The First Flash Drive
In the photo is an M-Systems demonstration Disk-On-Chip from the 1990s, the forerunner of memory sticks and cards. The normally all black plastic package is top-filled with clear epoxy. The company was founded by Dov Moran and was based in Israel. The architecture remains the same for flash cards, SD etc. A high density standard memory chip and a separate controller chip (larger chip on the left above). IBM were the first company in the US to market flash drives, buying M-Systems' products and re-branding them. M-Systems were acquired by SanDisk.