Thursday, May 31, 2007

Intel, Microsoft, Dell Team On Flash Memory Effort

Dell Inc., Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have joined forces in an industry group to encourage the adoption of NAND flash memory technology to the personal computer platform, the firms said today. The three firms said today that they have formed a group which will provide a standard software-programming interface for nonvolatile memory systems, which is expected to encourage the use of Flash memory for personal computers. The Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Working Group (NVMHCI), is headed by Intel. NAND flash memory is used for removable USB storage devices and most memory card formats currently, but is not used as often as other technologies, such as DRAM, SDRAM and RDRAM, as a system memory option for desktops and laptops. The API work is expected to help standardize operating system interfaces to Flash memory. Dell is based in Round Rock, Texas, Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Wash., and Intel's corporate offices are located in Cupertino, Calif.