SD Express delivers new Gigabyte speeds for SD memory cards

The SD Association has announced the SD 8 Specification for SD cards, which now transfers up to 4 gigabytes per second (GB/s) by using PCIe 4 and NVMe.  SD Express memory cards using SD 8 specification will maintain backward compatibility.  

“SD Express’s use of even faster PCIe and NVMe architectures to deliver faster transfer speeds creates more opportunities for devices to use SD memory cards,” says Mats Larsson, senior market analyst at Futuresource. “This combination of trusted and well-known technologies makes it easier for future product designs to leverage the benefits of removable storage in new ways.”  

SD Express gigabyte speeds bring new storage opportunities for devices with demanding performance levels. The cards can move large amounts of data generated by data-intense super-slow motion video, RAW continuous burst mode, 360 degree cameras/videos, 8K video capture, multi-channel IoT devices and automotive to name a few. SD Express will be offered on SDHC, SDXC and SDUC memory cards.  

“By dramatically increasing the speeds for SD Express we’re giving device manufacturers and system developers more storage choices,” says Hiroyuki Sakamoto, SDA president. “SD 8 may open even more opportunities for extra high performance solutions using removable memory cards.”  

“NVMe is the industry-recognized performance SSD interface from the client to the datacenter, shipping in millions of units,” said Amber Huffman, president of NVM Express Inc. “Consumers will benefit by SD Association continuing the adoption of the NVMe base specification for their latest SD Express cards.”  

SD 8.0 specification provides two transfer speed options for SD Express: either PCIe 3 x2 or PCIe 4 x1 architectures with up to ~2GB/s, and with PCIe 4 x2 technology with up to 4GB/s. This matters for those who are connecting SD express cards on a computer with limited PCIe 4 lanes available. 

Visit the SDA Virtual Tradeshow to learn more about SD Express solutions.