ToShiBa pLaNs

fLaSh mEmOrY

Toshiba plans to double the read/write speed of its NAND flash chips in the next year
Toshiba is planning to double the read/write speed of its NAND flash memory chips in the next year, the company said Monday.

NAND flash memory is used as the basic storage in devices such as digital cameras, music players and memory cards and faster chips could mean faster data transfers between computers and the devices.

At present, Toshiba's flash chips can read and write data at 6MBps but this will be doubled to 12MBps sometime next year when the company begins producing chips on a new manufacturing line, said Hiroko Mochida, a Toshiba spokeswoman.

The company currently makes most of its NAND flash chips on a 90-nanometer production line but plans to start up a state-of-the-art 52-nanometer line in 2006 on which the chips will be made.

The nanometer measurement refers to the size of the smallest feature on the chip and is a standard gauge of the manufacturing line. Smaller numbers mean a more advanced line and these are typically capable of producing physically smaller chips that are both cheaper and use less energy.
Initial chips will have a capacity of 16Gb (2GB), said Mochida.

Toshiba's new chips are coming as competition in the flash memory chip market is increasing. Apple Computer's (Profile, Products, Articles) launch of the iPod nano, which uses NAND flash memory, has increased demand for the chips and also expanded the potential market size so chip makers are battling each other to increase their sales.

"Hynix [Semiconductor] increased capacity from the second quarter of this year," said Hiroyuki Shimizu, an analyst at Gartner in Tokyo. "Their production went up sharply to close to Toshiba's so Toshiba had to increase their production [to maintain market share]. Maybe at the end of this year Hynix will be the number three in the market."

Toshiba was the second ranked company in the flash memory by revenue last year, according to Gartner estimates. Samsung Electronics led the market and Toshiba was followed by SanDisk, Renesas Technology, and then Hynix.

The competition is good news for consumers as prices are falling, said Shimizu. But some worry that demand will outstrip supply leading to a shortage.

At this moment NAND flash [price] is still going down but if there is a shortage of NAND flash memory [the manufacturers] will be trying to raise prices. Now they are trying to get [a larger] market share so they still have to reduce prices.

There's no magic bullet, but "master data" solutions of the type IBM formally introduced last week can go a long way toward enabling enterprises to create a single version of the truth without driving IT insane.

Three years in the making, WebSphere Product Center, Customer Center Version 6, and Integration Center together offer a complete "information service" solution, said Dan Druker, IBM's director of enterprise master data solutions. The new offerings are primarily a consolidation of products acquired in an IBM shopping spree that included the purchase of Trigo Technologies (product information middleware); DWL (customer data integration software); Ascential Software (enterprise information integration); and SRD (identity resolution software). Druker said IBM has been working with these products in the field for some time -- with 500 customers using them in various combinations -- and has drawn on that experience to evolve the products to their latest release versions.

IBM's Druker said a number of key drivers point toward the master-data approach. The first is simply cost savings through elimination of redundancy -- what he calls the "once and done" method of updating. Next in line is compliance because it's hard for companies to meet regulatory demands if there are multiple versions of the truth running around. Accurate, up-to-date credit and collections information is another motivation, as is the new wave of M&A activity, which has resulted in huge data consolidation problems.

Druker also noted that IBM's master data suite fits in nicely with today's overarching IT trend, SOA, which demands that a full range of applications distributed across the enterprise have access to a consolidated set of services. And rigorously consistent data information services -- whether data for products, customers, suppliers, or employees -- are arguably the most important services of all.

The newest installment of Microsoft’s software for mobile devices, will power an entirely new generation of phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and media players. Based on feedback from partners and end users alike, Microsoft ® Windows Mobile 5.0 delivers new productivity enhancements, offers an increasingly rich multimedia experience, provides mobile operators and device-maker partners with more opportunities to develop differentiated devices, and allows end users to better customize devices to fit their needs.

ENHANCED BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY

Windows Mobile 5.0 offers updates that make device users even more productive when working away from the desktop:

For Windows Mobile 5.0-based Pocket PCs, Word Mobile now supports tables, lists and embedded images, giving workers greater flexibility to create, edit or review documents. Excel Mobile allows users to view and create charts and graphs, and PowerPoint ® Mobile allows users to view and rehearse presentations while on the go. The back seat of a taxi or an airplane now can be a mobile office.

Persistent storage.

Persistent storage has been added to Windows Mobile 5.0-based Pocket PCs, which will help ensure that users don’t lose important data when devices run out of battery power. In addition, overall device efficiency has been improved, yielding as much as 30 percent more battery life.

Faster access to e-mail.

Windows Mobile 5.0 users will have faster access to e-mail and information and an improved experience with MSN ® Messenger. MSN Messenger now offers seamless instant messaging (IM) access for friends and colleagues; and faster, one-key access to Hotmail ® and MSN inboxes within Outlook ®.

ActiveSync ® 4.0 support.

Windows Mobile 5.0 offers users new features such as the ability to sync pictures in contacts and wirelessly sync over Bluetooth ®, as well as an improved partnership wizard and an improved overall synchronization experience.

Security.

Windows Mobile 5.0 is compliant with the FIPS 140-2 standard.

SUPERIOR MULTIMEDIA EXPERIENCE

Windows Mobile 5.0 now includes Windows Media ® Player 10 Mobile, adds support for technologies such as hard drives and Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, and enables improved media content organization, making it an amazing platform for multimedia devices:

Easy synchronization.

Users can easily sync media files, playlists and song ratings right from Windows Media Player 10 Mobile on their desktop PC, and listen to them on their mobile device.

New formats and content.

Windows Media Player 10 Mobile supports a variety of file formats including Windows Media Audio, Windows Media Video and MP3; Customers can now access more than 1 million protected digital songs and videos from online services such as Napster, CinemaNow, MusicNow, Movielink and MSN Music.

Hard drive and USB 2.0 support.

Windows Mobile 5.0 adds support for integrated hard drives, allowing users to carry several gigabytes of music or information right on their phone or PDA, and provides added support for USB 2.0, which will greatly increase file transfer speeds and synchronization of information between PCs and Windows Mobile-based devices.

ABILITY TO CUSTOMIZE

Windows Mobile 5.0 includes numerous enhancements that allow device manufacturers, developers and end users to customize the Windows Mobile user experience, add new functionalities to specific devices, and develop new applications:

For end users.

End users now can take a picture from their phone and easily assign it to a contact for display not only in the Contacts application, but also in the caller ID window and e-mail message header when that contact calls or sends e-mail. Pictures also can be assigned on a PC in Outlook and synchronized to a user’s device.

For operators and device-makers.

With Windows Mobile 5.0, device-makers can take advantage of wireless technologies including 3G and Wi-Fi. Windows Mobile 5.0 enables partners to build devices for Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) networks and supports simultaneous voice and data transfer. Windows Mobile 5.0 also adds support for Wi-Fi in Smartphones, which will allow for a new generation of small, connected devices.In addition, device-makers and mobile operators now have greater flexibility to customize branded device experiences and can take advantage of extensible menus and new soft keys to build new features, such as push-to-talk (PTT), right into the phone dialer.

For developers.

Developers can take advantage of a host of new managed code and APIs in addition to a new ARM-based emulator, which enables them to build applications more quickly and add new functionality to applications. The new APIs include Camera Capture, which can integrate camera functionality with third-party applications; State and Notification Broker; Contact Picker; enhanced messaging and Pocket Outlook Object Model (POOM); as well as powerful new graphics APIs for Direct3D ®, DirectDraw ® and DirectShow ®.