M-Systems

DiskOnKey was a small Flash memory device encased in a plastic enclosure with an integrated flash controller that connected to the USB port on a computer. It required no separate power or device drivers from the computer if running Windows 2000, or Windows ME; it was a true plug and play device. In Windows 98 it required a driver which was supplied on a CD-ROM.[3] The computer saw the device as a hard disk drive and it came in capacities of 8, 16, and 32 MB. It was marketed as a hard disk on a keychain. It had an integrated LED which indicated when the device was reading or writing data to prevent premature removal from the computer. The performance was about 10 times faster than writing data to a floppy drive.[4]

DiskOnChip Plus MD2811-D32-V3

The DiskOnChip (DoC) product line became popular because they could easily be integrated into small embedded applications. The device was supplied as a module in a 32-pin dual in-line package (DIP) with a pinout and electrical interface compatible with a standard JEDEC socket for memory chips. It employed a memory-mapped interface with an 8 KB window for models of all capacities (16 MB–1 GB). Internally, a DoC module contained a controller that implemented ECC, bad block re-mapping and wear leveling functions that were used to implement a file system, TrueFFS, for which the company provided software development kits.[5]

Some time after SanDisk acquired M-Systems, they announced the end-of-life for the DiskOnChip 2000 product line in early 2007,[6] suggesting customers migrate to the uDOC (uDiskOnChip Embedded USB Flash Disk) product, CompactFlash, or SecureDigital cards, all of which are not directly compatible, requiring interface redesign. The subsidiary of M-Systems called EUROM was established to design, build and sell the DOC to the U.S. and Asian embedded computer distributors. The first customer for the DOC was Ampro. David Feldman, President of Ampro and Rick Iorillo, President of EUROM U.S. completed the first deal with IBM to supply 2MB embedded flash drives for recording transportation data on public buses in South America.

The software that made the computer see the Flash memory as a disk drive was called TrueFFS and it was awarded US patent No. 5404485[7] in 1995. This software and initially the Flash memory from Toshiba were combined to form the first solid state storage product called DiskOnChip. The DiskOnChip was first designed for the Single Board Computer manufacturers and was a 2 MB chip. The DiskOnChip was made to work with TFFS and was able to bypass the BIOS by disabling the F000 address in the advance CMOS setup. Rick Iorillo lead the development and design efforts in the U.S. and established the first distributor base for the sale of the 28 pin DIP with Ampro being the first customer in the U.S. Sales of the DOC were established with IBM and Brazil to help in capturing the data off the public transportation systems.[2]

• Netac Technology
• Pua Khein-Seng