Other World Computing (OWC) Discusses Their New Atlas Media Cards, Readers, and Innergize Software

Streaming Media’s Marc Franklin talks with Other World Computing (OWC) Founder and CEO Larry O’Connor about their new Atlas Media Cards, readers, and Innergize software in this tech talk presentation from NAB 2023.

How Innergize uniquely cleans and restores flash memory performance

O’Connor discusses the ways in which Innergize ecosystem restores memory cards to their factory-fresh, full speed. “Innergize is enabled on all our cards today,” O’Connor says. “Every time you run Sanitize on the card, [it] makes that card factory-fresh. Whether the card has been used for a day, a year, [or] five, every time you use Sanitize, it restores that card to its factory fresh performance. And that's something that makes a much bigger difference today as bit rates have gone up.”

Additionally, O’Connor says that Innergize lets users get a complete view of a card’s health. “Knowing that your card still has plenty of health, has plenty of life ahead of it, is certainly something that [gives] peace of mind when you're going into that shoot where you don't want to be at the point of risking something you may never be able to capture again.”

Groundbreaking “future proofing” field firmware upgrade management

O’Connor emphasizes that one truly groundbreaking element of Innergize is its ability to do field firmware updates. This is especially advantageous today with the rapid release of new cameras. “New cameras come out with slightly different settings, or even potentially something that's unique to them that makes them incompatible with a previous generation card,” he says. “This year would be a great example. Two new cameras came out that don't work with the cards that came out last year. They work for a little while and then they fail early. The cards our customers purchased earlier this year, before these cameras even existed, they plug them into Innergize, [and it] says there's new firmware and you're up to date. There’s no guesswork.”

O’Connor demonstrates the full process of checking card reader health and updates with Innergize. Showing a Innergize monitor display, O’Connor says, “We have a dual SD reader, which has a unique feature of a cable that recesses. Right now we have two cards in the system. It'll do as many cards as you have selected all at the same time, or [they can be checked] one at a time. And then we can check the health to know that the card is in good shape. The next thing you can do to restore to factory settings is to sanitize. It's just a quick click.”

However, O’Connor notes that the sanitization process eliminates all data. “So you certainly want to make sure it's after a read…there's just a quick click, and that card is back to factory fresh status, which means if it [had] any bit of slowdown whatsoever, you're now back to full speed. This is what brings your cards back to a factory fresh, brand new condition. And then the third thing is the firmware update, which keeps you future proof. This keeps you in a situation where you don't have to worry about buying new cards [or] sending cards out for replacement. You plug them into one of our readers, run Innergize, and you're up to date.”

How OWS maximizes sustainable technology

“We have an SD plus CFExpress reader [and] we have a Thunderbolt slash USB CFExpress reader,” O’Connor says. “All of our docks, including our travel dock, are also Innergize compatible. It's a part of sustainability. It’s really important to us that all technology is maximized. So we make sure that you can use everything you have from us, going back as far as possible. And we make sure that all the solutions that we manufacture and build for you can last and have the longest lifespan possible in the workflow that you depend on.”

Franklin asks, “In order for your ecosystem to work, you need your cards, your readers, and your software?”

“Correct,” O’Connor says. “And that's not something we did [to] limit. It's a matter of enablement. Nobody's done this kind of enablement before. You go back even a couple years ago; it really wasn't something people were thinking about because it just wasn't necessary. Today, it really is necessary, and people are seeing what happens when cards get dirty. Things are changing much, much more quickly now. We're pushing the bleeding edge in terms of the technology that's allowing these bit rates in these amazing new cameras. So we brought this out, and again – I want to be very clear – not to limit and block anybody else's cards. [But] their cards do not have the capability within them. The readers do not have the support to execute the command that will sanitize and allow us to do what we do with our cards. It's the ecosystem that we built to enable this technology…and the firmware adaptability.”