PCMCIA

A PCMCIA device

Example of a PCMCIA card.

PCMCIA is the acronym for the «Personal Computer Memory Card International Association», which in Spanish is «International Association of Memory Cards for personal equipment.

There are many types of devices available in the PCMCIA card format: modems, sound cards, network cards.

The proliferation of different portable equipment, such as portable PCs or PDAs (electronic agendas), made it necessary to develop devices required for all types of portable equipment. Priority was given to the development of standard cards, designed for compatibility between peripheral devices, such as memory and modem complements, which were the sole and exclusive property of said brand, excluding the use of similar devices made by other manufacturers. Generally, these peripheral devices were not designed to be interchanged with other equipment.

As a result, there was an expansion in the industry so that manufacturers of computer systems could standardize each machine and its capacity. This method would allow users to select their providers and also share peripherals with other systems. Originally these devices were mainly memory cards. These memory cards are sometimes used instead of floppy disks to exchange data or expand computer system memory. The functionality of these cards has expanded beyond memory cards, which, coupled with their ease of use, compact size, platform and application compatibility, has led to increasing popularity in recent years.

International Association

PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) was founded in 1989 with the goal of establishing standards for integrated circuits and promoting compatibility among portable systems, where robustness, low power consumption, and Small dimensions are the most important factors. Its members include Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Lexar Media, Microsoft, SCM Microsystems, and Texas Instruments.

As the needs of laptop users have changed, so has the standard for PC Cards. As early as 1991 PCMCIA had defined an input/output interface for the same 68-pin connector initially used on memory cards. As designers realized the need for common software to increase compatibility, socket service specifications were added first, followed by card specification services.

The PCMCIA association was dissolved between 2009 and 2010. The specifications have been adopted by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF).

Interfaces developed under the PCMCIA standard

• PC Card (originally called "PCMCIA" until version 2.0)
• CardBus
• ExpressCard