SanDisk Enhances Flash Portfolio for Automotive and Industrial IoT Apps

SanDisk Corporation expanded the company’s offerings of solutions designed to address the data generated by connected applications in automotive and industrial markets.

The company introduced its latest generation firm’s automotive flash storage solution, an automotive grade SD card optimized to meet the storage demands of the ‘connected car’. This card includes a suite of built-in smart features that enhance reliability and allow OEMs to better manage their storage in data-intensive automotive environments. The company also announced that it is bringing these new OEM-optimized features to its Industrial and Industrial XT SD cards ⁽¹⁾.

“The Internet of Things is the most dynamic force to impact the automotive and industrial markets in a decade, driving exciting new opportunities for connectivity as well as new challenges for how to store, process and manage the data it creates,” said Oded Sagee, senior director, connected solutions, SanDisk. “Our newest SanDisk Automotive and SanDisk Industrial flash storage solutions are ideal for connected applications in these markets, offering exceptional dependability and performance as well as new smart features that enable our OEM customers to better maximize their storage.“

Trusted flash storage for fast-growing connected car market
Automotive connectivity is growing, with more and more connected vehicles expected to be on the road over the next few years that will require storage.

According to Gartner Research, by 2020:

• Connected cars installed base will be more than nine times larger than that of 2015; ⁽²⁾

• “80% of all new vehicle models in mature markets will have data connectivity; 30% of connected-vehicle models will have built-in, function-level, over-the-air software update capabilities;” ⁽³⁾ and

• well over one billion connected automotive subsystems will be shipped.⁽²⁾

The AEC-Q100 certified firm’s automotive SD card enables OEMs to bring intelligent, reliable and high-capacity storage to a wide array of advanced, in-vehicle applications and systems, such as 3D and HD navigation and mapping systems, data event recorders, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), telematics and more. The automotive-grade SD card is built to meet the intense reliability, quality and temperature demands of the automotive market.

This SD card offers a suite of smart features. These include enhanced power failure protection, a memory health status monitor, OEM customization capabilities, and enhancements for read-intensive applications, such as navigation. With these features, automotive manufacturers can designate and program a firm’s automotive SD card for use exclusively with a specific connected application. Manufacturers can remotely and proactively monitor the removable SD card to ensure that it is operating at its ideal performance level or to identify when card upgrades or replacements are needed.

“Quality and reliability are absolutely critical in the automotive industry. SanDisk’s newest automotive solution with smart features enables our OEM customers to bring exceptional quality, customizable flash storage to a wide range of connected car applications and provides the ability to continue to ensur that the applications performs at ther best well after the car drive off the lot,” said Frank Hartwig, CEO, CDA GmbH.

“Cardwave works extensively with automotive customers, offering solutions for the ever-growing needs of the connected car. The automotive-grade solutions from SanDisk provide Cardwave customers with innovative, cost-effective and robust flash storage to meet the demands for the next generation of connected car applications and sub-systems,” said Paul Norbury, CEO, Cardwave Services Ltd.

Optimized solutions for connected industrial applications
These smart features will be available in company’s Industrial and Industrial XT SD card solutions. These Industrial-grade cards are intended for use by OEMs in market segments that demand high endurance and reliability even in extreme temperatures, including factory applications, industrial computing, utilities, medical equipment, robotics, point-of-sale solutions, large-scale printing, and many other applications. The inclusion of the new features enables OEMs to better manage the intensive data demands of a variety of applications in the industrial market, from commercial drones to industrial gateway systems to security cameras and more.

Samples of Automotive, Industrial and Industrial XT SD card solutions with the new smart features will be available in March in the United States and Europe, in capacities up to 64GB ⁽⁴⁾.

⁽¹⁾ Available in SD format company’s Industrial and  Industrial XT solutions.
⁽²⁾ Gartner, Forecast: Internet of Things – Endpoints and Associated Services, Worldwide, 2015, October 29, 2015
⁽³⁾ Gartner, Predicts 2016: Automobiles Become Digital Endpoints in the Era of Smart Mobility, Thilo Koslowsk, November 17, 2015
⁽⁴⁾ GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. Actual user storage less.