Flash memory licensed to Symbian designers

The driver software for Renesas Technology's superAND Flash memory will now be included with Symbian OS deliveries to Symbian OS licensees.

The driver software for Renesas Technology's superAND Flash memory will now be included with Symbian OS deliveries to Symbian OS licensees.

Through the Symbian Companion Technology Programme, Renesas Technology will provide handset manufacturers producing smartphones based on Symbian OS an easy and low risk mechanism to evaluate superAND Flash memory for their phones.

Symbian OS is licensed to the world's leading mobile phone manufacturers.

The Symbian Companion Technology Programme is designed to stimulate and promote innovation by offering Symbian OS licensees, who include Fujitsu, Motorola, Nokia, Sharp and Sony Ericsson, a choice of a wide range of pre-integrated and prevalidated technologies to reduce handset time to market and commercial risk.

The partners offering companion technologies license their software directly to handset manufacturers in case the licensees decide to integrate it with their products.

Driver software usually requires significant investment of time and development resources by a mobile phone manufacturer in order to check its OS compatibility.

In some circumstances it can delay the time to market of a product.

Even though most semiconductor manufacturers now provide such driver software, it is still difficult to gain certified OS compliance, and in most cases driver implementations need further work before they are suitable for release in a product.

Renesas Technology's superAND Flash memory is a leading device in the industry offering a built-in error correction feature, wear levelling feature and sector management function.

The memory reduces system design load and, by adopting the AND multilevel cell technology, realises high-speed programming and small chip size at the same time.

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