Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (27858)	4/9/2005 5:56:50 PM
From: clix	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Each flashcard format evolves over time, and its performance characteristics change. Sandisk's latest Extreme III cards are an example of the significantly changing technologies that are hidden under the the terms "compactflash" and "SD". First, they chose to design to version 3.0 of the CompactFlash specification, which adds support for two additional, faster data transfer timing modes. Called Programmed Input/Output (PIO) modes, version 2.1 of the CompactFlash specification enables the use of PIO modes 0-4, where PIO mode 4 tops out at 16.6MB/sec. In version 3.0 of the CompactFlash specification, which has been completed and is to be ratified in November 2004, PIO modes 5 and 6 have been added, with top throughput for each mode of 20MB/sec and 25MB/sec, respectively. This brings the CompactFlash specification in line with that of SD cards (25MB/second was added to version 1.1 of the SD specification in the first half of 2004). So, by building Extreme III CompactFlash and SD cards in step with the latest specifications for each format, they removed a significant performance barrier. Second, they designed the card’s controller to do what Kevin Conley, Director of NAND Systems Engineering at Sandisk, calls “massively parallel processing.” For competitive reasons, Conley is guarded about revealing too much about the inner workings of Extreme III cards, except to say that a wide data bus, combined with the ability to transfer and process a whole lot of data simultaneously, adds up to “an enormous data pipe.” A data pipe, he adds, that is so fast that it may take some time for compatible devices, including digital SLR cameras, to be designed to take advantage of Extreme III’s speed potential. Sandisk has put a name to the technology they’ve developed: Enhanced Super-Parallel Processing, or ESP. robgalbraith.com One of the results of this evolution has been the eclipse of Lexar's traditional speed advantage, and its ability to sell to the professional photography community at significant premiums. This could be a major reason for Lexar's business problems, as well as for its renewed emphasis on litigation.