ExpressCards ready for 5Gbit/s jump next year

The PCMCIA group that manages PC-card standards disclosed it expects to publish by early next year a version 2.0 standard supporting data rates up to 5Gbit/s. The new spec will bring it in line with the PCI Express 2.0 standard out now and the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 spec coming later this year or early 2009.

The new standard will expand and be compatible with the current ExpressCard 1.2 spec that supports data rates up to 2.5Gbit/s. It aims to give future cards the bandwidth needed to support applications such as the 3Gbit/s serial ATA interface for hard drives, external graphics accelerators and high capacity flash controllers.

"Notebook and module developers will be able to take advantage of ExpressCard 2.0 to create new, innovative consumer products that embrace its significantly increased performance," said Brad Saunders, chairman of PCMCIA.

At least five companies showed at Computex in Taipei last week a range of cards based on the current standard. They included cards supporting links to external HDD and solid-state drives as well as docking stations, external graphics and multiple displays.

- Rick Merritt
EE Times