Microsoft expands exFAT licensing to five new companies, including one that makes Android tablets

Ron

Microsoft has expanded its exFAT licensing agreement to five new companies, including those that make Sharp Android tablets, Sigma and NextoDi high-end cameras and accessories, and Black Magic and Atomos Global broadcast-quality video-recording devices.

“Microsoft Corp. announced today that it signed patent licensing agreements for the use of the latest Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) with five companies, spanning industries including high-end camcorders, digital cameras and Android tablets,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post. Microsoft is happy to see that its new exFAT format is being adopted by various industries and product offerings. For those that dont know, exFAT is a modern file system that handles large files and enables seamless data portability. exFAT is pretty cool because it improves upon the FAT file system by expanding the capability of flash drives handling larger files as well as increasing the speed in which those files are accessed. Microsoft already has agreements with Panasonic, Canon, and Sony for the exFAT file system. Its interesting to see that Sharp has jumped aboard this licensing program for its Android tablets. It would be nice to see how much of a performance impact the exFAT file system will have. Microsoft has already offered 1,100 licensing agreements in its licensing program.