Sony New amp; Faster Memory Stick PRO-HG

SanDisk® Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK - News) and Sony Corporation todayannounced the development of the "Memory Stick PRO-HG" format expanded from the"Memory Stick PRO" format.

The continuing increase in the capacity of IC recording media has broadened itsusage as a practical way to store high-resolution digital photos, music andvideo content (from the Internet or TV programs) on portable devices that aredesigned to handle digital entertainment content. The demand for real-timerecording and transfer of multiple gigabytes of data using IC recording media isexpected to increase rapidly, due to the growing popularity of high resolutionvideo and digital still image applications.

"Memory Stick PRO-HG" media offers high performance to meet the stringentdemands of end users. This new media format uses an enhanced, 8-bit parallelinterface in addition to a conventional serial and 4-bit parallel interface. Theinterface clock frequency also increases to 60MHz from 40MHz. This means thatmaximum data transfer speed increases up to 480Mbps, or 60MB/s (theoreticalvalue), three times as fast as that of "Memory Stick PRO" media. The minimumwrite speed at 8-bit parallel transfer is 120 Mbps, or 15MB/s(1). Theseenhancements allow large data amounts of up to several gigabytes to be quicklytransferred, as well as the real-time recording of high-resolution video andstill images.

Since "Memory Stick PRO-HG" is an extended format of the "Memory Stick PRO"format, "Memory Stick PRO-HG" compliant host devices support the conventional"Memory Stick PRO" media as well as "Memory Stick PRO-HG" media. In addition,the "Memory Stick PRO-HG" media can be used conventional "Memory Stick PRO"compliant host devices as well as "Memory Stick PRO-HG" compliant hostdevices.(2)

Licensing for the development of "Memory Stick PRO-HG" compliant host devices isscheduled to commence in January 2007.

"Sony and SanDisk share the common goal of providing exciting new digital audioand video applications to consumers," said Eli Harari, Chairman and CEO ofSanDisk Corporation. "This is the driving force that is behind our relentlessefforts to leverage our expertise and extensive intellectual property in flashmemory cards to develop the Memory Stick PRO-HG. I am proud of the closecooperation we have with Sony over the years and look forward to seeing theexciting new products that Memory Stick PRO-HG media enable."

Akira Kubota, president of Core Component Business Unit, Sony Corporation said"Sony has successfully collaborated with SanDisk Corporation in promoting theMemory Stick formats. Significant milestones have been the Memory Stick PROformat in 2003 and the Memory Stick Micro in 2005. I am delighted by today'sjoint announcement of the Memory Stick PRO-HG format. This new IC recordingmedia allows the speedy sharing of high definition video and digital stillcamera data between products." Through the introduction of this new format,Memory Stick will greatly expand its entertainment applications.

Since the September 1998 market introduction of Memory Stick, cumulativeshipments of media have achieved 200 million units as of September 2006(3). TheMemory Stick PRO-HG Duo media will be made available in 2007.

Major Specifications of Memory Stick PRO-HG

Dimensions Duo size (31 x 20 x 1.6) mm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Connector Pin 14-pin
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Capacity 32GB(a) (format maximum)(4)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Max. Data Transfer Rate 480 Mbps (theoretical)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Min. Write Speed 120 Mbps(1) (As of 8-bit parallel transfer)
40 Mbps(1) (As of 4-bit parallel transfer)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Voltage 2.7 to 3.6 V
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Interface 8-bit / 4-bit parallel I/F and Serial I/F
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Max. Clock frequency 60MHz(5)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright Protection Technology MagicGate
----------------------------------------------------------------------