SunDisk To Show PCMCIA Storage Card

As we go to press, SunDisk is planning to announced its first PCMCIA compatible solid state storage device on October 20th. Using PCMCIA’s new “ATA” mass storage specification (which stands for AT Attachment), the SunDisk device will be available in 10 or 20 MByte versions, and will plug into virtually any computer that has a PCMCIA slot, according to SunDisk’s John Reimer, who is also President of the PCMCIA. SunDisk will demonstrate the ATA device running in an HP 96LX as well as in a variety of pen-based systems.

The ATA specification brings the entire mass storage interface on to the PCMCIA card. Since the ATA spec integrates the IDE or AT-bus interface with the necessary PCMCIA interface, there should be minimal compatibility problems between Intel-based platforms. It will be interesting to see how easy it is to plug these same devices into some of the pen and handheld systems that come out next year using new architectures such as the ARM or Hobbit processors, to be used by Apple and EO, respectively.

The new SunDisk devices are already shipping to OEMs and will be available to consumers directly through SunDisk within two months, allowing current owners of PCMCIA-based systems to buy these devices individually. SunDisk will begin an advertising campaign in November and will provide a special phone number for placing orders. Pricing information is not yet available, but we estimate that the price (depending on capacity) will be somewhere between $50 and $100 per megabyte.

For more information, contact:

SunDisk
3270 Jay St.
Santa Clara, CA 95054
408-562-0500