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Advice
electronic design companies, which live or companies eager to offer preloaded sticks Powerpoint and anti-virus applications
die by the strength of their intellectual both to consumers and employees. Integral directly from your flash drive. They don't
property. provides a service whereby it will load actually take up much space — the average
Passwords
branded memory sticks with a Powerpoint application uses under 10MB of memory, so
presentation or slideshow, with the added a 512Mb stick can easily carry several
For those not wanting to splash out on a bonus that the user does not have to have applications along with your files."
software solution, there are many memory the specific application on their PC in order
Next Step
sticks out there with in-built protection, as for the file to run (although they will not be
Gerald Greig, product manager for able to edit or save the file). Everything from your favourite internet
technology provider Integral, explains: "The browser, to password managers (enabling the
basic way to protect the information on a
The flexibility of flash drives
dozens of online accounts we seem to
flash drive is with a password (typically up to
as a marketing tool has
accumulate everyday to be launched with
16 characters) which works in the same way
been duly noted
one master password) can now be run via a
as, say, protecting a document within Word. U3 smart drive. Gold envisages a world in the
We try to make the security functions as not too distant future, where consumers will
simple as possible for the user, as the last The educational and entertainment sectors be able to install all of their applications onto
thing we want is people jamming our support are also looking closely at the technology, their flash drives, enabling them to work on
line because they can't access their memory with everything from GCSE chemistry to the any computer they choose. Effectively this
stick." latest blockbuster soon to be available on a would lead to the hard drive of their PC being
Flash drives with biometric protection are flash drive, providing copyright issues can be used simply as a back-up (files and
also available, although Integral has until now overcome. Greig points out that drives can be applications could also be stored on an FTP
baulked at offering one due to the configured so that while their content can be site for extra security) — in other words, the
temperamental nature of the technology. downloaded onto a PC, it will only be opposite to what is currently the case.
Says Greig: "The problem with biometric accessible if the drive is plugged into the "Mobile phones will also become
protection is that it only takes a small amount USB port, preventing users from forwarding important platforms moving forward," adds
of dirt or a bit of water on the scanner, and it the data to friends and colleagues. Gold. "As their capacities increase there's no
won't work when the user comes to activate So with such a rapid growth in popularity, reason why applications couldn't be stored
the stick. In this instance the drive has to be where next for memory sticks? U3, a joint on the phone, and launched via Bluetooth or
returned to the manufacturer in order to venture between Sandisk and M-Systems USB lead directly onto PCs."
recover the data. We are looking at new (which provides USB flash drives for the likes Whatever form USB flash drives end up
technology to overcome this, and hope to of Memorex, Kingston and Verbatim) has taking, there is no doubt they have quickly
have an improved biometric drive out later developed technology which allows users to established themselves as a user-friendly,
this year." carry and run applications from their flash convenient method of storing files on the
Greig say that the current "sweet spot" for drives. move. Providing companies take note of their
USB flash drives (the point where sufficient Nathan Gold, senior director of partner limitations and introduce measures to
capacity and greatest value for money development for U3, says: "Until now, most safeguard their data accordingly, there's no
coincide) is around the 1GB mark, giving people have been using memory sticks to reason why these little sticks won't become
consumers enough space to store music, drag, carry and drop files. But with U3 as essential a piece of equipment as your
pictures and documents, all for around £15. software it is possible to run Skype, laptop or Blackberry.
Capacity has risen so quickly that some
companies are stopping production of sticks
holding 128MB and below, as they are simply
no longer cost-effective.
He also points out that there are
alternatives to USB flash drives — portable
hard disk drives (HDD) remain popular due to
their higher capacities — but the sturdy
nature of memory sticks has helped the
growth in their popularity.
"The only problem with HDD is that they
are more fragile than memory sticks," says
Greig. "They have moving parts that can be
damaged when dropped, whereas flash
drives are solid state and so much more
hard-wearing. However, there is only so much
memory we can currently fit into a memory
stick, so above 16GB, HDD remains a viable
choice."
The flexibility of flash drives as a marketing
tool has been duly noted as well, with
56 • issue 164 Business Matters
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