PCMCIA Releases New CardBay Standard for USB ‘Plug-n-Play’ Compatibility In Mobile Devices
HANNOVER, Germany, CeBIT 2001 — March 22, 2001 — PCMCIA, an international standards body and trade association for the modular peripheral industry, today announced the release of CardBay(TM), the fourth-generation standard for PC Card technology. The new CardBay PC Card standard incorporates the popular Universal Serial Bus (USB) into the PC Card format widely embraced by today's mobile device developers. Just like CardBus and the original 16-bit PC Card standards, CardBay enables plug-in functions to become tightly integrated within a mobile device, such as a notebook computer or PDA.
Available at www.pcmcia.org, the new specification is supported by operating system vendor Microsoft Corp.; notebook manufacturer Compaq Computer; card vendors SCM Microsystems, 3Com and Xircom(R), an Intel(R) company; semiconductor maker Texas Instruments; and connector vendors FCI Electronics and Tyco (AMP). Potential uses of CardBay include USB-based advanced wired and wireless modems; security devices for fast, secure encryption/decryption and authentication; and bulk memory devices, such as USB-based memory card-to-PC adapters for video cameras and media players.
"The rapid rate of technology evolution demands that mobile systems continue to have an effective means to add in future technologies covering communications, networking and data interchange applications," said Brad Saunders, senior technologist, Xircom, and chairman, PCMCIA. "The mobile device industry has embraced CardBay as the migration path for the most popular add-in card solutions. CardBay enables developers to take advantage of USB's plug-and-play technology while retaining the benefit of the PC Card's modular form."
"The CardBay standard opens up the door to cost-effectively integrate USB-based functionality into the entire spectrum of mobile devices," said Patrick Maher, executive director, PCMCIA.
"Mobile device users should now have access to the same wealth of high-performance products and applications that desktop users currently enjoy."
The new CardBay standard complements the existing PCI-based CardBus technology by allowing the same connector to bring the popular USB 2.0 serial interface into the PC Card form factor. CardBay supports full backward compatibility to CardBus and legacy PC Cards. CardBay requires no new software support and adds new flexibility in power options. By taking advantage of plug-n-play PC Cards, IT departments can easily add emerging technologies to mobile systems, thus reducing the cost of supporting corporate-standardized mobile system configurations.
The specifications for CardBay are included as part of the PC Card Standard Release 8.0. Future extensions to CardBay are being considered for subsequent updates to the PC Card standard. These include optional support for small-format memory card adapters and the addition of IEEE 1394 High Performance Serial Bus to the interface.
PC Card technology is used in mobile computing platforms ranging from high-performance, full-size notebook computers to ultra-portable specialized-function devices, such as personal organizers and cameras. In addition to CardBay, the PC Card family includes 16-bit PC Cards for mid-performance and legacy applications, as well as 32-bit CardBus PC Cards for high-performance applications.
PCMCIA Background
PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) is an international standards body and trade association for the modular peripherals industry. Founded in 1989 to establish standards for interface cards, the association promotes the interoperability of portable devices where ruggedness, low power and small size are critical. The PC Card standard is used in applications ranging from notebook computers and handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) to digital cameras, smart cellular phones and set-top boxes. In addition to the PC Card standard, PCMCIA manages the Miniature Card, SmartMedia, CardBus and CardBay standards. It has a close working relationship with JEITA in Japan. Based in San Jose, California, PCMCIA has more than 200 member companies worldwide. More information about PC Card products and specifications can be obtained from the PCMCIA Website at www.pcmcia.org.
Company Quotes Endorsing New CardBay Standard
MICROSOFT
"Microsoft supports the new CardBay specification as a mechanism to move PC Cards to the ubiquitous USB expansion bus," said David W. Williams, director of Windows Hardware Strategy at Microsoft. "The use of the USB bus will provide a better user experience because of its true plug-and-play characteristics and the existing USB support in Windows 9x, Windows Me, Windows 2000 and Windows XP."
COMPAQ
"By bringing USB functionality to the PC card slot, CardBay dramatically expands the functionality of notebook computers to match that of the desktop," said Jeff Groudan, director of worldwide portable marketing for Commercial Business Products, Compaq Access Business Group. "This standard enables us to more rapidly adopt new technologies — including new, emerging applications such as high-speed LAN, WAN and wireless connectivity — into mobile devices at a reasonable cost."
3COM
"The CardBay standard opens up a whole new market for USB-based products in mobile devices," said Rick Maule, vice president and general manager, Mobile Connectivity Division, 3Com. "The CardBay standard's use of USB improves the customer experience by providing better plug-and-play support and eliminating the possibility of operating system resource conflicts. Additionally, it will allow mobile users early access to emerging technologies without having to settle for external desktop devices or waiting for technology to migrate from desktop applications."
XIRCOM
"The CardBay standard is another important step forward for the mobile connectivity market, bringing together two widely accepted industry standards to improve performance. It not only improves the customer experience by introducing the ease-of-use features of USB," said Sam Bass, co-general manager of Xircom Mobile Communications Division of Intel. "It will also accelerate the implementation of new technologies such as wireless wide-area-networking (WAN) and Gigabit Ethernet into mobile devices by extending new option for power usage in the PC Card format."
SCM Microsystems
"As a founding member of PCMCIA, SCM Microsystems is pleased to recognize the organization's continued commitment to extending the benefits of computing technology, as demonstrated with the announcement of CardBay. The PC Card form factor has helped make laptop computers enormously successful by making it easy to access data," said Robert Schneider, CEO, SCM Microsystems. "We see the new CardBay interface as an important development in interface technology as it supports the evolution of next-generation mobile applications, while retaining compatibility with the millions of PC Card connections already deployed. At SCM, we are looking forward to extending our product offerings for digital TV conditional access, smart card security applications and flash media transfer to leverage the ease of use benefits of CardBay."
NOTE: CardBay is a trademark of PCMCIA. All trademarks contained herein are property of their respective owners.
SOURCE PCMCIA
CONTACT:
Patrick Maher of PCMCIA, 408-433-2273, or patrick@pcmcia.org