Sandisk reveals INAND Extreme embedded flash drive

STORAGE VENDOR Sandisk has announced its INAND Extreme, an embedded flash drive (EFD) to improve the performance of tablets and mobile devices.

The EFD, referred to by SanDisk as the "iNAND", is specially designed for products such as tablets and smartphones that run intensive operating systems and data intensive applications. The drive aims to improve the performance of these kinds of devices with write speeds of up to 50MB/s and read speeds of up to 80MB/s.

The high performance solid state disk (SSD) storage apparently can improve a tablet's multimedia synchronization speeds, file-transfer rates and operating system responsiveness.

Sandisk said that fast sequential performance is key when capturing high definition and 3D video content or transferring large files over USB.

"iNAND Extreme broadens our embedded product line to cover the needs of all mobile market segments, from feature phones to high-end tablets," said Amir Lehr, Sandisk's VP of embedded business.

The drive is expected to tip up in the third quarter for sampling. It will come in capacities ranging from 16GB up to 64GB and have the compact size of 12x16x1mm.

Its compact size could help manufacturers make thinner products and could also leave more room for other components. Sandisk suggests a larger battery as "particularly important in high-end tablets with demanding energy needs or larger screens".

Tablets such as Apple's Ipad 2 and Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 are already thinner than 9mm so we're not sure how much smaller can they get. µ