U3's CEO Purmal talks up smart USB drives

Smart USB (Universal Serial Bus) drives based on U3 LLC's computing platform hit the market this week and will enable applications to run directly off the portable drives without relying on a host computer. SanDisk Corp. and Verbatim Corp. announced USB smart drives based on U3's platform, while software companies America Online Inc. and Mozilla Corp. ported applications to run on U3-compliant smart drives.

Formed in 2004, U3 is financially backed by SanDisk and M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd. IDG News Service spoke to U3's chief executive officer, Kate Purmal, about the smart computing platform and the future of USB smart drives.

IDGNS: What is the smart computing platform?

Purmal: Not tying applications to a specific desktop or laptop computer, but installing them and launching them from a U3 drive so they can run anywhere, that's what smart computing is all about. It's a hardware and software platform -- there are hardware specifications and user interface software we called the Launchpad. When you plug [the smart drive] into a computer and launch an app, it first has to make sure it is running the right operating system. When you're done, it needs to shut down -- even if shutting down means a user pulling out a USB drive -- not crash, not cause data loss. Then, when it's done, it needs to remove traces of applications run from the machine. That is what's happening under the covers.

IDGNS: How do you expect customers to react to 'smart drives'?

Purmal: We've seen unbelievable interest. People get it immediately. They start wondering why the heck they didn't install software any other way after using it. Think about it -- you are about to install applications, where would you want to install it? On a specific computer so you can only use it only on that computer? Or the flexibility to install it on a U3 smart drive and run it anywhere?

IDGNS: How are you explaining smart drives to consumers who don't understand technology?

Purmal: When you plug in drives with 'U3 Smart' on the packaging, the first thing that comes up is a tutorial saying 'hey, you've got a U3 smart drive, click here,' and that takes you through what you can do with it. There's going to be a lot of guerilla marketing by the virtue of having software on the drive. There will be very few drives from manufacturers that ship on the high end, meaning high capacity, without U3.
IDGNS: How will the smart computing platform help the IT industry and consumers?

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