M Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd. (FLSH)

[midastouch017]

M-Systems and Microelectronica Announce Plan for 1 Gigabyte SIM Cards by End of 2006

Wednesday February 15, 1:25 am ET

World's Highest Density SIM Cards Are Expected to Provide Mobile Network Operators with New Revenue Opportunities Through Smarter Mobile Services

BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 15, 2006--M-Systems (Nasdaq: FLSH - News), a leader in smart personal storage, and its subsidiary smart card company, Microelectronica, today announced their expanded 2006 M-SIM(TM) product roadmap including the M.MAR series of 2G and 3G SIM cards and the MegaSIM® series of high-density SIM cards. As the first part of the new offering, the companies further announced today the planned availability of 512 megabytes M-SIM MegaSIM series SIM cards for pilots with mobile network operators (MNOs) in Q2 2006 and planned commercial availability in Q3 2006. 1 gigabyte M-SIM MegaSIM series SIM cards are planned for rollout by the end of 2006.

This new product roadmap, the first issued since M-Systems' acquisition of Microelectronica in November 2005, includes products which integrate Microelectronica's M.MAR SIM software and operating system with M-Systems' flash management technology as part of the MegaSIM platform.

M-Systems has been at the forefront of promoting high-density SIM cards in the mobile market. The new M-SIM MegaSIM series will enable MNOs to offer subscribers a secured product with advanced capabilities, enabling smarter mobile services, such as multimedia content, games, messaging and enterprise applications.

"The deployment of our M-SIM MegaSIM series SIM cards in 2006 represents a major step forward for the SIM card market and reinforces our commitment to making mobile services smarter. In addition, this roadmap demonstrates the value of bringing Microelectronica's secured manufacturing capabilities into the M-Systems family," said Simone Cavallo, general manager of M-Systems' MNO division. "Our ongoing collaboration with major market players as represented by our announcement earlier today with Orange, Oberthur Card Systems and LG Electronics, demonstrates that key players in the mobile network ecosystem see the value and promise of secure, high-density SIM cards. We believe that the additional functionality of our M-SIM MegaSIM series may provide our partners with new, smarter ways to drive revenue."

Leveraging M-Systems' flash expertise with its field-proven M-Safe(TM) crypto core technology, globally trusted in millions of smart cards, the MegaSIM platform, incorporating M-Systems' TrueFFS® flash file management, combines high-density flash storage (64 megabytes to 1 gigabyte), processing power, high-speed data protocols and crypto functionality. M-Systems' MegaSIM platform far enhances typical SIM architecture while maintaining full compatibility with legacy industry standards. SIM cards powered by M-Systems' MegaSIM platform, such as M-Systems' M-SIM MegaSIM series, will provide MNOs with an intuitive, ubiquitous interface and a high-density, high-speed platform. By deploying these SIM cards, MNOs can increase revenue streams, while at the same time offer a new sales channel for software developers and, last but not least, a smarter mobile usage experience for subscribers.

The product series announced today includes:

1. M-SIM M.MAR series of 2G and 3G SIM cards available with EEPROM memory from 32 kilobytes to 1 megabyte complying with 3GPP Release 5 and Release 6 specifications. M-SIM M.MAR SIM cards have full support for standard OTA/BIP, STK, Java functionality, micro-browsing, BIP, crypto and both 2G and 3G versions.

2. M-SIM MegaSIM series high-density SIM cards with flash memory densities ranging from 64 megabytes to 1 gigabyte. The M-SIM MegaSIM series will offer:

Full UICC, (U)SIM functionality for 2G and 3G
64 megabytes (MB), 128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB and 1 gigabyte of flash memory
High speed interface support
32-bit ARM SC100 CPU
448 kilobytes of ROM, 64 or 128 kilobytes of EEPROM, 16 kilobytes of SRAM
Java interoperable functionality
Enhanced M-Safe crypto engine with PKI, 3DES and on-the-fly AES support
Support for 3rd party mobile software applications
USAT interpreter
WIB 1.3
BIP
About M-Systems

M-Systems has been transforming raw flash material into smarter storage solutions since 1989. From embedded flash drives deployed in millions of mobile handsets to U3 USB smart drives designed for leading global brands, M-Systems creates, develops, manufactures and markets smart personal storage solutions for a myriad of applications targeting high growth markets. M-Systems' product lines include:

M-Drive (formerly DiskOnKey®) U3 USB smart drives for personal, portable computing
M-DOC embedded flash drives for mobile handsets and consumer electronics devices
M-SIM MegaSIM® series high-density SIM cards and M-SIM M.MAR® series SIM cards and highly secure cards (available both from M-Systems and its subsidiary Microelectronica)
M-Card, high-quality memory cards for mobile handsets and digital cameras
M-Trust (formerly Xkey®) end-to-end enterprise access, control and management solution for USB flash drives and other removable media
M-SSD (formerly FFD(TM)) rugged solid state disks for mission-critical applications
M-Module (formerly DiskOnChip® modular family) modular flash storage for embedded systems
M-Safe (formerly SuperMAP® family) secure hardware and software crypto cores
More information is available online at www.m-systems.com. M-Systems. Made smarter.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060215/20060214006552.html?.v=1

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