Short Cuts: Roaming Around the Mobile Computing Industry

CompactFlash Gets Association

CompactFlash took a step closer to becoming an industry standard with the recent formation of the CompactFlash Association (CFA). Spearheaded by the inventor of the technology, SanDisk, the CFA brings together twelve leading computing, imaging, communication, and consumer electronic companies with the goal of promoting the CompactFlash storage specification.

The announcement, which was made at a press conference in Redwood City, California, highlighted the dozen founding member companies which include Apple Computer, Canon, Eastman Kodak, Hewlett-Packard, LG Semicon (formerly Goldstar), Matsushita (Panasonic), Motorola, NEC, Polaroid, SanDisk, Seagate, and Seiko Epson.

While none of the companies detailed specific plans on when and how they plan to incorporate CompactFlash technology into their products, all were optimistic about the technology and its likely role in the development of smaller and increasingly digital consumer and professional products.

Representatives from the twelve companies will serve on the CFA’s board of directors. The organization is actively recruiting new members and anticipates its ranks to increase in the near future. In order to encourage the development of products and systems based around CompactFlash, SanDisk has agreed to transfer the CompactFlash trademark and technical specification to the CFA. The association will then make it available to third party manufacturers who commit to developing and supplying products based on the technology under a royalty free license.

At about one-fourth the volume size of a standard Type II PC Card, CompactFlash has staked its claim as the world’s smallest removable data storage system. The technology was introduced by SanDisk in October, 1994, as a solid-state cartridge about the size of a matchbook. CF cartridges are currently available in 2, 4, 10, and 15 MB capacities.

For more information, please contact Bob Goligoski of the CompactFlash Association at (408) 562-0527, (408) 562-3403 (fax).

Xircom Finds Wireless a Breeze

As wireless technologies become more pervasive, so too will the need for greater interoperability, flexibility, and performance. Two southern California companies took a step closer to this goal, and each other, by announcing a joint development agreement and technology partnership.

The companies, Xircom, Inc. and BreezeCOM, will develop products conforming to the upcoming IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN standard. As part of the agreement, BreezeCOM also agreed to include Xircom’s CreditCard Netwave Adapters to its wireless LAN product line.

In addition to interoperability, Xircom and BreezeCOM hope to increase the performance capability of the wireless system. In particular, this means integrating BreezeCOM’s high-speed multilevel modulation technology, based on Digital Signal Processing (DSP), into the CreditCard adapter. By employing this in both the access point and the PC Card adapter, the companies intend to increase data transfer rates, along with the communication range.

Early results are already in. The companies recently demonstrated Xircom’s CreditCard Netwave Adapter communicating with the BreezeNET AP-10 Access Point. While this is currently based on Xircom’s Netwave protocol, both companies are committed to doing the same using the proposed IEEE 802.11 standard.

For more information, please contact Xircom at (805) 376-9300, (805) 376-9311 (fax).

Proxim Improves Wireless Throughput

As one of the leading providers of wireless LAN products, Proxim keeps working at improving the communication features of its products. Recently, the company revealed that new software for its RangeLAN 2.4 GHz wireless LAN products now offers better throughput, increased coverage, and greater mobility and management capabilities compared with the previous version.

According to the company the RangeLAN2, which employs frequency hopping spread spectrum technology, now offers 50-60% increased throughput. And through increased radio sensitivity and optional high-gain antennas, RangeLAN2 is now capable of boosting the range up to 2-3 times, thereby expanding the coverage area up to 5 to 10 times. In concrete terms, this means that the maximum range in open space now extends up to 3000 ft. (approximately 915 m).

Proxim is quick to point out that greater range may mean fewer access points, translating to potentially lower cost. The new software also offers greater flexibility by enabling network managers to define how roaming users switch between network access points. The choice of roaming options will depend on the spacing of the network access points throughout the environment.

Power management also received a boost with enhancements to Proxim’s Marathon protocol, enabling greater power savings in the system’s “Doze” power saving mode. New power consumption levels are about one-quarter of the previous level. Finally, the company has improved the network management features of the system, enabling managers to perform network diagnostics across several access points and assess network performance while roaming.

In a separate announcement, Proxim outlined a new program for product certification and distribution that should increase the availability of its RangeLAN2 wireless LAN products across Europe. The company expects to ship European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) certified products throughout Europe by the end of the year.

For more information, please contact Proxim, Inc. at (415) 960-1630, (415) 964-5181 (fax).

Flash Makes a Splash

Mobile computing is all about trade-offs. And one of the most common, and sometimes frustrating, trade-off in many PDAs centers around the conflicting issues of storage versus communication. For systems that combine little storage, little or no built-in communication, and a single PCMCIA slot, the choices are often unappealing for the power user.

SanDisk, the supplier of flash data storage products, is hoping to alleviate some of these issues by offering a solution to OEMs enabling them to incorporate storage directly on their printed circuit boards, freeing a single PCMCIA slot for more lofty uses. SanDisk’s solution is called the Flash Chipset, a tiny embedded solid-state ATA data storage system.

As you’ll recall, ATA is the mobile equivalent of the industry standard IDE interface common on desktop computer systems. The Flash Chipset consists of memory together with a highly integrated flash controller chip, making what SanDisk calls an “intelligent” flash chipset. The controller, co-developed with Motorola, features a 68000 core processor and microcode ROM.

SanDisk is targeting the chipset at OEMs and developers that need to incorporate a low power and high capacity memory system directly into products ranging from handheld computers, to cellular phones, digital cameras, and medical monitors.

The Flash Chipset is designed to operate at 3.3 volts while also supporting devices that function using 5 volts. And since the system is fully compatible with ATA and IDE technology, OEMs should have no trouble designing it into devices that have built-in BIOS and driver support for ATA and IDE, including operating systems such as Windows 95, DOS, GEOS, and others.

The Flash Chipset is available in capacities of 2, 4, and 10 MB, which SanDisk notes can be effectively doubled using Stacker compression software. SanDisk is offering volume pricing to OEMs ranging from $60 for the 2 MB chipset, to $85 and $195 for the 4 and 10 MB chipsets respectively. SanDisk is also boasting that the Flash Chipset is the industry’s first 32 Mbit-based flash product shipping in volume.

The company notes that 32 Mbit flash technology employs denser memory when compared with previous flash generations, lowering the cost of data storage to end customers. As storage needs expand in a range of consumer devices, this factor is increasing in importance each day.

For more information, please contact SanDisk at (408) 562-0500, (408) 562-0503 (fax).