SanDisk

Infobox_Company
company_name = SanDisk Corporation
company_
company_type = Public (nasdaq|SNDK)
foundation = 1988
location = Milpitas, California, USA
key_people = Eli Harari, Founder, President & CEO
Sanjay Mehrotra, Founder, COO, Executive Vice President
Jack Yuan, Founder
industry = Flash memory
Digital audio player
products = Flash memory cards
USB flash drives
Digital Audio Players
SIM Cards
num_employees = 3000 (Q3 2007)
homepage = [http://www.SanDisk.com/ www.SanDisk.com]

SanDisk Corporation (nasdaq|SNDK) is an American multinational corporation which designs and markets flash memory card products. SanDisk was founded in 1988 by Eli Harari and Sanjay Mehrotra, non-volatile memory technology experts. SanDisk became a publicly traded company on NASDAQ in November 1995. In January 2008 its market capitalization was US$6.5 billion. SanDisk produces many different types of flash memory, including various memory cards and a series of USB removable drives. SanDisk markets to both the high-end and low-end sector demand for premium quality flash memory; and markets to other equipment makers as well as direct to consumers.

The company is headquartered in Milpitas, California, with offices or manufacturing facilities in 10 locations in Asia (including Taiwan, China and Japan), 6 locations in Europe (including the UK, Ireland and Spain), and 3 locations in Israel (Kfar Sava, Tefen and Omer).

History

Eli Harari began making early contributions to EEPROM - electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a precursor to flash memory. Harari worked on flash memory at Intel, leaving to found a start-up which failed. In 1988, Harari launched the company that would become SanDisk with former Intel colleague Sanjay Mehrotra, and former Hughes Microelectronics colleague Jack Yuan.Citation | last = Harris | first = Scott Duke | title = Mercury News interview: SanDisk CEO helped launch digital revolution | newspaper = The San Jose Mercury News | year = 2008 | date = 2008-07-13 | url = http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9868280?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com | accessdate = 2008-08-06]

Early on, Sandisk recognized that digital cameras would need digital storage, and computers could become ever more mobile and light and would require a similar storage technology. In 1988 Harari offered the flash memory card technology to Kodak for inclusion in their cameras. Kodak offered to fund the development with the condition that SanDisk offer a three year exclusive contract for the 'digital film'. Harari and Sandisk rejected the offer, preferring to have competition in the marketplace.

Financial information

SanDisk is a component of the GSTI Semiconductor Index

Acquisitions

*SanDisk bought M-Systems, a USB flash memory stick maker for US$1.3 billion in 2006. [cite news | title= SanDisk To Buy msystems | url=http://www.thestreet.com/_iwon/newsanalysis/techsemis/10300419.html?cf=WSIWON1111051500 |date=2006-07-31 | work= [http://www.thestreet.com/ TheStreet.com] | accessdate=2006-08-21]

MP3 license dispute

On September 4 2006 at the IFA show in Berlin, German authorities seized all MP3 players that were in SanDisk's booth since Italian patent company Sisvel had won an injunction against it regarding the MP3 format. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5312696.stm|title=SanDisk faces MP3 licence dispute|publisher=BBC News|date=2006-09-04|accessdate=2006-09-08] Sisvel, who had previously filed a separate lawsuit in Mannheim, claims that SanDisk uses the MP3 format without paying the required licensing fee. On September 8, 2006, a Berlin court overturned the injunction and SanDisk put the players back on display. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5326660.stm|title=MP3 player court order overturned|publisher=BBC News|date=2006-09-08|accessdate=2006-09-08]

On March 16 2007 SanDisk issued a press release announcing they had reached agreement and now acquired licences for all current and future MP3 applications. [cite web|url=http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=86495&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=974784&highlight=|title=SISVEL and Audio MPEG Grant SanDisk an MPEG Audio Patents License|publisher=SanDisk|date=2007-03-16|accessdate=2007-03-18]

Products

;FlashCP
FlashCP is a digital rights management technology for the storage of electronic materials (e.g. e-books) on portable devices. FlashCP is targeted primarily at students and allows transportation of copyrighted material while enforcing copy restrictions against the user. SanDisk acquired the technology in 2005 with the purchase of Israel-based MDRM. As an avid proponent of DRM, this is one of many such technologies developed by SanDisk, the other ones being Gruvi pre-loaded memory cards and the underlying TrustedFlash technology. SanDisk media players have near universal support for Windows Media DRM and rely almost exclusively on variants of the copy-protection capable Secure Digital format for removable storage.

Currently, SanDisk manufactures one drive that uses the FlashCP technology, called the Freedom Drive, which is part of the Cruzer line. Additionally, digital content can be downloaded to Cruzer Freedom from the [http://www.SanDiskPlaza.SanDisk.com SanDisk Plaza] , a growing online store offering digital books, music, games, and education tools. Prices for on line products vary. Many selections are free. Once downloaded, the digital content may be used online and offline.

;SanDisk Products [cite web | title=SanDisk Innovation Timeline | url=http://www.SanDisk.com/Corporate/Timeline/ | work= [http://www.SanDisk.com/ SanDisk.com] |accessdate = 2006-08-21]

* CompactFlash cards (1994)
* MultiMediaCards (1997)
* Memory Stick Pro cards (2003)
* RS-MMC (Reduced-Size MultiMediaCards) (2004)
* SD cards (2001), miniSD Cards (2003), and microSD Cards (2005)
* SanDisk Cruzer USB flash drives
* Memory Stick PRO Duo and Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo cards
* SanDisk Sansa MP3 players
* USB memory card readers
* USB Smart Drives for Console and PC video gaming
* Solid-state drives (SSD)
* Gruvi DRM memory cards (2006 - discontinued)
* MegaSIM High capacity SIM Card (expected: Q4 - 2008)

The current Sansa line of flash memory based audio and video players consists of the following:
*Sansa Shaker
*Sansa Clip
*Sansa Express
*Sansa c200
*Sansa e200
*Sansa View
*Sansa Fuze

ee also

*FlashCP
*Flash memory
*USB drive
*Sansa

References

External links

* [http://www.SanDisk.com SanDisk website]
* [http://www.driveyourlaptop.com SanDisk SSD website]
* [http://www.m-systems.com msystems website]
* [http://www.ssdforums.com SSD Discussion Forum site] Finance links
name = SanDisk Corporation
symbol = SNDK
sec_cik = 1000180
hoovers = 44448