SanDisk and Sony Expand Memory Stick Capacity

Monday, January 12 06:43 am
Computer Business Online ComputerWire Staff

SanDisk and Sony have announced the joint development of two expanded Memory Stick formats to achieve a maximum storage capacity of 2-terabytes and enable a maximum data-transfer speed of 60 mbps. Skip related content

The new Memory Stick Format for Extended High Capacity of up to 2TB of data is 60 times higher than the Memory Stick PRO format's current 32GB limit. The new format is scheduled to support the MagicGate copyright protection technology and Access Control Function.

Memory Stick HG Micro format has an 8-bit parallel interface and offers an increased interface clock frequency of 60MHz, enabling 60Mbps data transfer speed, which is three times faster than the conventional serial 4-bit parallel interface and 40MHz interface.

Yoram Cedar, executive vice president of OEM and corporate engineering at SanDisk, said: "SanDisk and Sony share a long collaborative history of developing products and technologies. Both companies have enjoyed great successes with the Memory Stick PRO format, and the expansion of these formats to improve capacity and performance that will significantly impact mobile and consumer electronics markets."

Since September 1998 when the Memory Stick format was introduced, shipments are estimated to have surpassed 500 million units.