Arasan Chip Systems announces SD 3.0/eMMC 4.4 card controller IP

SAN JOSE, USA: Arasan Chip Systems Inc., a leading provider of Total Intellectual Property (IP) Core Solutions, announced the availability of the world's first SD 3.0/eMMC 4.4 Card Controller IP compliant with the latest SD Memory v3.0 and Multimedia Card eMMC 4.4 specifications.

Arasan's Card Controller IP supports transfers up to 104MB/s and incorporates all standard security features.

The IP supports SD 3.0, which specifies cards with a maximum capacity of up to 2TB and bandwidth that scales up to 104MBps (UHS-I), in this version. This dramatic increase in capacity and bandwidth will enable consumers to store, download and share higher resolution multi-media content using the familiar Secure Digital (SD) card form-factor.

Arasan's IP also supports eMMC 4.4, which incorporates new security features such as replay protected memory block, programmable card memory partitions as well as the traditional password, application based security and secure data erase. Memory card designers can use Arasan's SD 3.0/eMMC 4.4 Card Controller IP to leverage the rapid advances in NAND Flash technology to bring high performance cards to market. These cards enable users to enjoy hours of cutting edge HD multi-media content on devices such as mobile phones, camcorders and portable media players.

Arasan's SD 3.0/eMMC 4.4 Card Controller IP can also be used to securely store boot code. Being able to boot from this memory simplifies system design while securing the boot code from corruption. With this release, Arasan continues to demonstrate its commitment to being the first to deliver leading edge SD, eMMC IP cores.

"With the increasing reliance on embedded software for product differentiation, designers are looking for a scalable solution to securely store, boot their system," said Prakash Kamath, Vice-President of Engineering at Arasan. "Arasan's IP enables card designers to integrate the highest performance memory controller available in the market today to provide such a secure storage solution."

"Compact and dense storage is an essential part of enabling a rich multi-media experience in consumer electronic devices such as smartphones, mobile internet devices, netbooks," said Somnath Viswanath, Product Marketing Manager at Arasan. "Integrating Arasan's unique SD 3.0/eMMC 4.4 Card Controller IP enables designers to offer such storage solutions in a familiar SD/eMMC form-factor."

Arasan's SD 3.0/eMMC 4.4 Card Controller IP has built-in hardware support for multiple data protection schemes such as mechanical switch-based, password, temporary or permanent write protection. The IP natively supports all SD 3.0/eMMC 4.4 commands. It also incorporates CRC checking to validate transactions on the memory card bus.

Arasan provides a "Total IP Solution" for its SD 3.0/eMMC 4.4 card controller IP Core consisting of RTL core source code, synthesis scripts, verification IP, software stacks, hardware platforms/test environment and documentation all backed by world-class customer support.