microSD Express joins SD Express in integrating PCIe ® and NVMe™ for up to 985
MB/sec transfer rate with backwards compatibility
BARCELONA — Mobile World Congress Booth #CS120 — Feb. 25, 2019 — The SD
Association announced today microSD Express, offering the popular PCI Express ® and
NVMe™ interfaces alongside the legacy microSD interface for backwards compatibility.
Like SD Express, microSD Express uses the PCIe interface delivering a 985 megabytes
per second (MB/s) maximum data transfer rate and the NVMe upper layer protocol
enables advanced memory access mechanism, enabling a new world of opportunities
for mobile devices.
microSD Express cards defined in the SD 7.1 specification will be offered in a variety of
capacities such as microSDHC Express, microSDXC Express and microSDUC Express.
An updated video provides an overview of microSD Express and SD Express.
“microSD Express gives the mobile industry a compelling new choice to equip mobile
devices with removable SSDs,” said Hiroyuki Sakamoto, SDA president. “SD 7.1
prepares consumers and mobile device manufacturers to meet ever increasing storage
demands for years to come.”
“PCI-SIG is pleased to continue our collaboration with the SDA on this newest
innovation for the world’s leading removable memory card – microSD,” said Al Yanes,
PCI-SIG president and chairman. “PCIe specification conformance tests are available
today by major test vendors, offering a significant advantage for any new PCIe adopter.”
microSD Express delivers speeds necessary to transfer large amounts of information
generated by data-intense wireless communication, speed hungry applications running
on cards and mobile computing devices, ever evolving gaming systems, multi-channel
IoT devices, numerous automotive uses, higher resolution mobile videos, action
cameras , 360 o videos, VR and more.
“NVMe is the industry-recognized performance SSD interface from the client to the data
center to mobile, shipping in millions of units,” said Amber Huffman, NVM Express® Inc.
president. “By SDA adopting NVMe technology into the new microSD Express cards,
users can experience lower latency and increasingly fast transfer speeds across various
applications.”
microSD Express uses the well-known PCIe 3.1 and NVMe v1.3 specifications defined
by PCI-SIG® and NVM Express, respectively, on the second row of pins. PCIe 3.1
includes the low power sub-states (L1.1, L1.2) enabling low power implementations of
SD Express for the mobile market. In addition, SD Express cards with significantly
higher speed data transfer rates are expected to consume less energy than traditional
microSD memory cards while keeping the same maximum consumed power. The cards
provide system developers new options offered by PCIe and NVMe capabilities, such as
Bus Mastering, Multi Queue (without locking mechanism) and Host Memory Buffer. By
relying on successful protocols already in the marketplace, the SDA gives the industry
an advantage allowing utilization of existing test equipment and saving in development
process by usage of existing building blocks used in existing designs.
The SDA released visual marks to denote microSD Express memory cards to make
matching the card and device easier for optimal device performance.
The SDA revised its white paper, “SD Express Memory Cards with PCIe and NVMe
Interfaces,” that provides more details on the new capabilities and features found in the
SD 7.1 specification. It also introduced a new white paper “SD Express and microSD
Express Memory Cards: The Best Choice for Your Future Product Designs” providing
product engineers with an in-depth look at the opportunities now available. More
information is available on our website.
Find the SDA at Mobile World Congress Barcelona in Booth CS 120 February 25-28,
2019, in the Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain. The SDA is also at embedded world in
Booth 3A-524 February 26-28, in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg, Nuremberg,
Germany.
SD Association
The SD Association is a global ecosystem of nearly 900 technology companies charged
with setting interoperable SD standards. The Association encourages the development
of consumer electronic, wireless communication, digital imaging and networking
products that utilize market-leading SD technology. The SD standard is the number one
choice for consumers and has earned more than 90 percent of the memory card market
with its reliable interoperability and its easy-to-use format. Today, smartphones, tablets,
drones, IoT devices, HDTVs, audio players, automotive systems, computers, digital
cameras and digital video cameras feature SD interoperability. For more information
about SDA or to join, please visit the Association’s website, https://www.sdcard.org.
SD Logos are trademarks licensed by SD-3C LLC.
- more -
PCI-SIG
PCI-SIG is the consortium that owns and manages PCI specifications as open industry
standards. The organization defines industry standard I/O (input/output) specifications
consistent with the needs of its members. Currently, PCI-SIG is comprised of nearly 800
industry-leading member companies. To learn more about PCI-SIG, and for a list of the
Board of Directors, visit wwwpcisig.com. PCI Express® is a registered trademark of
PCI-SIG.
PCIe ® - PCI Express, is a standard developed by PCI-SIG ® and PCIe ® is a trademark
owned by PCI-SIG ®
NVMe™ - NVM Express TM , is a standard developed by NVM Express Inc. and NVMe™
is a trademark owned by NVM Express Inc.
###
Media Contact
Kevin Schader
SD Association
1.925.275.6670
media@sdcard.org