Eastman Kodak Co. and Lexar Media Inc. have signed an extended five-year agreement

Eastman Kodak Co. and Lexar Media Inc. have signed an extended five-year agreement under which Lexar will develop and market Kodak-branded flash memoryproducts worldwide. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The Lexar-Kodak relationship began three years ago with the launch of a 64Mbyte secure digital (SD) card, a time when consumers were continuing to convert en masse from the use of analog to flash memory, or "digital film" products. The technology has then continued to develop rapidly, and Lexar now offers flash products that provide up to 4Gbyte of memory in Kodak SD High-Capacity (SDHC) cards. With its acquisition by Micron Technology Inc. in 2006, Lexar now also brings access to the technology and engineering expertise of one of the largest NAND producers worldwide.

Under the new Lexar-Kodak agreement, Lexar will be able to offer a full and expanding range of Kodak-branded flash memory storage products in various form factors including SD and microSD memory cards and USB drives.

"We look forward to continuing the positive relationship we've established with Lexar, and to expanding our product line to complement the broad range of products that the digital camera user experiences on a daily basis," said John Blake, general manager, digital capture and imaging products and VP, Kodak.

Lexar VP Mark Adams added, "The combination of Kodak's brand strength and product breadth with Lexar's technology and manufacturing expertise is truly a 'win-win' proposition for customers. Consumers in search of affordable, high-quality memory products should look no further than the Kodak brand, and we intend to aggressively promote that fact."