Intel commits to future Flash development

Intel has hit back at rumours that it was about to drop its NOR Flash chips with the announcement at its Developer Forum in San Francisco of a raft of products centring on the technology.

Later this year the company will introduce enhanced Flash memory for mobile phones codenamed Sibley. These 90 nanometre chips will be able to store data at speeds of 500Kbps and support multiple Ram interfaces.

"Flash is alive and well and there is incredible innovation going on," said Sean Maloney, general manager of Intel's mobility group.

"The primary reason we have been successful [in the Flash market] is not because of price cutting but because of technology prowess. Flash is very difficult to make."

For devices with embedded Flash memory a new family of products codenamed Sixmile is being built for introduction this year.

Intel claims this will be the lowest cost embedded Flash memory on the market, and said that analysts had predicted the market for such chips would total more than $9bn over the next four years.

To control the memory, the company has developed Flash control software codenamed Naubinway. The software is designed to minimise the processor load for storing large files such as mobile video and digital music, saving power and increasing transfer speeds.