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

To: Sleeperz who wrote (2277)	1/2/1998 12:36:00 AM
From: Mike Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Lexar doesn't make the flash memory chips but only makes the controller that goes inside the CF card. Sandisk makes both the flash memory chips and the controller. Lexar claimed to make better controller, therefore improve the write speed by 6 fold. Lexar also said they support both AND and NAND flash chips, as well as making controller for SmartMedia flash cards. If there is anything positive, I think this will speed up the acceptance of digital camera (take pictures faster), benefiting Sandisk. ================================= December 15, 1997, Issue: 1088 Section: Semiconductors Flash-card speeds hit 750 Kbytes/s -- Lexar also introduces media-card line with 32-Mbyte capacity Andrew MacLellan Silicon Valley- Entering the flash-card fray, Lexar Media Inc. claims to have improved the sustained write speeds of CompactFlash (CF) ATA-standard storage cards by up to six times, and has introduced a media-card line with capacities to 32 Mbytes. The company, which was spun off from Cirrus Logic Inc.'s solid-state-storage division in late 1996, recently changed its name from Lexar Microsystems Inc. as part of a new and nearly exclusive focus on digital-camera storage applications. "This is the first CompactFlash solution developed specifically for high-performance applications like digital photography," said John Reimer, president of the Fremont, Calif., company. "The high-performance controller technology is able to operate with NAND flash memory from all major suppliers." As a unit of Cirrus, Lexar developed flash-card controllers for CF inventor SanDisk Corp., and the company still supplies controller technology to the CF camp and for cameras supporting Toshiba Corp.'s competing SmartMedia flash storage technology. Toshiba is a principal investor in Lexar, according to a Lexar spokesman. Lexar said its patented Space Manager Technology controller design can deliver sustained write speeds to 750 Kbytes/s through an indirect mapping technique that reduces the write times of files written to memory. By comparison, SanDisk's Double Density CF cards achieve about 100-Kbyte/s performance. The Multimedia Card introduced last month by SanDisk and Siemens Microelectronics promises about 300 Kbytes/s, while Toshiba NAND flash-based SmartMedia cards are claimed to deliver peak write performance to 2.5 Mbytes/s, according to Alan Niebel, an analyst at Semico Research Corp., Phoenix. "Write performance is a big issue for camera manufacturers," Niebel said. "It's really a question of how fast the end user can push the button and how long it takes for the camera to store the image." Typical image file sizes range from about 100 Mbytes to 850 Mbytes, depending on resolution and the camera maker. The Lexar CF cards also include software programmability, enabling upgrades as digital photography technology matures, Lexar said. The cards will be available from both OEMs and retailers in January in capacities of 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, and 32 Mbytes. Prices range from $99 to $399 and include digital-imaging application software. Copyright (c) 1997 CMP Media Inc.