Dear Ariella and Omer,
let me answer my question : the reason is the following news leaked before the official release :
I personnaly wonder whether this is a real positive because it could turn in Toshiba's favour. My experience tells me to be wary of such deals. Am not yet buying.
Wednesday July 15, 8:04 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
M-Systems and Toshiba to Cooperate in Flash Data Storage Solution
Toshiba to Second Source the DiskOnChip Technology
FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 1998--M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLSHF - news), Toshiba Corporation and Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) announced today that they have entered into a strategic agreement regarding cooperation in the area of flash data storage.
Under the agreement, Toshiba will become a second source for the DiskOnChip(R) technology. The parties will collaborate to make optimal use of Toshiba's leading flash technology and M-Systems' breakthrough technology for flash data storage.
''We are very excited to have Toshiba, the original inventor of flash technology, as a strategic partner,'' said Dov Moran, president of M-Systems Ltd. ''This is an important vote of confidence in the significance of our technology and an extremely important milestone in positioning M-Systems' DiskOnChip as the leading Flash Solution in the world.''
''Toshiba is committed to Flash technology,'' said Bob Brown, president and chief operating officer at TAEC.
''We believe that applying M-Systems' DiskOnChip and TrueFFS technologies to Toshiba's NAND flash yields a competitive product that will become the standard data storage solution for set-top boxes, Windows-based terminals and thin clients. We are pleased to work closely with M-Systems and its DiskOnChip technology.''
''Having a second source is important to our OEMs. We are pleased that this second source is Toshiba, a leading edge silicon manufacturer,'' said Chuck Schouw, president of M-Systems Inc. ''I am confident this agreement will further strengthen the successful position the DiskOnChip has achieved as an industry standard.''
The DiskOnChip is the optimal implementation of a Flash Disk. Unlike older approaches which require a separate host IDE adaptor and an additional ATA controller in the Flash Disk, the DiskOnChip fully emulates a hard disk using a combination of software and hardware, thus providing better features and performance at a lower price.
Furthermore, the DiskOnChip hardware interface is a memory interface which significantly reduces integration time and costs. The DiskOnChip guarantees high reliability by implementing an advanced on-the-fly hardware level error detection and correction scheme, and a wear-leveling algorithm which guarantees more than 1M write cycles.
DiskOnChip also handles bad block marking and remapping, thus providing extremely high reliability Flash Disk solutions.
Designed in more than 180 boards, the DiskOnChip has already established itself as the standard Flash Disk module in the Embedded PC and single board computer markets. The DiskOnChip provides support for a wide range of operating systems, including Windows CE, Windows NT, Windows 95, QNX, pSOS+, VxWorks, DOS and others.
M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd. develops, manufactures and markets Flash data storage solutions utilizing TrueFFS(R), including a wide range of Flash PC Cards, PC Flash Disks and DiskOnChip(R) devices. M-Systems Inc. is M-Systems Ltd.'s US subsidiary.
For more information contact M-Systems Inc. at 39899 Balentine Drive, Suite 335, Newark, California, 94560. Telephone: 510/413-5950, fax: 510/413-5980, e-mail: info@m-sys.com and on the Internet at m-sys.com.
Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. is the North American design, manufacturing, marketing and sales arm of Toshiba Corporation, one of the world's largest suppliers of semiconductors, integrated circuits and electronic components.
TAEC offers one of the broadest IC product lines in the industry as well as technologically-advanced electron tubes and solid state devices, including color picture tubes, color display tubes, liquid crystal displays, rechargeable batteries, microwave components, laser diodes and optical transmission devices.
In addition to its comprehensive offering of high quality components, the company markets a wide range of industry standard 2.5-inch hard disk drives, CD-ROM drives and DVD-ROM drives.
The company is located at 9775 Toledo Way, Irvine, CA 92618-1811. For more company information, please visit TAEC's Internet home page at: toshiba.com.
The matters discussed in this news release contain forward looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including those described under the caption ''Risk Factors'' and elsewhere in the Company's most recent prospectuses and other periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update the Information in this release.
Note to Editors: Other products and company names herein may be the trademark of the respective owners. |
