sdxc logo.jpgThe next-generation SDXC (eXtended Capacity) memory card specification, announced today at the 2009 International CES, dramatically improves consumers' digital lifestyles by providing the portable storage and speed needed to store weeks of high-definition video, years of photo collections and months of music to mobile phones, cameras and camcorders, and other consumer electronic devices. The new SDXC specification provides up to 2 terabytes storage capacity and accelerates SD interface read/write speeds to 104 megabytes per second this year, with a road map to 300 megabytes per second.

The SDXC specification, developed by the SD Association, leapfrogs memory card interface speeds while retaining the world-leading SD interface. Specifications for the open standard will be released in the first quarter of 2009. SDHC, Embedded SD and SDIO specifications will also benefit from the new SD interface speeds.

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Verbatim® Americas, LLC announced today that it has extended its support for Blu-ray Disc (BD) technology and will feature its expanded line of Blu-ray media at Booth #2617 during Macworld this week.  In addition to the 2X and 4X BD recordable (BD-R),  2X BD rewritable (BD-RE), 2X and 4X Inkjet printable BD-R and Mini BD-R/BD-RE media, which are available now, Verbatim will showcase five new BD products. Scheduled to begin shipping in the first half of 2009, the new products include 2X BD-R Thermal Hub-printable discs and 6X BD-R discs as well as 2X and 6X Single-sided Dual-layer (DL) BD-R discs. Verbatim 2X BD-R LTH TYPE discs are also scheduled to launch soon.

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Samsung announced today that it has developed a 100GB solid state drive (SSD) for the enterprise market. Thanks to a sophisticated 8-channel controller, improved NAND flash and special drive firmware, this new 2.5-inch SSD is capable of processing IOPS more than ten times faster than the fastest 15K rpm SAS hard drive.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today at the Storage Visions 2009 Conference here that it has developed a 100 gigabyte (GB) solid state drive for use in servers for applications such as video on demand, streaming media content delivery, internet data centers, virtualization and on-line transaction processing.

As an alternative to traditional 15K rpm hard disk drives (HDDs), the new performance-optimized 100GB Enterprise SSD can process IOPS (input/output per second) more than 10 times faster than the fastest 15K rpm SAS HDD available for transactional data workloads, with a random read speed of 25K and a random write speed of 6K. The new drive can process as much as 100 times the number of IOPS per watt as a 15K rpm 2.5-inch SAS HDD in applications where higher performance and lower power consumption are both needed.

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Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, today expanded its popular family of JumpDrive® USB flash drives with the introduction of its JumpDrive TwistTurn and JumpDrive Retrax flash drives- two new USB storage solutions that feature innovative, stylish designs and are geared to meet the demands of today's budget-conscious consumers.

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Both the Lexar® JumpDrive TwistTurn and JumpDrive Retrax USB flash drives feature innovative designs based, respectively, on rotating and retracting mechanisms that eliminate the need for caps to cover the USB connectors. JumpDrive TwistTurn and JumpDrive Retrax flash drives come in a variety of attractive colors, allowing customers to choose the color best suited to his or her personal taste. These new additions to the Lexar JumpDrive line are available in a range of large capacities up to 32GB, allowing users to quickly and easily store photo, music, video, and data files.

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CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), innovative solution provider for the connected media lifestyle, will be featuring a sophisticated suite of enhancement technologies that heightens the home theater experience by dramatically improving the video and audio playback quality at the Las Vegas Hilton, Suite 2365, January 8-11.

“The growing popularity for high-definition video and audio in the market has raised consumers’ expectations towards the movie playback experience,” said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. “CyberLink has developed advanced technologies that will boost standard-definition DVD video and audio quality to achieve superior results, allowing users to enjoy high-definition right now."

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Toshiba announced today that it has expanded its line of portable external hard drives to include a 500GB model. Like previous versions, this postcard sized hard drive is protected by an internal shock sensor and ramp-loading technology and can be powered off a computer's USB bus.

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Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD), the industry pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), today introduced a half-terabyte model to its personal storage line, providing consumers with a high-capacity warehouse and easy-to-use data backup solution for personal digital files, music libraries, home videos and other digital memories.

