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Phison integrates smart card and memory card functionality
Phison Electronics has launched a new smart card based on an SD interface that also combines smart card and memory card functionality, with the company indicating the device can expand the scope of smart card applications by utilizing microSD or SD slots currently available in notebooks, handsets and PDAs.
Phison indicated that its new smart card utilizes its own controllers and high storage-capacity built-in NAND flash chip supplied from Toshiba or Hynix Semiconductor, and the company claims a number of potential clients are interested in the product.
The current smart card interface ISO7816 cannot be used in all platforms and limits the application of smart card as a result, market watchers noted. By adding a smart card chip into a microSD or SD card, Phison's new product can transmit data through an ISO7816 interface to an SD controller and process data through the SD interface, so that it can perform much higher process speed than standard ISO7816 interface, the sources added.