Flash chipmaker Samsung Electronics is sampling a chip that combines up to 4 gigabytes of NAND flash with a multimedia card (MMC) controller. MoviNAND presents the system with a high-speed MMC serial interface, resulting in the “fastest mobile data processing possible,” at up to 52 MB/sec, according to Samsung.

MoviNAND is unique in that it enables mobile device manufacturers to “put a large amount of NAND flash in a small space behind a standardized, high speed serial interface,” notes Samsung flash marketing director Don Barnetson.

MoviNAND can be used standalone, or in concert with a removable MMC card, thanks to its built-in MMC controller.

“As consumers look for increasing volumes of embedded storage in MP3 players and media-player cell phones, products that offer large NAND capacity while simplifying NAND interfaces will see a significant increase in demand,” said Jim Handy, Director of Nonvolatile Memory Services at Semico Research. Semico estimates that the worldwide market for flash memory will reach $4 billion worldwide.

Availability

Mass production of moviNAND in 1 and 2 GB densities starts this month, Samsung said. Additionally, the company expects to begin shipping 512MB and 4GB densities by the end of this year.

 
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