Interesting Express Card Info

[Kyocera]

I found this whilst checking out some uses for express cards:


4. What applications are expected to be supported by the different sizes of ExpressCard module?

All of the existing PC Card applications will likely be available as ExpressCard modules. The ExpressCard/34 form factor provides sufficient power, thermal dissipation and circuit board real estate to support a very extensive range of applications including:

Communications: wired and wireless LAN and WAN
Interface: 1394A & B (FireWire 400/800), SATA, Serial/Parallel, etc.
Multimedia: Television tuner, multiple monitors, video grab
Storage: Solid state (Flash) and small (one inch) rotating optical and magnetic micro-drives
Security: Identity sensors (SmartCard, biometric)
Adapters: Flash memory cards (MMC, SD, xD, MemoryStick, CompactFlash, etc.)
Module developers will attempt to fit their applications into the smaller ExpressCard/34 wherever possible but there are some that can only be built as the larger ExpressCard/54 module. Some examples of this are: SmartCard* readers, Compact Flash readers, and hard drives with 1.8 inch platters. The media used in these applications is simply wider than can be accommodated by an ExpressCard/34 module. Other applications may be built in the wider form-factor for thermal reasons. Over time, as silicon technologies improve, some of these applications may migrate to the narrower module. Applications in this category would include TV tuner cards and higher performance communication devices.

[christopher_wolf]

Storage: Solid state (Flash) and small (one inch) rotating optical and magnetic micro-drives

That's great and all but...there was IBM/Hitachi GST Microdrive right? With the same form factor as a CF Type II card. IBM even made a 240MB PCMCIA storage device like that as well way back.


Although I haven't seen tiny optical devices based off of PC cards; that is pretty interesting.

It is interesting to note that they actually say that some of these applications should use the wider Express Card form factor because of thermal issues. That has to be some serious data transfer over long periods of time.

[DIGITALgimpus]

Hopefully some solid state memory in there, and running Vista will work well... rather than use a flash drive for added performance (and sticking out the system, a flash drive sitting in the bay would be perfect.