CompactFlash enters retail market in Japan; five companies add CF storage device to product lines.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 1996--CompactFlash (CF), SanDisk Corp's ultra-small, standard-setting, removable flash storage system, is now widely available in the Japanese retail market following decisions by five strong after-market companies in Japan to market CF under their own brands.

The five firms -- Epson, IO Data, Elecom, Logitec and Adtec -- sell computer-related products including storage devices to numerous retail outlets across Japan.

Doug Fine, managing director of SanDisk Ltd., Yokohama, Japan, a wholly owned subsidiary of SanDisk Corp., said, "By marketing CF under their own brand names, these five companies have concluded that there will be a significant after-market for CF in Japan as new digital cameras, digital audio recorders, cellular phones, PDAs and other small consumer electronic systems that use CompactFlash come on the market."

Fine added that he "expects other companies in Japan to add CF to their product lines as CF's huge market potential becomes apparent. There also will be companies in Japan who will develop and introduce their own CompactFlash products that meet the specifications of the CompactFlash Association (CFA). CompactFlash is an open standard that meets all PCMCIA and JEIDA electrical interface specifications."

Nelson Chan, vice president of marketing for SanDisk Corp., noted, "CompactFlash has been on retail shelves in Japan since January and early sales are well above expectations. This is significant for SanDisk because Japan represents a very important market for us. We fully expect that CompactFlash also will soon be widely available in retail outlets in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and many other countries."

The rugged, solid-state, removable CompactFlash device is about the size of a matchbook and stores data, images and audio. Available initially in 2, 4, 10 and 15MB capacities, CF is an industry-standard product because it slips easily into a passive Type II PC adapter card to permit data, images and audio to be transported to desktop PCs, portable computers, printers and other electronic platforms equipped with either a Type II or Type III PC card slot.

A 4MB CF can store approximately 40 high resolution digital images in the new digital cameras currently being introduced by several leading photographic imaging corporations.

More than 35 companies support CompactFlash and are members of the CFA. They include numerous prominent imaging, communications, consumer electronics and semiconductor companies, including Apple Computer, Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Kodak, LG Semicon, Micron, Mitsubishi, Motorola, NEC, Nikon, Panasonic, Polaroid, Ricoh, Sanyo Electric, Seagate, Siemens Nixdorf AG, Sony and 3M.

CompactFlash and other SanDisk products meet the ATA industry standard and are compatible with virtually all computing and communications systems because nearly all of the world's leading operating system companies, hardware vendors and systems vendors support the ATA interface standard.

SanDisk Corp. designs, manufactures and markets industry-standard, solid-state data, image and audio storage products using proprietary, high density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk has strategic alliances with Seagate Technology, Matsushita Electronic Corp., NEC Corp. and LG Semicon. Seagate holds a 25 percent equity stake in SanDisk. The company is based in Santa Clara.

CF and CompactFlash are trademarks of SanDisk Corp. SanDisk's web site/home page address: http://www.sandisk.com.

CONTACT: SanDisk Corp., Santa Clara

Nelson Chan, 408/562-3456

Bob Goligoski, 408/562-3463