"Due to the wide variety of host systems and operating environments that the Miniature Cards are being designed into, AMD is now offering this option to our customers to better serve their portable memory needs," said Walid Maghribi, group vice president of AMD's memory group.

These new cards contain industrial temperature range AMD flash components and are compatible with AMD commercial temperature range Miniature Cards.

AMD's Flash Miniature Card
AMD offers both 3-volt-only and 5.0-volt-only cards. The 3-volt-only cards are based on AMD's Am29LV081B flash devices and the 5.0-volt-only cards are based on AMD's Am29F017B flash devices. AMD's flash Miniature Card is designed as a low-power, cost-effective, durable memory solution that is targeted at the needs of the consumer and embedded markets. Unlike other competing small form-factor standards, the Miniature Card does not require complex control logic that adds to the cost and power consumption of the solution. The Miniature Card connector is designed to be user friendly, easily serviceable, and lower cost than today's pin-and-socket-type solutions. The stainless steel Miniature Card case is similar to current PCMCIA card technology and can withstand rugged handling. Since Miniature Cards accommodate more than one flash device, OEMs have more flexibility in the range of densities available to them than with single-chip solutions.

The industrial temperature range Miniature Card will provide an additional benefit to embedded applications that are not used within the office environment, such as cellular base stations or aircraft black boxes. Handheld and consumer-oriented applications like global positioning systems systems (GPS), digital cameras, automotive navigation systems, and instrumentation devices will also benefit from the industrial temperature range.

AMD Flash Miniature Card Benefits
AMD's flash Miniature Cards are compatible with the Miniature Card Implementers Forum (MCIF) standard that ensures interoperability between handheld consumer devices and the PC. A key benefit of the Miniature Card is that it offers removable flash memory, without the additional expense of a microcontroller like an ATA-type card. Additionally, the Miniature Card's small size provides the benefit that less printed circuit board (PCB) space is used on the host system, as compared to a PCMCIA card. Combined, these benefits make the Miniature Card an extremely cost-effective system solution.

Price & Availability
Orders can be placed for AMD's industrial temperature Miniature Cards in both 3-volt-only and 5.0-volt-only versions. Pricing starts from $28 for a 2Mbyte card in 1,000 unit volumes. Datasheets are available on the AMD.