Intel and Micron develop world's fastest NAND flash
     Intel Corporation and Micron Technology has unveiled a high speed NAND flash memory technology that can greatly enhance the access and transfer of data in devices that use silicon for storage. The new technology, developed jointly by Intel and Micron, and manufactured by the companies' NAND flash joint venture, IM Flash Technologies (IMFT), is five times faster than conventional NAND, allowing data to be transferred in a fraction of the time for computing, video, photography and other consumer applications.
     The new high speed NAND can reach speeds up to 200 megabytes per second (MB/s) for reading data and 100 MB/s for writing data, achieved by leveraging the new ONFI 2.0 specification and a four-plane architecture with higher clock speeds. In comparison, conventional single level cell NAND is limited to 40 MB/s for reading data and less than 20 MB/s for writing data.
     "The computing market is embracing NAND-based solutions to accelerate system performance through the use of caching and solid-state drives," said Pete Hazen, director of marketing, Intel NAND Products Group. "At up to five times the performance over conventional NAND, the high speed NAND from Intel and Micron, based on the ONFi 2.0 industry standard, will enable new embedded solutions and removable solutions that take advantage of high-performance system interfaces, including PCIe and upcoming standards such as USB 3.0."
     When used in a hybrid hard drive, high speed NAND can allow the system to read and write data anywhere between two or four times the speed when compared to conventional hard drives.
     With the popularity of digital video cameras and video on demand services, high speed NAND can enable a high-definition movie to be transferred five times faster than conventional NAND.
     With the pending USB 3.0 interface, high speed NAND is expected to effectively deliver on the increased data transfer rates of the new specification, where conventional NAND would act as the bottleneck in system performance. USB 3.0 is aiming for 10 times the bandwidth of current USB 2.0 solutions, or approximately achieving 4.8 gigabits per second.
     Additional information on high speed NAND, the applications and opportunities for the technology can be foundat www.micron.com/highspeednand.

Denali Software announces NAND flash platform for PCIe
     Denali Software has announced the availability of its system-on-chip (SoC) platform product FlashPoint. The FlashPoint platform is a complete system design that provides a PCI Express (PCIe) interface to high-performance NAND flash memory.
     The platform uses a sophisticated design configuration engine that enables the system to be tuned for optimal performance with differentiating features for a range of products, including PC cache modules, solid state drives (SSD), and ExpressCard devices. FlashPoint provides a complete hardware design, software stack, and all necessary drivers to ensure fast time to market for products requiring high-performance interface to NAND Flash memory.
     "NAND flash systems are becoming increasingly complex as the diversity of applications drives the need for a specialized, flexible, high-performance platform solution," remarks Nam Hyung Kim, director and chief analyst at iSuppli. "Current commodity solutions will not meet the future market needs."
     Denali's new FlashPoint platform includes support for the emerging Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface (NVMHCI) standard, an effort led by Dell, Intel, and Microsoft, which provides a standard software programming interface for nonvolatile memory subsystems.
     The NVMHCI interface is used by operating system drivers to access NAND Flash memory storage in applications such as hard drive caching and solid-state drives.
     One such example is the ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive features of the Windows Vista operating system, which would use the NVMHCI interface to speed PC system performance and reduce overall power consumption.
     The FlashPoint platform also supports wide range of flash devices from various memory vendors, including devices which conform to the specifications developed by the Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFi) Working Group, an industry organization dedicated to simplifying integration of NAND Flash memory into consumer electronics (CE) devices, computing platforms and industrial systems.
     Denali is headquartered in Palo Alto, California and has offices around the world to serve the global electronics industry.
     More information about Denali, its products and services is available at www.denali.com.

FlashCORE Boost offers unmatched performance gains
     Data I/O Corporation, the leading provider of manual and automated device programming systems and solutions, has released FlashCORE Boost technology that produces significant performance gains for NAND flash memory devices as an extension of the FlashCORE II technology.
     Data I/O's FlashCORE II programming architecture, released in August of 2007, was a significant extension of the first generation FlashCORE architecture. The FlashCORE Boost release represents further confirmation of the power of FlashCORE II capabilities.
     Users of Data I/O's PS288, PS588 and RoadRunner systems shipped before June 30, 2007 can upgrade their systems to the FlashCORE II technology.
     Users of those systems shipped July 1, 2007 will receive the FlashCORE Boost upgrade as a part of their annual support agreement.
     Both hardware and software FlashCORE Boost upgrades are available for shipment in Q1 2008.
     "This technology enhancement is of immediate benefit to users of our FlashCORE II systems----NAND programming/verify speeds are increased by as much as 300-400%," noted Harald Weigelt, VP of Worldwide Sales and Support. "For example, a 2GB NAND device that consumed 76 seconds to program and verify has been reduced to less than 17 seconds. That kind of dramatic performance gain provides an immediate gain in production throughput for our users. The consumption of high density memories is exploding in a variety of consumer and automotive electronics. Without these technology advances, the higher density memory devices could quickly become a volume production bottleneck."
     Throughout 2007, Data I/O has extended the capabilities of base programming platforms by delivering improved device handling capabilities, improved vision and inspection systems, applications software, improved actuation technology, and extended new device support.
     The company's proprietary High Insertion Count (HIC) adapters continue to provide the best quality and lowest cost per part than any other interconnect scheme available.
     For further information on Data I/O, visit www.dataio.com.

Quader promoted to SanDisk senior VP of NAND design & CAD
     SanDisk has promoted Dr. Khandker Nazrul Quader to the newly created position of senior vice president of NAND flash memory design, and CAD and NAND flash memory product development.
     Dr. Quader, whose promotion is effective immediately, will report to Dr. Randhir Thakur, SanDisk's executive vice president of technology and worldwide operations.
     Dr. Quader, who has been with SanDisk since 1995 and most recently was vice president of memory design, leads a multi-national engineering team that is responsible for the advancement of NAND flash memory technology and multi-level and binary flash memory development.
     "Khandker has risen through the ranks at SanDisk by making significant contributions, as shown in the numerous patents he holds in the field of NAND flash, NOR flash, DRAM, EEPROM, SRAM, analog circuits, temperature compensation schemes, advanced architectures, devices, reliability, and I/O structures," said Thakur. "In addition to the creation of the SanDisk NAND design and product development organization, Khandker has built a global technology network with strong teams in the U.S., Japan and India to achieve and maintain SanDisk's technology leadership."
     Prior to SanDisk, Quader worked for IBM in the design and development of DRAM. He also worked for Intel in the design and development of non-volatile memory, Static RAM, and differentiated memory products.
     SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards and is the world's largest supplier of flash data storage card products, using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology.
     SanDisk's web site/ and home page address is http://www.sandisk.com.