The CompactFlash Association (CFA) has announced the formation of a working group to develop a specification for a CompactFlash card with a SATA (Serial ATA) interface.
Mr. Shigeto Kanda of Canon and the CFA chairman of the board said “The development of a CompactFlash card with a SATA interface will maintain the dominance of CompactFlash in the non-consumer (embedded systems, single board computers, data recorder, etc.) markets as well as promote its use in other applications. Having the SATA interface will be a significant step for CompactFlash.”
The current PATA (parallel ATA) interface provides up to a 133MB/second interface data rate. The SATA interface will provide even faster interface data rates as well as compatibility with the SATA disk drive interfaces that are increasingly being used.
CompactFlash card slots are in over 360 digital cameras, over 165 handheld/palm-size PCs and over 705 other electronic platforms including embedded systems, single board computers, data recorders, heart monitors, defibrillators, etc.
CompactFlash cards are currently available up to 32GB with sustained data rates of 40MB/sec. and provide the best flash storage solution for embedded systems, single board computers, the new multi-mega pixel DSLR cameras and other devices.
The CF+ and CompactFlash Standard ensures that today's and tomorrow's digital cameras will be compatible with faster and even higher capacity CF cards, as they become available.
In addition to CompactFlash data storage cards, there are CF cards that provide I/O capability. VGA, Ethernet, modem, serial, parallel, digital phone, GSM, Bluetooth, Ethernet wireless, Wand & laser barcode scanners, finger print scanners, TV and GPS CF+ cards are all available.
