 | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
| Founded | April 29, 1999 |
| Headquarters | , China |
Key people | Guoshun Deng, co-founder |
| Products | SSDs, Memory Modules, USB flash drives, memory cards, External SSD and Hard Drive, and storage peripherals. |
| Website | www |
Netac Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE : 300042) is a Chinese data storage company headquartered in Shenzhen. The company claims to be the world's first inventor of USB flash drive, [1] although that claim is disputed by IBM and other manufacturers.
Founded on 29 April 1999 by Guoshun "Frank" Deng and Cheng Xiaohua, the two worked for a year developing their first product, an eight megabyte flash memory drive that Deng christened the U disk. [2]
As of 2021, Netac's product line mainly consists of solid-state drive, memory module, SD cards, USB flash drives, external hard disk drives, and peripherals.
On July 24, 2002, Netac was granted its first patent, for an electronic flash memory external storage method and device. [3] At least 14 companies have since requested invalidation of this patent, as "[the patented device] has been anticipated by the combination of two references, i.e. USB System Architecture and the Handbook of Flash Memory Technology published in 1997 and such combination is obvious to those skilled in the art." [4]
Although the company claims to have invented the first USB flash drive in 1999 and submitted a Chinese patent application for the device the same year, the patent was granted and the product launched only in 2002. [2] IBM had released an eight megabyte USB flash drive in late 2000, [5] which preceded Netac's offering to market by more than a year and a half.
Unlike many other Chinese OEMs, Netac holds a number of patents. [6] By 2009, Netac had filed for over 300 patents in the US, South Korea, Singapore, and the People's Republic of China. Over 200 of those patent applications had been filed by 2005. [6]
Patents held by Netac include:
Intellectual-property infringement is widespread in China, [6] and Netac has taken companies both in and outside of this nation to court in order to protect its patents.
Companies it has sued include US-based PNY Technologies, [8] Beijing's Lenovo [9] and Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co Ltd, Shenzen's Fuguanghui and Xingzhidao, [10] Japan-based Sony, and Taiwan's Acer and Tai Guen Enterprise Co.
Its 2006 lawsuit against PNY Technologies was the first time a Chinese company filed patent infringement charges overseas. [1]
A joint venture with Skyworth, Shenzhen Coocaa Network Technology Co Ltd provides free high-definition movie and video download services. [11] Netac has developed USB flash drives that, in conjunction with USB port equipped Skyworth televisions, allow video to be played from the drive.
Netac office building is located in Nanshan high-tech district which is the technology center of Shenzhen. [12]
Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers.
A memory card is an electronic data storage device used for storing digital information, typically using flash memory. These are commonly used in digital portable electronic devices. They allow adding memory to such devices using a card in a socket instead of protruding USB flash drives.
In computing, a removable media is a data storage media that is designed to be readily inserted and removed from a system. Most early removable media, such as floppy disks and optical discs, require a dedicated read/write device to be installed in the computer, while others, such as USB flash drives, are plug-and-play with all the hardware required to read them built into the device, so only need a driver software to be installed in order to communicate with the device. Some removable media readers/drives are integrated into the computer case, while others are standalone devices that need to be additionally installed or connected.
A USB flash drive is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. It is typically removable, rewritable and much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than 30 g (1 oz). Since first appearing on the market in late 2000, as with virtually all other computer memory devices, storage capacities have risen while prices have dropped. As of March 2016, flash drives with anywhere from 8 to 256 gigabytes (GB) were frequently sold, while 512 GB and 1 terabyte (TB) units were less frequent. As of 2023, 2 TB flash drives were the largest currently in production. Some allow up to 100,000 write/erase cycles, depending on the exact type of memory chip used, and are thought to physically last between 10 and 100 years under normal circumstances.
