SD card new standard 'SD Express' capable of high-speed transfer of about 1 GB per second & 'SDUC' with maximum capacity of 128 TB has appeared

The SD association that defines the memory card standard announced " SD Express " with the maximum transfer rate of 985 MB / s. SD cards that are faster than SATA connected SSDs will appear. In addition, the maximum capacity of the SD card is expanded to 128 TB by " SDUC ".

SD EXPRESS - A REVOLUTIONARY INNOVATION FOR SD MEMORY CARDS
(PDF file) https://www.sdcard.org/press/SD_EXPRESS_A_REVOLUTIONARY_INNOVATION_FOR_SD_MEMORY_CARDS.pdf

The outline of SD Express is explained in the following movie.

SD Express - Revolutionary Innovation for SD Memory Cards - YouTube


Various contents are produced every day according to demand such as automobiles, cameras, smart phones, game machines, IoT terminals, VR, 360 degree movie camera, 4K streaming movie.

What is sought there is "fast and scalable (large capacity)" storage.

"SD Express" was born to meet such a demand.

Since SD Express is specified as SD 7.0, backward compatibility with existing SD card is maintained.

On top of that, it adopts the "PCI-Express" interface and "NVMe" protocol.

This realizes high speed transfer which is incorrect with the conventional SD card of 985 MB / s. You can use it as "removable SSD" as fast as this.

SD Express supports PCI-Express Gen 3 and NVMe 1.3. It corresponds with the second low pin of the SD card used in UHS.

We will give various benefits to system developers such as "bus mastering" "multi queue" "memory buffer hosting".

SD Express supports voltage of 3.3 V and 1.8 V as usual. Furthermore, we can take advantage of the power control function according to the situation of NMVe.

SD Express is an optimal solution for new applications.

As explained in the movie, SD Express capable of PCI - Express Gen 3 connection increases the maximum transfer rate to 985 MB / s.

The additional function corresponds with the second pin. Since expansion pins are left, further improvement in functions can be expected in the future.

The SD Express logo is as follows.

The SD Express whose specification was decided as SD 7.0 is also ensured backward compatibility with existing SD card compatible terminals.

The SD Express white paper can be checked on the following page.

SD Express Cards with PCIe and NVMe Interfaces
(PDF file) https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/pls/latest_whitepapers/SD_Express_Cards_with_PCIe_and_NVMe_Interfaces_White_Paper.pdf

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SD Association has also officially announced the new " SD Ultra Capacity (SDUC) " card standard. The maximum capacity of SD card which was 2 TB by SDXC so far will be expanded to 128 TB by SDUC.

SD Express - SD memory cards to evolve further innovation | Business Wire
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180626006672/en/

With the advent of ultra high speed & large capacity SD card, it seems that new applications will appear in various fields such as mobile terminals, drones, IoT terminals.