Toshiba and Trek to Promote Wireless SD Cards

June 22, 2010 | Zoltan Arva-Toth | Accessories | Comment |

Toshiba is collaborating with Trek 2000 to promote the former’s new SDHC memory card, which features wireless capabilities. The two companies have established an industry forum called the “Standard Promotion Forum for Memory Cards Embedding Wireless LAN”. Toshiba’s new, Wi-Fi enabled 8GB memory card can recognise and communicate with the same type of card in another camera, and allows users to upload and download photographs to and from a server without any need for a cable connection or a card reader. Supporting raw data transfer and the IEEE 802.11b/g wireless LAN standard, Toshiba’s new product looks set to become a major competitor to Eye-Fi’s well-established line-up of Wi-Fi enabled memory cards.

Toshiba Press Release

Toshiba and Trek Establish Forum to Promote SD Cards Embedding Wireless Communication Functions
22 Jun, 2010

Tokyo—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO-6502) today announced the launch of an industry forum to promote a new SD card that integrates Wi-Fi wireless communication with data storage capabilities. The forum, the “Standard Promotion Forum for Memory Cards Embedding Wireless LAN”* has been founded by Toshiba and Singapore-based Trek 2000 International Ltd..

In recent years, as digital cameras have achieved huge rates of market penetration, the need for quick and easy way to share photographs has grown. The new card offers an innovative solution that brings new capabilities to the already very popular SDHC format.

The card is designed to bring Wi-Fi functionality to digital still cameras that have an SDHC slot. Once in a camera, a card can recognize and communicate with the same type of card in another camera (on a one-to-one basis), and users can exchange photographs quickly and easily. It also allows users to upload and download photographs to and from a server without any need for a cable connection or transfers of the memory card.

The new card is compliant with the SD memory card standard, supports IEEE 802.11b/g and has an 8-gigabyte capacity. It can transfer both JPEG and RAW images, the two most widely used digital formats.

Toshiba and Trek will invite the participation of digital camera manufacturers and other interested parties in promoting the card, and in exchanges of technical information toward establishing standard specifications and expanding the use of the card.

Toshiba is a market leader in the development and manufacture of NAND flash memory, which is indispensable for today’s personal digital devices. The company seeks to enhance and expand its memory business by proposing new applications for NAND flash memories.
Features of SD card embedding wireless communication functions

  1. The ability to send and receive image data among digital still cameras equipped with an SDHC slot and the card.
  2. Upload and downloads of digital photographs between a digital still camera equipped with an SDHC slot and the card, and in a Wi-Fi environment, and a server.
  3. User management of image transmission and reception minimizes power consumption compared with current solution.

Card key specifications
Wireless LAN Standard: IEEE 802.11 b/g
SD card capacity: 8-gigabytes
Applicable formats: JPEG, RAW

Outline of The Forum
Name: Standard Promotion Forum for Memory Cards Embedding Wireless LAN*
Co-Lead Companies: Toshiba Corporation and Trek 2000 International Ltd.
Established: June 29, 2010

* Standard Promotion Forum for Memory Cards Embedding Wireless LAN is a provisional name and may be subject to change.

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