MultiMediaCard Association and CE-ATA Promoter Group Form Liaison.LAS VEGAS Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. -- The MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA (MultiMediaCard Association, Beaverton, OR, www.mmca.org) A membership organization founded in 1998 to promote the MultiMediaCard (MMC) storage module used in cellphones, PDAs and other small handheld devices. ) announced here today that it has formed a liaison arrangement with the Consumer Electronics-Advanced Technology Attachment (CE-ATA) Promoter Group whereby the two groups will collaborate to ensure that the technologies they support are complimentary and address the needs of the storage industry in providing a solution that is ideally suited to portable consumer applications. Disk drives have increasingly found their way into handheld consumer electronics applications. Industry consensus concluded however that the existing disk drive interfaces built around desktop PC and large storage device applications are unsuitable for the next generation devices such as mobile handsets and audio/video players where small form factor, low pin count and low power consumption are key requirements. The CE-ATA Promoter Group, which includes Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. Summary Hitachi purchased IBM's hard disk drive division, integrated their own HDD operations, and launched the company in 2003. , Intel Corporation (company) Intel Corporation - A US microelectronics manufacturer. They produced the Intel 4004, Intel 8080, Intel 8086, Intel 80186, Intel 80286, Intel 80386, Intel 486 and Pentium microprocessor families as well as many other integrated circuits and personal computer networking , Marvell Semiconductor, Nokia Corporation, Seagate Technology (company) Seagate Technology - A major manufacturer of hard disk drives, founded in 1979 as "Shugart Technology" by Alan F. Shugart and Finis Conner. That name is on the original patents for the 5.25" hard disk drive. and Toshiba America Information Systems, was formed in September 2004 to develop a new interface standard for mini-hard drives. The collaboration between the MMCA and the CE-ATA Promoter Group ensures fast time-to-market and interoperability The capability of two or more hardware devices or two or more software routines to work harmoniously together. For example, in an Ethernet network, display adapters, hubs, switches and routers from different vendors must conform to the Ethernet standard and interoperate with each other. of disk drive solutions on small portable consumer devices. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Scott Herbert, Executive Director of the MMCA, "We see this liaison work as a way to introduce strong hard drive solution to portable consumer applications. The fast MMC See MultiMediaCard and Microsoft Management Console. interface described in our MMC System Specification ver. 4.1 is optimum for this because it is designed for mobile environments, and so offers best in class combination of high performance, low voltage Low voltage is an electrical engineering term that broadly identifies safety considerations of an electricity supply system based on the voltage used. While different definitions exist for the exact voltage range covered by "low voltage", the most commonly used ones include "mains (both 1.8V and 3V), low pin count, resolvability, and high level protocol with good security support." "Cooperation between the CE-ATA and MMCA organizations creates new opportunities for a highly optimal storage interface solution for portable consumer applications," said Knut Grimsrud, chairman of the CE-ATA Promoter Group and Intel senior principal engineer. "By working together, we can deliver a solution that not only provides the best solution for highly integrated storage devices, but also provides the greatest degree of interoperability and compatibility with the MMCA technology. The CE-ATA specification builds on MMCA technology that will be used as the underlying communication interface." About MultiMediaCards MultiMediaCards are the small, removable solid-state memory cards designed especially for mobile phones and digital imaging, among other applications. These convenient, reliable, rugged and lightweight standardized standardized pertaining to data that have been submitted to standardization procedures. standardized morbidity rate see morbidity rate. standardized mortality rate see mortality rate. data carriers store up to 1 Gbyte, or approximately 640,000 book pages. MultiMediaCards use ROM or flash technology for read-only applications, and flash technology for read/write applications. The cards are fast for excellent system performance; energy efficient for prolonged pro·long tr.v. pro·longed, pro·long·ing, pro·longs 1. To lengthen in duration; protract. 2. To lengthen in extent. battery life; and cost-efficient for use in systems sold at consumer price points. They also have an easy-to-install serial interface. MMCplus(TM) and MMCmobile(TM) are product names and logos for memory cards built to the high-speed MultiMediaCard (MMC) standards that feature the highest data transfer rates among all existing memory card standards. MMCplus cards in the standard MMC form factor (32 x 24 x 1.4mm) are ideal for digital imaging as well as digital music on consumer electronic devices. MMCmobile cards come in the reduced-size MMC form factor (18 x 24 x 1.4mm) and, due to their smaller size and dual operating voltage ranges, are ideal for mobile phone and applications where space saving and extended battery life are essential. About The MMCA (MultiMediaCard Association - www.mmca.org) The MMCA is the open standard memory card organization, promoting worldwide adoption of a postage-stamp size, removable storage card designed especially for mobile phones and digital imaging. Founded in 1998 with 14 companies, the MMCA has grown rapidly and now has 190+ members worldwide, representing all branches of mobile electronic applications, including semiconductor suppliers, software vendors and manufacturers of low power devices for storing and retrieving digital information. The MMCA develops and regulates open industry standards that define all types of MultiMediaCards, ensuring full interoperability. The organization charges no royalties for using the membership-driven standard, although a nominal license fee is included in the membership dues. Specifications are available to members from the organization's website, and can be purchased for $1,000 by non-members. MultiMediaCards are becoming the industry standard for compact removable storage media across multiple host platforms and markets, including cell phones, digital cameras, PDAs, MP-3 digital music players Hardware or software that plays audio files encoded in MP3, AAC, WMA or other audio formats. There are several software-based music players that play audio files in a desktop or laptop computer, including iTunes, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player. , portable video games See video game console. and laptop computers A portable computer that has a flat LCD screen and usually weighs less than eight pounds. Often called just a "laptop," it uses batteries for mobile use and AC power for charging the batteries and desktop use. Today's high-end laptops provide all the capabilities of most desktop computers. . The MMCA mailing address is P.O. Box 303, Sunol, CA 94586; Ph: 925-417-0127; Fax: 925-417-0128. More information is at www.mmca.org. About CE-ATA The benefits of CE-ATA are many. From an industry perspective, small form factor disk drive suppliers can take advantage of a storage interface tailored to the needs of such devices, resulting in highly optimized disk drive designs. Host silicon providers and product integrators will also benefit from the improved integration that the tailored interface affords due to its low pin count, favorable fa·vor·a·ble adj. 1. Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds. 2. Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis. 3. voltages and efficient protocol. For consumers, a disk drive interface tailored to the needs of the handheld and portable consumer market segments could spur storage use in innovative new products and lead to products with a more efficient storage solution. The CE-ATA Working Group was launched in September 2004 to develop a storage interface tailored to the needs of small form factor disk drives in portable consumer electronics applications. The CE-ATA promoter companies include Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Intel Corporation, Marvell Semiconductor, Nokia Corporation, Seagate Technology and Toshiba America Information Systems and membership is at 28 companies. Visit www.ce-ata.org for more information. MMCplus(TM) and MMCmobile(TM) are trademarks of MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA). Intel is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and other countries. Company/product names mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and are used for identification purpose only. |
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