… And Co-Founder Harari Receives IEEE Milestone Recognition

SanDisk Corporation announced the IEEE has awarded an IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing award for the floating gate EEPROM, a technological innovation that enabled data storage in flash memory.

IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional association, recognized the achievement at a ceremony at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

 Developed by Dr. Eli Harari, SanDisk’s co-founder and retired CEO, floating gate EEPROM technology fostered the use of flash memory in smartphones, tablets and other consumer electronics devices that enable today’s smart digital lifestyle.

"The IEEE Milestone recognizes the breakthrough technology of the floating gate EEPROM which proved the practicality, reliability, manufacturability and endurance of semiconductor-based data storage," said Dr. Gordon Day, IEEE president. "It is the fundamental technology that allows ubiquitous personal access to data through new types of personal computing and communications devices."

Today, flash memory is a $26 billion market and is used in billions of products worldwide. Due to its combination of fast performance, ruggedness, small footprint and low power consumption, flash memory is used in a growing number of applications-whether it is an SSD in a financial data center efficiently and reliably managing high volume transactions, a memory card that captures photos and videos or a USB flash drive that stores and transfers important work files.

"Eli’s vision and ability to see new market opportunities for flash storage in a wide range of portable electronic devices was years ahead of others," said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO, SanDisk. "His pioneering work on nonvolatile memory and leadership in the development of system flash eventually led to the creation of the hugely successful flash memory industry and established SanDisk as a global leader."

The IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing program honors significant technical achievements that occurred at least 25 years ago in technology areas associated with IEEE.

Past awards have acknowledged the work of inventors like Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison; and technologies that had a profound effect on daily life such as the integrated circuit and ARPANET, precursor to the Internet.

To date, more than 100 IEEE Milestones have been approved and dedicated around the world. The award also recognizes technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity.