devices like digital cameras, PDAs and digital audio players, it has shifted some of its resources to address growing data storage needs. Densities in the new product line, known as the ATA-disk chip, range from 8 to 64 Mbytes, running at both 5 and 3.3 volts. All are available now, with the 5-V family priced at $22 to $115 in 1000,000-unit shipments, depending on density. All the devices use the same 32-pin dual in-line packaging. To achieve such high densities in a single chip, SST is using multidie packaging technology, including several silicon die in each device. Some emerging apps like set-top boxes and Internet appliances are perfect for this type of product, Nakhimovsky said . Although they need storage capacity, they do not require the multigigabyte capabilities seen in PCs. Set-top-boxes, for example, will need data storage to act as a buffer for downloading video streams, while Internet appliances need a buffer to hold Web page information. "All of these will need some data storage," Nakhimovsky said, seeing "big demand" for 8- and 16-Mbyte chips. The growing excitement around wireless networking-especially Bluetooth, seen as a wireless link between consumer devices and PCs-could also be a driver for the data flash chips, Nakhimovsky said. While current designs for systems like digital cameras require removable cards that can be placed into PC peripherals for downloading, a wireless link would make this step unnecessary. Instead, a less expensive flash chip could store the data until it is transmitted to the PC. eetimes.com