You know those assorted digital memory formats you’ve collected through the years? Get ready to add another one, as a coalition of five big companies has announced they’re working on licensing and promotion of HD-capable security for SD cards and embedded memory. The Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative was established by Panasonic Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SanDisk Corp., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp.
That’s the working title, anyway. What the companies want is a way to protect high definition content obtained via download, TV to Go and Blu-ray’s HD Digital Copy/Managed Copy as consumers view it on smartphones, tablets, connected televisions and Blu-ray players.
The coalition hopes to have something ready to license within the next few months. It will incorporate unique ID technology for flash memory and robust copy protection based on public key infrastructure.
Each of the member companies issued a statement related to the news:
Yoshiyuki Miyabe, corporate chief technology officer, Panasonic Corp.: “Panasonic has always been an innovator in providing the best possible content viewing experience in the living room through development of Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D technologies and products. With our new secure memory solution, we are excited to create a strong link between the living room experience and the mobile experience. Now consumers can enjoy watching premier content, such as movies, on the go with their smartphones and tablets.”
Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president, Memory Business, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.: “Samsung believes that the time is ripe for an advanced security solution and welcomes the opportunity to deliver a highly viable solution using flash memory chips. Samsung’s ongoing commitment to technology excellence will now further extend to early market availability of high-performance NAND technologies implementing the new advanced security solution.”
Sumit Sadana, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for SanDisk: “Consumers are ready for a solution that enables the effortless consumption of online and offline content across multiple device platforms. SanDisk looks forward to building on its history of innovation in the Flash industry by delivering optimized memory solutions to enable this new usage model with robust security technologies that can protect premium content.”
Hiroshi Yoshioka, corporate executive officer and executive deputy president, Sony Corp.: “We believe the secure solution created by this initiative will enable customers to enjoy high quality experiences anytime, anywhere. Sony has always been focused on bringing amazing experiences to people through highly-advanced technologies in content creation, content distribution and picture display.”
Yasuo Naruke, corporate vice president, vice president, Memory Division, Semiconductor & Storage Products Company, Toshiba Corp.: “This technology will open a new door to flash memory applications. As a flash memory manufacturer, we are pleased that our flash memory technology will contribute to bringing people more convenient and exciting experiences of HD content. We will continue our development efforts to create surprising innovation.”
Related link:
http://nextgenerationsecurememory.com
Photo by Flickr user teclasorg/Daniel Sancho, used under Creative Commons license
