PCMCIA Announces Faster ExpressCard Standard

The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA), the trade association for PC Card and ExpressCard technology, has announced that the ExpressCard Standard 1.2 is undergoing a significant update to accommodate the faster data transfer speeds.

“The new ExpressCard Standard 2.0 will support transfer rates ranging from two to 10 times faster than ExpressCard Standard 1.2, depending on the data protocol used. The ExpressCard Standard 2.0 will enable manufacturers to develop higher performance ExpressCard products for consumers,” the PCMCIA’s press release says.

Some of the applications that will benefit from the improved ExpressCard performance include Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) 2.0 adapters supporting large file transfers between computers and various storage devices; high-performance streaming media and video adapters; and high-performance flash-memory based storage modules, such as solid state drives.

ExpressCard is an expansion slot, commonly found in laptop computers. It is a replacement for older and bigger PC Card slots.

Along with audio/video adapters, storage modules, and storage adapters, the ExpressCard slots can also accommodate wireless adapters, TV tuners, or various memory card readers, for example.

The ExpressCard 2.0 Standard will be backward compatibile with products compliant with any previous versions of the Standard.

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