embedded storage
Latest
SATA-IO outs new SATA Express and Embedded SSD standards, acronyms abound
It's a big day for SATA-IO, as the organization has just announced not one, but two new SATA standards. The first of these, the SATA Express specification, gets the latter half of its name from the 'e' in PCIe, as it will allow current SATA standards to piggyback on the PCIe interface, boosting speeds to 8Gbps and 16Gbps, up from the current 6Gbps. SATA Express is expected to make its official debut later this year. SATA µSSD, on the other hand, is currently ready to go, and already implemented in SanDisk's iSSD embedded drive. It ditches the module connector from the old interface, allowing OEMs to stack single-chip drives right on the motherboard. A plethora of SATA-related press releases awaits you after the break -- if you're into that sort of thing.
SD Card Association announces Embedded SD standard
It looks like the SD Card Association association is starting to spread its wings beyond the comforts of removable storage, with it now aiming for a piece of the embedded storage market with its new, appropriately-named Embedded SD standard. Set to actually make its debut in devices this November, the new standard apparently makes use of many tried-and-true SD standards, which the association says should ease platform design in cellphones and consumer electronics devices and speed up widespread adoption. Among other things, the standard includes support both 3.3V and 1.8V power supplies, a flexible partition mechanism to allow for multiple partitions to accommodate various types of data, various data-protection and power-saving measures and, of course, an option to boot from the embedded SD. There's still no word on any specific devices that'll employ the standard, but you can expect them to max out with 32GB of on-board memory and 32GB of removable storage.
