Why was ExpressCard technology developed?
The initial motivation for developing ExpressCard technology was the anticipated inclusion of the PCI Express serial interface as the standard internal bus in many new computers, replacing the older PCI parallel interface bus upon which PC Card/CardBus is based. This in addition to the near universal inclusion of USB 2.0 on modern computers meant that a standardized peripheral module could take advantage of the improved performance, simplicity and reliability these two interfaces offer. Continuing to include PC Card/CardBus slots in computers which use the PCI Express bus requires a “bridge” chip (in addition the CardBus controller chip) that limits PC Card/CardBus performance to parallel bus speeds. Because of ExpressCard technology, peripheral devices can be made smaller, faster and at less cost for both host and module manufacturers — so users like you get a less cumbersome, higher performance and less expensive device!
