News
Microsoft, SanDisk Partner on Flash Drives
- By Becky Nagel
- May 11, 2007
Microsoft Corp. and SanDisk Corp. recently announced that they are partnering
on the next generation of USB's flash drives and memory cards.
For the new line, Microsoft will provide the software and SanDisk will develop
the hardware, with the goal of both being to expand the capabilities of the
drives and cards as well as implement new security technology, which the companies
are calling "TrustedFlash."
These products -- scheduled to debut in 2008 -- will eventually replace SanDisk's existing U3 Smart Technology products, which were developed through a joint venture with m-systems, called U3, and hit the market in 2005. SanDisk acquired m-systems last year.
"SanDisk and U3 forged the category of smart USB devices, elevating simple
flash storage to a whole new level of customer benefit," Will Poole, corporate
vice president of the Market Expansion Group at Microsoft, said in a released
statement. "We are excited to work with SanDisk on this next-generation
experience, which will allow hardware manufacturers to better differentiate
their products and provide an even richer software and services experience for
customers."
Microsoft said that starting now, it will "engage
in discussions with third-party hardware vendors interested in licensing the new software offering. A new entity will be created to license compatible hardware designs," according to the annoucement of the partnership.
The companies said they will split the revenue for the project, but did not say how.
About the Author
Becky Nagel is vice president of AI for 1105 Media, where she specializes in training internal and external customers on maximizing their business potential via a wide variety of generative AI technologies as well as developing cutting-edge AI content and events. She's the author of "ChatGPT Prompt 101 Guide for Business Uses," regularly leads research studies on generative AI business usage, and serves as the director of AI Boardroom, a new resource for C-level executives looking to excel in the AI era. Prior to her current position she was a technical leader for 1105 Media's Web, advertising and production teams as well as editorial director for a suite of enterprise technology publications, including serving as founding editor of PureAI.com. She has 20 years of enterprise technology journalism experience, and regularly speaks and writes about generative AI, AI, edge computing and other cutting-edge technologies. She can be reached at [email protected].