Norris FlashFile(TM) System (NFS)

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/NORRIS+ANNOUNCES+AVAILABILITY+OF+NORRIS+FLASHFILE(TM)+SYSTEM-a017586624

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Norris Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: NORRF) today announced the availability of the Norris FlashFile(TM) System (NFS) as a development tool for individuals and companies preparing to use Flash memory in their systems and/or products. Norris' system stores and manipulates data using a file manager API, and supports compressed voice, image, or video as well as conventional file data. "The Norris FlashFile System sets the pace for performance in Flash memory subsystems. It's particularly well suited for use with multimedia data in a Flash memory environment," said Norbert Daberko, Vice President of Research and Development at Norris.

Norris was the first and is the only company to develop a hand-held digital recorder with removable Flash memory. Norris' proprietary methods compress sound or video into digital form and structures the data specifically for Flash memory chips. This way, Flash memory can emulate hard drive flexibility, provide long recording time, and access stored data instantly. Bob Root, CEO and President of Norris, stated, "Flash is gaining popularity in PCMCIA (PC Cards), but most of the industry still considers Flash memory to be a WORM (Write Once Read Many) device for storing PC BIOS code, for example; Norris has been developing methods that make Flash work as both primary and secondary data storage."

Although Flash memory can be difficult to integrate, it is preferred to other types of solid state memory because of its large capacity, low power requirements, and because of its internal structure. The feature- rich NFS was created to painlessly overcome the intricacies of dealing with Flash memory. It supports both NAND and NOR Flash memory, and its memory management transparently deals with bad blocks, erase blocks, wear leveling, fault tolerance, and is independent of data block sizes. The system is highly fault tolerant and recovers well from "high fatigue" applications.

"NFS was architected to simplify the systems design chore, reduce time to market and save the cost of developing an effective system from scratch," continued Mr. Daberko. "We built NFS for embedded systems from the onset, and included many features that maximize performance and minimize system resource requirements.

"The Norris FlashFile System can support an unlimited number of files, directories, and/or subdirectories," Daberko continued. "It requires no ATA or PC Card support hardware or software.

"The system has low ROM/RAM requirements (13KB/300Bytes), and features very fast access to recorded data, even if highly fragmented. Also, the file system was written in "C" so that it's easier to port to other environments, and an MS-DOS redirector is available to insure quick file access in MS-DOS or MS Windows. The media format is structured to support straightforward data migration to a PC hard disk and is highly MS-DOS compatible."

Norris' brand-name product using this technology is Flashback. This 3 oz. digital voice recorder plays recorded material instantly, performs variable-speed playback without changing voice pitch, and features the built-in ability to edit voice recordings, i.e. insert a message within a message without recording over what's already there. The Flashback recorder is the only device of its kind providing a removable and interchangeable storage medium. It is currently capable of storing 18 or 36 minutes of voice recording on the removable, reusable 1MB or 2MB SoundClip(R).

Norris' OEM sales division predicts their NFS technology will soon be in digital devices ranging from dictation equipment, two-way voice pagers, portable answering machines, and digital cameras to in-phone cellular answering machines, security or surveillance equipment, and flight data recorders, and is developing relationships with OEMs, VARs and other potential licensees.

San Diego-based Norris Communications Corporation develops, manufactures and markets sophisticated electronic audio and data storage products. An innovator in consumer electronics with serious portable business applications, Norris markets its products directly to OEMs and sells Norris branded products through resellers to end users. Its founder, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Elwood Norris, holds more than 100 patents for a wide variety of electronic technologies.

Norris Communications will be demonstrating their consumer products and discussing their technology at Comdex in Las Vegas, November 13-17. To meet with Norris at Comdex, please call 702-691-8264 (during the show only) to schedule an appointment, or drop by The Sands Convention Center meeting room #M5659R.