Biwin Releases Single Chip e-MMC SSD As The Industry Embraces Undersized Offerings

Biwin, well known for their industrial flash storage products, has announced the release of their e-MMC SSD on a chip.

Available in capacities ranging from 2 -64GB, the new device will be manufactured in a BGA 169 form factor and mounted in an industry standard MMC package. The drive will integrate both flash memory and controller into a single ASIC, cementing its use in applications where space is of the utmost importance and ensuring that Biwin’s new SSD is a boon for bite sized products.

This release accompanies a slew of other embedded SSDs announced over the past couple of months, as it seems as though this particular product category has become increasingly more popular. This is probably due to the fact that these little spit-fires have seen increased proliferation in fields ranging from industrial to outer space. With such cutting edge applications benefiting from these diminutive devices, it really does appear that the sky may be the limit when it comes to the ability of SSDs to saturate new market segments.

Indeed, this is one of the major strengths of embedded SSDs, finding a comfortable fit in many fields, including those that many onlookers may not, at first glance, consider amenable to solid state storage. On the contrary, SSDs have shown themselves to be extremely agile when it comes to their ability to be adapted to new areas, underscoring their in-estimable potential.

Also of interest is the MMC packaging, which will allow the device to make itself at home in not only industrial areas, but in the consumer realm as well.

From digital cameras to convenient card readers, the flexibility of this industry standard form factor should serve to satisfy even the most steadfast data collectors, offering the capacity options necessary to cater to both ends of the spectrum that is the flash memory market.

I do have to wonder, though, why Biwin has not elected to offer an SD variant as well. Seeing as SD is deemed by many to be somewhat more widespread than MMC, such a choice would seem to stand in stark contrast with the goal of selling as many of these SSDs as possible. Maybe it was a matter of politics, or perhaps they are indeed preparing a new version of the IC with an integrated SD controller. Whatever the case, I really do believe it would be in Biwin’s best interest to cater to as much of the market as possible.

When push comes to shove, Biwin has succeeded in creating one of the smallest SSDs in existence. By leveraging a relatively widespread form factor and situating their product on solid ground, their new offspring stands a good chance of having substantial success in the storage segment. The only thing left to wonder is whether or not Biwin might consider bringing a bare BGA variant of their memory device to market. It’s true, with the seemingly insatiable industry demand for more and more embedded devices, such a move would very likely end up making a whole lot of sense.

If Biwin is able to exploit their understanding of industry ‘ABC’s and make their ‘mouse’ sized e-MMC available to as many consumers as possible, they may end up becoming a ‘member’ of an elite ‘club’ of companies that ‘dance’ to a different kind of ‘music’, providing a ‘variety’ of different solutions to the ‘show’ that is the SSD market.

I have to say, by adhering to such a ‘theme’ Biwin may end up hitting their new product out of the ‘park’.

See Press Release On Next Page……