The new 500GB Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive comes with a glossy black finish and frost white contemporary graphics that will appeal to consumers looking for the latest must-haves in personal electronics for their home office or study -- or to throw in their backpacks and travel cases, thanks to easy portability. An added bonus for home use is the new 500GB model's ultra-quiet operation, with improved acoustics in the hard drive.

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SanDisk Corporation today unveiled its next-generation of flash memory-based solid-state drives (SSD) to support the evolving needs of designers, manufacturers and users in the exploding netbook market - SanDisk® pSSD™. The new SanDisk pSSD-P2 and SanDisk pSSD-S2 SSDs have capacity and performance for more full-featured netbooks which require a robust operating system.

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Designed as drop-in replacements for hard-disk drives (HDDs), SanDisk’s new second generation module has a SATA interface to meet new netbook design requirements. The SATA interface offers a significant boost in performance rendering these SSDs faster than HDDs in critical aspects. Booting and launching applications takes just half the time of an HDD.

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LaCie recently announced its new LightScribe equipped external DVD writer, the LaCie d2 DVD±RW 22x with LightScribe. Along with support for FireWire and USB 2.0, LaCie's new drive features 22x DVD±R, 16x DVD+R DL, 12x DVD-R DLand 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds.

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Today LaCie announced its new LaCie d2 DVD±RW 22x with LightScribe and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and/or FireWire disc burners. The new products let customers backup large multimedia files on strikingly original-looking DVDs or CDs. With the LightScribe labeling tools available from LaCie on the 22x rewritable DVD drive, users can customize their content easily and quickly for professional and personal use. And it works with the three major personal computer operating systems.

The LaCie d2 DVD±RW 22x with LightScribe achieves the fastest DVD recording speed available on the market today. And users have a choice of connecting it to their computers via two blazingly fast interfaces: FireWire or USB 2.0. With LaCie’s new disc burner, users can store up to 8.5 GB of business presentations, files, music, photos or movies on individual discs, or the equivalent of more than two hours of theater-quality video on a large-capacity DVD.

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Verbatim® Americas, LLC, a global leader and innovator in the digital storage industry, announced at Macworld today its new ExpressCard SSD for PC and Mac users. The new card is a solid-state drive (SSD) that provides ExpressCard slot-equipped XP/Vista PCs and OS X-equipped Macs® with plug-in storage that is up to five times faster than USB based ExpressCards. Based on the 34mm ExpressCard module (75mm x 34mm x 5mm), the Verbatim ExpressCard SSD will be available the end of February with capacities of 16, 32 and 64GB. The high-performance, high-capacity storage solution comes bundled with NTI Shadow™ IV, a backup application that provides PC and Mac users with continuous real time backup of critical data.

With read speeds of up to 125MB/sec (833X) and write speeds up to 30MB/sec (200X), Verbatim’s new ExpressCard SSD offers significantly higher performance than USB-based ExpressCard SSD solutions, due to the throughput limitations of the USB 2.0 interface. Verbatim’s PCI ExpressCard SSD is also enhanced for Windows® ReadyBoost® to allow the user to allocate a portion of the device’s unused storage capacity to speed system performance on Windows Vista™ equipped PCs.

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SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today introduced an innovative new family of SanDisk® USB flash drives, including the world’s first backup USB flash drive with simple backup software activation at the touch of a button. The SanDisk Ultra® Backup USB portable flash drive is the first offering of the company’s new SanDisk Ultra USB product line. With capacities up to 64 gigabytes (GB), the SanDisk Ultra Backup USB flash drive is designed to protect computer users’ photos, music, videos, personal and business documents, and other types of digital files, with the simple touch of a button. No software installation is needed. The drive protects onboard digital content with a dual layer of security, including password-protected access control and ultra-secure AES hardware-based encryption.

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With no cables required, or any complicated software to install, the new SanDisk Ultra Backup USB flash drive is a complete backup solution that provides an incredibly easy way to protect digital files. It uses patent-pending backup technology with capacities up to 64GB, large enough to back up average consumer requirements, as well as critical small business files and documents. In addition to one’s digital personal life, these products protect critical work files with a dual layer of both password protection and AES hardware encryption. This ensures content stays private and secure (via data scrambling at the flash controller level) when the drives are either physically removed for portability, or stored away for safe keeping.

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