Flash-card formats win new allies in battle for dominance

Japanese flash-card maker Hagiwara Sys-Com plans to release wireless cards based on Memory Stick (MS) and Secure Digital (SD) technology, giving the two more expensive flash memory formats a boost.

The company hopes to introduce both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, or 802.11b, MS and SD cards in the third quarter, according to Bill Chen, Hagiwara Sys-Com Asia vice-president.

Hagiwara said it would also produce combination products that serve as both wireless and memory cards, to be released as early as the fourth quarter.

The first four new wireless products will be the HNT-MSW1 MS Wireless LAN (local area network) card, the HNT-MSB1 MS Bluetooth card, the HNT-SDW1 SD WLAN card and the HNT-SDB1 SD Bluetooth card.

The WLAN cards supporting the 802.11b standard will be for portable devices using the Palm operating system, while the Bluetooth cards will be for both Palm OS and Microsoft's Pocket PC.

Analysts from information technology research firms Gartner Group and International Data Corp agree that the smaller size flash memory standards like SD and MS will probably overtake Compact Flash to become the most commonly used media in portable products.

While SD has a large stable of supporters, Sony has been almost alone in pushing the Memory Stick. MS support is available in most of its consumer products, including digital cameras, digital audio players and the Clie handheld computer. But Sony has opened up to developers in the last 18 months, and its flash-memory format has been receiving increased support from other manufacturers.