Veronica Martin spoke to Fissal Oubida, Global Marketing Director MEA at Lexar, during GITEX Global about the new products and solutions they are demonstrating and launching, key technologies and trends driving innovation and what value GITEX brings to Lexar.
Can you tell our readers what new products and solutions you are demonstrating and launching here this week at GITEX Global?
We have participated in GITEX for the last five years and also in the new edition in Africa. This year we are launching three new lines. One is the gold micro-STY, usually only video performance only on SD card, but this year we launched a gold micro SD that has a V60 capacity and can be used in cameras. The second product we’re launching this year is the SL500, with a very high performance and high capacity that can reach up to four terabytes. We are also launching the fastest SSD in the world at 12,000 megabytes per second and nobody else in the market has this speed on SSD at the moment.
This is a very competitive industry and every year someone is catching up. Additionally, we are introducing a DDR 5A, which is 8,000 mbps, the fastest one on the memory side. We are also increasing the capacity on other existing products that were reaching only one terabyte and now they are reaching from two to four. Lexar has more than 900 research and development engineers and no memory brand solutions in the world has this number.
We also have a testing facility that has more than 2,000 devices. Anyone in the planet that use a memory card or a flash, we have it. We test our products online on different devices to make sure our products are compatible to any device. Our product never comes from the factory directly to the consumer, they always go to a testing facility first. This increases our cost and generates delays, but with that we ensure customers receive a tested product that will never fail. That’s why our RMA is less than 0.5% while other brands can reach up 20 to 30% of RMA. We are famous for having the lowest RMA in the memory industry.
From your company’s perspective, what are the key technologies and trends that you’re seeing that will drive your innovation and product roadmap for the next 12 months?
Our industry of memory and solutions is very dynamic and all the brands are competing on creating new features. The number one trend I see is the bumping capacities, as the lower capacity SSD will slowly disappear, and the second one is data security, where customers will have more encrypted memory devices. For example, Lexar has a unique fingerprint encryption called F35 USB that only can be unlocked with a personal fingerprint. We have also created partitions inside this USB, so it can be used individually or for bigger groups.
Performance is also one of the biggest trends. Everybody who has a device now, either a camera, laptop or desktop, wants more speed and we want it too. Our diamond card, which is a CF card used by camera at the moment, won the TPA awards and is the number one memory card in the world. Why? Because it’s fast, as you can take 200 pictures per second. Even the most expensive and sophisticated camera in the world doesn’t work fast if you don’t have a powerful card. With our diamond card, each picture appears in less than a millimetre of a second.
How important is an event like GITEX Global for your company – and what value does it bring to your organisation?
GITEX is the number one platform for us to showcase our new product. It has thousands of visitors, so there is no better way to advertise our new solutions. This is also a great opportunity for us to meet with potential distributors in Middle East, Africa and India, as we are connected to them geographically and also culturally.
