With today’s release of the 433X CF card, Pretec is breaking its own world record of previous fastest CF card (333X) by more than 30%. Using a specially-crafted controller IC and SLC NAND flash technology, the Pretec 433X CF card reaches 65MB/s read speed and 50MB/s write speed. The Pretec 433X CF card is sampling now to key customers, with volume delivery by March, 2009.

Pretec, creator of the highest capacity CompactFlash card in the world (64GB) and the fastest CF card in the world (333X) will demonstrate the new Pretec 433X CF card, another speed breakthrough in flash memory at “Focus on Imaging 2009”, Europe’s biggest annual imaging event in Birmingham's NEC. The Pretec 433X CF card will be on display at stand Q20 together with Peartree and Leaf, a world leading manufacturer of digital medium format camera systems and digital backs.

The Pretec 433X CF card is the newest member of Pretec’s family of innovative flash memory cards, consistently first to market in high speedand capacity products; 233X and 333X CF cards were launched by Pretec at Taipei in 2007 and 64GB CF cards started shipping in Sept. 2008. With today’s release of the 433X CF card, Pretec is breaking its own world record of previous fastest CF card (333X) by more than 30%.

Using a specially-crafted controller IC and SLC NAND flash technology, the Pretec 433X CF card reaches astounding 65MB per second read speed and 50MB per second write speed, making it the fastest CF card on earth. Delivering breathtaking data transfer speed and excellent reliability, the 433X CF card was created for professional digital cameras users who need and desire a single device like Pretec 433X CF that offers great features for fast, safe, and reliable data storage.

With the new Pretec 433x CF card, photographers can now confidently reduce workflow time with faster file uploads, be able to enjoy taking more pictures at a single time and be certain that they are taking full advantage of maximum in-camera write speed. Leaf, creator of the Leaf AFi-II digital medium format camera system, is one of the world's most respected names in studio photography. In digital medium format systems and backs like the ones made by Leaf, with the fastest in-camera write speed a practically unlimited burst depth, CF card speed is a critical factor. “The Leaf AFi-II 10, with 56 million pixel resolution and 112MB RAW files, demands fast throughput to satisfy professional photographers and their assistants who are always working against the clock,” said Seth Greenberg, Leaf Marketing Director. “We are pleased again to team up with Pretec to offer their unique, high-quality memory products with unparalleled performance and exceptional value.”

CF cards use the PATA standard with a maximum transfer speed of 133MB/s, which will soon become the bottleneck for the ever increasing speed demands of SSDs. As the speed of Pretec CF cards approach the theoretical maximum speed of the CF specification, Pretec has announced the availability of the next generation CF cards in January, 2009, called CFast™, which was developed by the CompactFlash Association (http://www.compactflash.org/) to boost the speed limit from 133MB/s (PATA) to 375MB/s (SATA) while keeping the small and popular original CF mechanical form factor. The Pretec 433X CF card is sampling now to key customers, with volume delivery by March, 2009.

In today's high capacity world it's not just the size of the memory capacity that matters it's also the speed at which the data can be transferred that's VERY important. Transcend seems to have acknowledged this requirement and has launched their new Extreme Speed 300X CompactFlash card.

Austin Huang, Regional Head - Sales, SAARC & APAC, Transcend, said, "Being responsive to our customer's evolving needs, Transcend's Extreme Speed 300X CompactFlash card delivers amazing read and write speeds making consecutive shooting and non-stop video recording with today's high-performance DSLR cameras a breeze."Transcend's Extreme Speed 300X CompactFlash cards operate in dual-channel Ultra DMA mode 5, the fastest speed available for CF cards. This interface allows Transcend's 300X CF cards to achieve fast read/write speeds of up to 45MB per second on average, making consecutive shooting and non-stop video recording with today's high-performance digital single lens reflex cameras (DSLR) easier. Transcend's 300X CF cards are also built with an advanced ECC (Error Correction Code) that automatically detects and corrects errors during data transfer.

The cards also carry Transcend's International Lifetime Warranty and are available in 4GB for Rs. 3,800, 8GB for Rs. 7,500 and 16GB for Rs. 16,500.