MiCard

The miCard (Multiple Interface card) is a type of flash memory card that is compatible with existing USB ports and MMC card slots.

It was announced June 2, 2007, and accepted by the MultiMedia Card Association (MMCA) as a global flash memory card standard, to work with the majority of electronic devices. Developed by Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan, as of the announcement 12 Taiwanese companies (including A-Data Technology, Asustek, BenQ, Carry Computer Eng. Co., C-One Technology, DBTel, Power Digital Card Co., and RiCHIP) had signed on to manufacture the new memory card.

Features of the card include compatibility with existing USB ports, SD card, and MMC card readers with the aid of an adapter. The card is expected to be available starting in the third quarter of 2007. It is expected to save the 12 Taiwanese companies who plan to manufacture the product and related hardware up to USD 40 million in licensing fees, that presumably would otherwise be paid to owners of competing flash memory formats. The initial card will have a capacity of 8 GB, while the standard supports sizes up to 2048 GB. It will have data transfer speeds of 480 Mbit/s (60 Mbyte/s), with plans to increase data throughput over time.

Questions concerning the ability of older customer hardware supporting 8 GB flash memory, and concerns over the choice of file system (FAT, NTFS, ext2) and how these traits may affect the usefulness and acceptance of this new card, have begun to be voiced in tech news forums.

External links

* [http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9022598 Article] on Computerworld, 01 June 2007
* [http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132461-pg,1/article.html Press Release, Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service from PC World article 01 June 2007]