Jan 26, 2009 Q. BPM recently announced that the Flashstream, which was first introduced in August of 2007, has undergone many changes over the last year. What main improvements have been made?
A. The main improvements include increase capabilities in size or density of devices that can be programmed, speed at which they are programmed and features that make the equipment more flexible to support more flash memory devices.
Q. What is the top speed capability of the Flashstream?
A. Flashstream runs the fastest on NAND flash memory devices and can program a 2-gigabit device at a rate of 8.23 MB/s. This time exceeds the intrinsic times or theoretical programming times called out in the device specification, without violation of the programming specification. NOR type flash memory benefit from Flashstream technology due to the verification cycle often only taking 1 to 2 seconds, where other programming solution's verification time equals its programming time.
Q. BPM has had a successful year, especially since the introduction of the Flashstream. Would you say that much of the success is attributed to the Flashstream?
A. Flashstream reinforces the technology leadership role that BPM established since its first day in business almost 23 years ago when it was then called BP Microsystems. Flashstream technology has been eagerly accepted in the market place in segments that are having the most pain with bottlenecks in production related to electronics containing flash memory. A recent customer switched from an in-systems programming method (ISP) to Flashstream technology and literally turned 43 minutes of programming time into 43 seconds. This example is extreme, but you can see how this, and other customers, might be satisfied with our product.
Q. BPM has a global distributor network spanning more than 57 countries. Where is the company's primary sales base?
A. BPM enjoys the diversification of having equal shares of its business spread around the globe and across many electronics related industries. It is obvious that Asia will continue to be a key growth sector in the electronics industry and our sales base will eventually skew in that direction.
Q. What improvements should we expect from BPM Microsystems over the next year?
A. Since the Flashstream technology product is the first BPM product that employs an upgradeable firmware for hardware; we can implement new hardware features via our current BPWin software. Equipment internal memory upgrades will be available as to existing Flashstream customers, as the market demands it.
With flash memory prices as all time lows, engineers are racing to find creative methods to use this cheap memory to enhance electronic products and reduce cost. BPM will continue to improve its products to meet the needs of the electronics manufacturing industry and keep programmed chips consistently flowing to SMT lines.
