Thursday, May 31, 2007

Dell, Intel, Microsoft Unite for NAND Adoption

Technology heavyweights Dell Inc., Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have joined forces to encourage the adoption of NAND flash memory technology to the personal computer platform. 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 group, the Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Working Group, is chaired by Intel. NAND flash memory is the backbone of removable USB storage devices and most memory card formats currently available. However, NAND takes a backseat to other technologies, such as DRAM, SDRAM and RDRAM, as a system memory option for desktops and laptops. Dell is based in Round Rock, Texas, Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Wash., and Intel's corporate offices are located in Cupertino, Calif.