Panasonic has announced the upcoming release of the PRO HIGH SPEED Series of SD Memory Cards. The PRO HIGH SPEED Series are cards designed as replacements for tape based image capturing systems. The cards are integrated in the new P2 series of cameras and devices and are capable or storage sizes up to 1GB with transfer rates of 20MB/s. According to Panasonic:

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., best known for its Panasonic brand products, today announced it will introduce "PRO HIGH SPEED Series" 1GB and 512MB SD Memory Cards this Fall that doubled the internal data transfer rates. These two SD Memory Cards use Panasonicis new LSI architecture and proprietary high speed technology to achieve a data transfer speed of up to 20MB/s.1 Named the "PRO HIGH SPEED Series", the new memory cards will feature distinctive, newly-designed labels and packaging.

The new PRO HIGH SPEED Series SD Memory Card can achieve data transfer speeds of up to 20MB/s for an SD Memory Card when used with SD products that comply with a newly upgraded interface. Panasonic will also simultaneously launch a Cardbus compatible PC Card Adaptor as a host device to enable high-speed data transfer.

The name PRO HIGH SPEED indicates that the cards provide high-level performance compatible with the standard demanded by video professionals. The basic construction of the PRO HIGH SPEED Series card is employed in the recording medium (P2 Card) used by the Panasonic professional camera DVCPRO P2 system, which delivers the exceptional tapeless video capture performance and durability required by video professionals. The fact that this professional camera has been adopted by more than 40 leading TV broadcasters and tested at the recent Athens Olympics shows its reliability of both the camera and media.

PRO HIGH SPEED Series SD Memory Cards are compatible with existing SD-enabled products. They can be used with current SD-enabled products to achieve the same maximum high-speed data transfer of up to 10MB/s as that provided by Super High Speed Series.

Panasonic plans to release PRO HIGH SPEED Series Cards with doubled memory capacity in coming years.

You can find more information about the PRO HIGH SPEED Series of SD Memory Cards at the Panasonic Global Web site. Sale of the memory cards worldwide is scheduled to begin in October, no prices available at press time.