Iomega produced external, portable, and networked data storage products. Established in the 1980s in Roy, Utah, United States, Iomega sold more than 410 million digital storage drives and disks, including the Zip drive floppy disk system. Formerly a public company, it was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2008, and then by Lenovo, which rebranded the product line as LenovoEMC, until discontinuation in 2018.
The Microdrive is a type of miniature, 1-inch hard disks produced by IBM and Hitachi. These rotational media storage devices were designed to fit in CompactFlash (CF) Type II slots.
In computing, external storage refers to non-volatile (secondary) data storage outside a computer's own internal hardware, and thus can be readily disconnected and accessed elsewhere. Such storage devices may refer to removable media, compact flash drives, portable storage devices, or network-attached storage. Web-based cloud storage is the latest technology for external storage.
Lexar International is a brand of flash memory products manufactured by the Chinese memory company Longsys.
Skyworth, officially Skyworth Group Co., Ltd., is a Chinese holding company. Its subsidiaries design, manufacture and sell televisions and other audio-visual products. They also invest in properties. Headquartered in Nanshan High-tech Park, Shenzhen, as of 2010, Skyworth has operations in Hong Kong and Inner Mongolia as well as in various locations in Guangdong including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan.
This table provides summary of comparison of various flash memory cards, as of 2017.
M-Systems Ltd., was a Nasdaq-listed Israeli producer of flash memory storage products founded in 1989 by Dov Moran and Aryeh Mergi, based in Kfar Saba, Israel. They were best known for developing and patenting the first flash drive, marketed in 1995 as DiskOnChip, and the first USB flash drive, marketed in 2000 as DiskOnKey. They also created the patented True Flash Filing System (TrueFFS) which presented the flash memory as a disk drive to the computer. After 17 years of business, they were acquired by their prior competitor, SanDisk, in 2006. The DiskOnChip (DOC) was developed at the R&D Center established by M-Systems called EUROM. Rick Iorillo, Rony Levy and David Deitcher were the individuals that worked on the development and marketing of the first 2 MB DOC. This product went on to receive the Most Innovative Award from EDN in 1995 and later went on to become the Flash Drive and DiskOnKey.
sTec was an American computer data storage technology company headquartered in California. It had research and development, sales, support and manufacturing sites in China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Silicon Valley (USA), and Taiwan.
Dov Moran is an Israeli entrepreneur, inventor and investor, best known as the inventor of the USB memory stick, and one of the most prominent Israeli hi-tech leaders.
Dmailer was a French company which specialized in portable backup and synchronization software for devices, including USB flash drives, memory cards, external hard disk drives, MP3 players, embedded phone memories, SIM cards and flash-based memory cards for mobile phones.
This glossary of computer hardware terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts related to computer hardware, i.e. the physical and structural components of computers, architectural issues, and peripheral devices.
Trek 2000 International Limited is a Singaporean technology company that is listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX:TREK). The company claims to be the inventor of the ThumbDrive, a USB data storage device. The company owns a library of more than 600 patents, with 360 granted patents. It has also developed numerous other products in the same consumer electronics market segments including the Ai-Ball and offers products such as SSDs and Flash Drives. The ThumbDrive trademark is registered by Trek 2000 International in international markets, although the original inventors of the USB flash drive and the related patents are the subjects of multiple disputes.
ADATA Technology Co., Ltd. is a Taiwanese fabless memory, storage and computer case manufacturer, founded in May 2001 by Simon Chen (陳立白). Its main product line consists of DRAM modules, USB Flash drives, hard disk drives, solid state drives, memory cards and mobile accessories. ADATA is also expanding into new areas, including robotics and electric powertrain systems. In addition to its main ADATA brand, the company also sells PC gaming hardware and accessories under its XPG brand.
Solid-state storage (SSS) is a type of non-volatile computer storage that stores and retrieves digital information using only electronic circuits, without any involvement of moving mechanical parts. This differs fundamentally from the traditional electromechanical storage, which records data using rotating or linearly moving media coated with magnetic material.