Flash Cards Security Standard Unveiled

Five of the biggest names in the electronics and semiconductor industries on
Thursday announced the creation of a new mobile commerce extension standard
for flash memory cards, a move aimed at squarely at the lucrative market for
micropayments.

The five — Hitachi, Ingentix GmbH , Matsushita (Panasonic), SanDisk and
Toshiba — said the mobile commerce standard would add increased security
functions to the standard memory features that are already supported by
existing flash cards.

By adding updated security capabilities, the five companies (known as 5C)
are promoting the use of flash memory cards in new applications, such as:
secure data transfer, content purchase and electronic payments.

Equally important, the plan is for the new security features to boost the
flagging market for flash memory cards , which are used
primarily in digital cameras and other devices to capture and store digital
images, data, video and audio.

Ideally, 5C believes the adoption of the flash card standard would extend to
new markets like stock trading, storage of personal medical records and the
purchase of entertainment content, such as music and video.

The group said the new set of security features could be used with popular
flash memory cards like CompactFlash, SD Memory Card, MultiMediaCard and was
independent of specific card specifications (physical dimensions, form
factor and electrical specifications as defined by various card standard
organizations or manufacturers. “It is also independent of operating systems
and therefore can be used on a wide range of devices,” the group said.

Last year, according to research from International Data Corp. (IDC),
worldwide sales of flash memory cards reached 45 million and the 5C group is
leaning heavily on IDC forecasts that the flash card market, which totaled
about $920 million in 2001, will grow to $2.6 billion in 2006.

The firms plan to promote and license the new standard in the open market.
Complete standard specs and licensing documents would be available to the
public by October, 2002, the group said.