CompactFlash Association (CFA) Press Release

COMPACTFLASH ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES 10th ANNIVERSARY

Progress in CompactFlash® Capacity, Data Rates and User Costs Have Been Amazing Las Vegas NV - January 5, 2006 - The CompactFlash Association (CFA) is celebrating its 10th anniversary and displaying the history of the progress made by CompactFlash cards over the last ten years. CompactFlash maximum interface data transfer rate is currently 66MB/sec. A revision to the CF+ Specification is underway to increase the maximum interface data transfer rate for True IDE and PCMCIA interface modes to 133MB/sec in 2006, while maintaining forward and backward compatibility
with old and new host systems.

Mr. Shigeto Kanda of Canon and the CFA chairman of the board said “The development under way for the CompactFlash 133MB/sec True IDE and PCMCIA ATA interfaces means that the CompactFlash interface will not restrict the sustained data transfer rate of CompactFlash cards in the near future. Having the fastest interface data rate of any flash cards is a significant step for CompactFlash. Data write performance of digital SLR cameras as well as other high performance cameras will not be limited by the flash card interface.”

DMA interface mode is also included and reduces the processor power required to manage the CompactFlash data transfers. Ultra DMA 33 and UltraDMA66 interface modes increased the CompactFlash maximum interface data transfer rate to 66MB/sec in 2005. Ultra DMA 100 and Ultra DMA 133 will increase the maximum interface data rate to 133MB/sec in 2006. Both of these DMA interface modes are well defined and tested by their usage on IDE hard disk drives.

Faster PCMCIA ATA Memory and I/O modes will also be added in 2006 to provide a maximum PCMCIA ATA interface transfer rate of 133MB/sec.

The end-user cost of CompactFlash cards has decreased from over $5.00/MB ten years ago to four cents/MB today. The maximum available capacity of CompactFlash cards has increase from 2MB ten
years ago to 8GB today. The currently available capacities up to 8GB, provide the best storage solution for the new multi-mega-pixel DSLR cameras, Pocket PCs and other devices. The CF+ and CompactFlash Standard ensures that today’s and tomorrow’s digital cameras will be compatible with faster and even higher capacity CF cards, as they become available. In addition to CompactFlash data storage cards, there are CF+ cards that provide I/O capability. VGA, Ethernet, modem, serial, parallel, digital phone, GSM, Bluetooth, Ethernet wireless, wand & laser barcode scanners, finger print scanners, TV and GPS CF+ cards are all available and widely used in the CF+ slots in today’s Pocket PCs. They are also used in notebook PCs.

The CF Specification Revision 3.0 is available to download free from the CFA web site at http://www.compactflash.org

The CFA (logo), CF (logo) and CF+ are trademarks of the CFA and are licensed royalty free to its members.

The CFA is a licensee of the CompactFlash® trademark and in turn will license it royaltyfree to its members.