Bangalore: SanDisk Corporation, leading provider of flash memory storage cards, has announced the availability of the 16-gigabyte (GB) [i] iNAND embedded flash drive (EFD).

SanDisk Corporation is the inventor and world's largest supplier of flash storage cards, and is a global leader in flash memory – from research, manufacturing and product design to consumer branding and retail distribution.

SanDisk's product portfolio includes flash memory cards for mobile phones, digital cameras and camcorders; digital audio/video players; USB flash drives for consumers and the enterprise; embedded memory for mobile devices; and solid state drives for computers.

The Silicon Valley – based company has more than half its sales outside the United States.

During 11 – 14 February, the company will showcase this new product along with many others designed specifically for the mobile industry, at the main SanDisk booth, #8C55, located in Hall 8 of the Fira de Barcelona Convention Centre.

Adding to the 8GB iNAND, the new 16 GB iNAND packs double the storage capacity into a standard JEDEC 12x16mm package, thanks to recent advances in multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash technology.

iNAND is designed for use in the latest mobile handsets, which feature a growing number of storage-intensive features such as music players, digital cameras, video recording and playback, and GPS capabilities.

By providing abundant storage for these features, in addition to high performance and reliability, iNAND helps to enable new and exciting mobile experiences for mobile handset users. 

According to Dan Inbar, vice president and general manager of the Mobile Handset Vendors division at SanDisk, ''As more and more applications and multimedia capabilities converge within sleeker mobile handsets, the need for high-capacity mobile storage increases substantially from year to year. The new 16GB iNAND is the ideal solution for accommodating mobile applications, operating system programs and premium content such as large quantities of music, photos and video. Featuring a standard package interface, the 16GB iNAND EFD is designed to be quickly integrated into various handset designs for both storage capacity scalability and a smooth migration to future products and functionalities, such as system boot.''

iNAND devices adhere to JEDEC package and ball-out requirements, common throughout the industry, providing virtual ''plug and play'' integration and allowing them to be designed into mobile handsets quickly. Additionally, iNAND devices utilise the industry-leading and field-proven SD™ interface.[ii]

iNAND 16GB is expected to be available for sampling to mobile handset vendors in Q2 2008, with iNAND 32GB slated for introduction in H2 2008.

In addition to the iNAND EFD, SanDisk also offers a broad range of removable storage solutions and SIM cards for consumers, mobile handset manufacturers and mobile network operators.