Fremont, CA — (press release excerpt) — M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd. has introduced the fourth generation of its popular DiskOnChip flash disks — the DiskOnChip “Millennium Plus”. Billed as “the world's first 32MB monolithic flash disk”, the device has several enhancements that are specifically targeted to embedded and Internet appliance (IA) system applications, including new data protection and… security functions not previously available on a flash disk. The new generation flash disk was co-developed by Toshiba Corporation, who is also the product's manufacturer.

Enhancements include . . .

• Read-protection and/or write-protection, of as much of the flash disk as desired (in two partitions), which enables prevention of data and code from being read, modified, or damaged.

• A 6KB one-time programming (OTP) area which can be written to and locked permanently, enabling license control and system authentication.

• A unique identification (ID) number, which resides directly on the silicon, allowing IA and embedded system designers to reliably track individual products and providing the capability of copy protection for software, data, and the product itself. Applied to cable operators for example, the unique ID and OTP capabilities can be used to identify and authenticate individual set-top boxes on the network to help reduce fraud.

• Instead of needing to utilize a separate boot device for BIOS (basic input/output system) storage in addition to a flash disk, manufacturers may now use the DiskOnChip Millennium Plus for both boot XIP (execute in place) and data storage functions.

• Performance has also been increased relative to previous DiskOnChip products. The DiskOnChip Millennium Plus can sustain a system write speed of over 1.1MB per second and a read speed of more than 2.4MB per second. Additionally, burst data transfer speeds can be as high as 20MB per second.

Samples of the new DiskOnChip Millennium Plus (in 32MB capacity) are available now, with mass production quantities scheduled for the Second Quarter of 2001.

 
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