Microsoft has announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with BMW that will allow the German company to use Microsoft"s exFAT technology in current and future products.
Why does BMW need to license this technology from Microsoft? BMW had the following to say below:
Gottfried Schmid, BMW project manager, CE-Device Connection, said that “with the support of the trend-setting file system exFAT, BMW is able to significantly increase the number of compatible CE devices and Mass Storage devices for our customers.”
exFAT is Microsoft"s successor to the FAT hard drive storage system, except that exFAT has been created with flash-based memory in mind. Microsoft says that exFAT " ... expands the size of files that flash memory devices can handle by more than five times. It also greatly increases the speed with which those files can be accessed."
Microsoft has stated that since the launch of its IP licensing program, it has singed more than 1100 agreements and is continuously devloping programs to make it easier for third-parties to access the company"s wide range of patents.
As always, terms of the agreement were not announced.
Source: Microsoft