BIOS: Technology Means Business

Imagine carrying your favourite software, preferences, profiles and data on a device no bigger than a pack of gum.

With a U3 smart drive, you can plug into any Windows XP or 2000 PC and be productive wherever you are - work, play a game, message friends, send e-mail, edit photos, all without worrying if applications are installed on the computer. This is smart drive computing, alternatively known as U3 technology.

We all now that the easiest way to carry files for access on any computer is by using a tiny storage device, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drive. And we’ve all been buying millions of them. This year alone, industry analysts expect consumers to buy more than 60 million USB flash drives, producing $4 billion in revenue for manufacturers.

USB flash drive market leaders M-Systems and SanDisk envision a transformation for USB flash drives, from simple storage devices into USB smart drives that you can use not only to carry data, but to launch applications on a PC wherever they go - adding personalisation and security to existing plug-and-play mobility.

To make this vision as reality, the companies formed U3 LLC, an independent company that is uniting the industry around best-of-breed technology. U3 offers the innovative U3 smart drive computing platform for the creation of USB smart drives. A U3 powered smart drive hosts a ‘personal workspace’ - not only your data and files, but software programs, personal preferences, passwords and settings, and the means for managing them - all in a highly secure environment. When the smart drive is removed, the computer remains unaltered and no personal information is left behind.

But why would you want to install applications onto a U3 smart drive rather than onto a computer? Well, once applications are installed on the hard disk drive of a desktop or laptop computer, they become non-portable and locked onto that machine. By saving your applications on a U3 smart drive, you have the choice to use them on any PC wherever is most convenient.

By storing applications and files on a U3 smart drive, you avoid installation of a program onto your computer that may only be used a few times. In addition, when applications are installed on a U3 smart drive, system files are only loaded when the applications run, not at the time the computer starts up, thus reducing compatibility issues, improving system stability, and increasing overall performance. You can also avoid carrying your laptop and instead conduct your work on any PC. U3 smart drives can also be used in the same way as any hard disk drive. This includes drag and drop, creating files, renaming files, deleting files, and so on.

Although U3 smart drives are only supported on systems running Windows 2000 and XP, as long as your drive is not password protected you can use a U3 smart drive in the same way as any other USB flash drive on unsupported operating systems. If the U3 smart drive is password protected, you will need to use it on supported operating systems.

A U3 smart drive typically contains two virtual drives, a CD drive and a removable drive. The CD drive contains the Launchpad program and is automatically run when the drive is inserted into the computer (as long as the auto-run disk capability is enabled on the computer). The CD drive is read only. The removable drive contains the bundled applications that were defined by your U3 smart drive manufacturer. In addition, it contains enough space for you to keep your personal data on the drive.

U3 programs installed on a U3 smart drive can only be run through the U3 'Launchpad'. To run these programs you need to insert your U3 smart drive into one of the USB ports on your computer and start the 'Launchpad' app by clicking on the U3 icon on the taskbar. The 'Launchpad' main window will be displayed. From here you can select the required U3 program from the list of programs displayed on the left side of the 'Launchpad' main window.

The U3 platform includes a hardware development kit (HDK), software developer kit (SDK) and the U3 system software. The HDK gives manufacturers the core technology to build U3 smart drives. The SDK enables software developers to deploy their applications onto U3 smart drives with minimal effort. The U3 system software includes 'Launchpad', which comes installed on all U3 smart drives and is the entry point to the ‘personal workspace’ on the smart drive.

A confluence of trends make now the perfect time for the U3 platform to emerge. Mobility is a necessity and drive capacities are increasing exponentially. Security is a mandatory element in every aspect of computing. Personalisation is pervasive - from the iPod to PDAs to smartphones to the desktop, everyone wants their computing environment to be personal and represent the way they work and play. The U3 platform is at the intersection of all these crossroads, unifying these requirements into the USB smart drive.

Since the company’s launch in 2004, eight manufacturers have announced that they will produce U3 smart drives. In addition to USB flash drive market leaders and U3 backers M-Systems and SanDisk, Kingston Technology, Memorex, and Verbatim as well as European partners Clever-Stuff, Dexxon Data Media and Data Storage Advisors all have U3 smart drives available for purchase.

A good place to learn all about U3 is at www.u3.com.