The CompactFlash Association has
announced the development of the XQD 2.0 specification, sponsored by
Sony Corporation.
For those of you that are not familiar
with XQD, it’s a memory card format that uses PCI Express as a data
transfer interface, and was first announced in November 2010 by
SanDisk, Sony and Nikon, and was picked up by the CompactFlash
Association for development. Lexar recently announced that it would
be manufacturing XQD cards in the future, too.
The Final specification for XQD was
announced in December 2011, and was adopted by Nikon for use with the
Nikon D4 Digital SLR; and because of it’s fast transfer rates and
high storage capacities, Sony intends to use the XQD format in future
Broadcast Camcorders, too.
Sony recently announced faster XQD
S-series cards, as we reported earlier this month in our article
titled Sony Sets a Speed Record with XQD Memory Cards.
But, to allow even faster performance
in the future, development of a newer XQD 2.0 specification has been
announced by the CompactFlash Association. The same connector
interface by XQD 1.0 cards will be used by newer cards based on XQD
2.0. That will allow backwards compatibility with devices already in
the market that use XQD. For example, the Nikon D4 and Sony’s XQD
Card Readers. Yet, the new format will have features like VPG
(Video Performance Guarantee) with profiles capable of supporting
digital intermediate formats like ProRes, DPX and DNXhd.
In addition, the cards can make use of
a higher performance PCI Express 3.0 interface, which supports
transfer speeds up to 1,000MB/Second.
We here at Steve’s have noticed that some
of the newer video cards from Nvidia and AMD can also make use of the
faster speeds the PCI Express 3.0 interface can provide, while
maintaining backwards compatibility with PCs that have PCIe 2.0
interfaces; and it’s interesting to see memory cards that leverage
the benefits of the PCI Express interface design.
The CompactFlash Association is
targeting the completion of the XQD 2.0 specification for the second
half of this year. See the full press release below.
XQDTM2.0 Format Leverages PCI-SIG
Gen 3 to Deliver
up to 1,000MB/sec
Sequential Transfers
CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS
WIRE)–The
CompactFlash Association (CFA) is pleased to announce the development
of the XQD 2.0 specification, sponsored by Sony Corporation. The XQD
2.0 specification will be developed in the XQD Technical Workgroup
and will leverage the XQD 1.0 specification which was released
October 2010. Additional participation in this specification
development will be welcomed.
XQD 1.0 cards and connectors are already available in the
marketplace. XQD 2.0 will leverage the same connector interface as
XQD 1.0 interface for higher performance and backward compatibility.
Host manufacturers and media manufacturers will be able to leverage
the next generation of PCI Express® technology to serve the high
performance requirements of this market. The new format will have VPG
(Video Performance Guarantee) capability with profiles capable of
supporting digital intermediate formats such as ProResTM,
DPXTM, and
DNXhdTM.
The key features of the XQD 2.0 format will include:
Professional form-factor
- Dimensions : 38.5mm x 29.6mm x
3.8mm
-
Durable & Robust
High Performance Interface
Video Performance Guarantee
Superior Power Management
“The XQD 2.0 format will enable hardware and imaging
applications to leverage the performance benefits of the well
established PCI Express infrastructure allowing for many years of
higher performance and backward compatible products. The Video
Performance Guarantee Features of XQD 2.0 will also widen its appeal
meeting the needs of higher end video applications,” said Mr.
Shigeto Kanda of Canon, chairman of the board, CFA.
If you would like to participate in developing the XQD 2.0
specification, please contact the CFA office to inquire about
membership and/or joining the XQD Technical Workgroup or the CFA
website http://www.compactflash.org.
CFA is targeting for the XQD 2.0 specification to be available in the
second half of 2012.
The CFA (logo), CF (logo), CF+ and CFast are trademarks of the CFA
and are licensed royalty free to its members. The CFA is a licensee
of the CompactFlash® and XQD trademarks and in turn will license it
royalty free to its members.
Contacts
CompactFlash Association
Mike Asao,
+1-650-843-1220
mikeasao@compactflash.org
