ryethenovel Chapter 138 USB Flash Drive
Chapter 138 USB Flash Drive
10:00 AM, Hong Kong Far Eastern Capital Office.
The conference call is in progress, with traders in Singapore, Bangkok, and Tokyo on the screen.
"The Philippine Peso NDF position has been established, with a notional amount of US$12 million, an average agreed exchange rate of 26.5 pesos to 1 US dollar, and an expiry date of December 15," reported a Singapore trader.
"The Indonesian Rupiah NDF position has been established, with a notional amount of US$1 million, an agreed exchange rate of 2450 Rupiah to 1 US dollar, and a maturity date of January 20."
"Malaysian Ringgit, nominal amount of US$11 million, agreed exchange rate of 2.6 Ringgit to 1 US dollar, maturity date November 30."
"Korean Won NDF, nominal amount of US$2 million, agreed exchange rate of 850 Korean Won to 1 US Dollar, maturity date February 28."
Ling Yun listened to the report while his fingers tapped on the keyboard to record it.
With a total margin of $140 million, and leveraged 10 times, NDF contracts with a notional amount of $1.4 billion were established. These contracts cover four countries and have maturities spread over the next six to eleven months.
"Very good," he said into the microphone. "Keep monitoring. Report any signs of intervention from these countries' central banks immediately."
"clear."
After the meeting ended, Li Ziyu walked in.
"News has come from Bangkok that construction has resumed at the Digital City site."
"So fast?"
"Li Taijian held a press conference yesterday, saying that the previous suspension was 'technical,' but now the problem has been resolved and the project is continuing." Li Ziyu handed over a translated copy of a Thai newspaper article. "He also said that the pre-sale contracts remain valid and the project is expected to be delivered next June."
Ling Yun glanced at the press release.
"He's acting."
"But the performance was very good. Today, the Thai stock market saw the real estate sector rise by three points."
"Then let him act." Ling Yun closed the file. "As long as there are people working on the construction site, the pre-sale contracts still have value. The people won't cause trouble."
"So, should we really continue investing?"
"Invest a little," Lingyun said. "The money in the Bangkok company's account is enough to support three months of construction. After July, the situation will be completely different."
"After July?"
Ling Yun didn't answer, but instead said, "Our tickets are booked. We're flying to San Francisco at 3 PM this afternoon, and Zhao Hu's visa is ready too."
"it is good."
At noon, Ling Yun quickly packed her luggage: a laptop, a few documents, and two sets of clothes. Zhao Hu checked her documents and plane ticket.
On the way to the airport, Ling Yun sent An Shiyu a text message: "Going to the United States for a few days, contact me when I get back."
She replied quickly: "Be careful. Miss you."
The flight took off at 3 PM.
This was Zhao Hu's first time on a plane for such a long time. He sat upright, looking at the clouds outside the window.
"Take a nap," Lingyun said. "There's a lot to do when we get there."
"I'm fine," Zhao Hu said. "President Ling, what brings you to America?"
"Let's look at a product." Ling Yun took out a few blueprints from his briefcase. "A USB flash drive. A USB flash memory drive."
The drawing shows a simple design: a rectangular casing, a USB interface, and inside are flash memory chips and control circuitry.
"What is this?"
"It can replace a floppy disk," Ling Yun said. "It has a large storage capacity, high speed, and is portable. Most importantly, it uses our designed UHSB interface."
"UHSB?"
"Yes." Ling Yun put away the blueprints. "To promote the UHSB standard, we need a killer application. The USB flash drive is it. As long as everyone uses USB flash drives, they will have to use the UHSB interface. At that time, no one will use Intel and Microsoft's USB standard anymore."
After a twelve-hour flight, we landed in San Francisco at 10:00 AM local time.
Alex picked him up in his car. He had lost weight and his hair was messy, but his eyes were bright.
"Ling! You're finally here!" He hugged Ling Yun, then saw Zhao Hu, "And this is?"
"Zhao Hu, my assistant."
"Welcome, welcome. Get in the car, we'll go straight to the company."
The car drove towards Silicon Valley. Alienware had moved to a larger office building in Santa Clara. Three floors, and many more employees.
Upon entering the office, Alex took a box from the safe.
There are five samples inside.
The black plastic casing is approximately 7 cm long, 2 cm wide, and 1 cm thick. One end has a metal UHSB connector, and the other end has a small hole for attaching a keychain.
"This is a USB flash drive." Alex picked one up. "It has a capacity of 32MB and a read/write speed twenty times faster than a floppy disk. It supports hot-swapping, so it's plug-and-play."
"Has it been tested?" Ling Yun took the sample; it was very light.
"I tested it with 500 plug-and-play cycles, and the stability was fine. I also tested compatibility, and it runs perfectly on the Starry Sky system. Windows 95 requires a driver, but it's very simple."
"cost?"
"Currently, the cost for small-batch production is about thirty dollars per unit. If we mass-produce more than 100,000 units, it can be reduced to fifteen dollars."
"What about the market price?"
"The planned retail price is $99," Alex said. "Compared to IBM's portable hard drives which sell for $300, our price is very competitive."
Lingyun plugged the USB drive into the laptop's UHSB port. The computer recognized the new hardware and a pop-up window displayed "Removable Storage Device".
He copied a 10-megabyte file, which took five seconds.
"Good speed."
"We use our self-developed control chip," Alex said proudly. "It's 30% faster than other solutions on the market."
"What about the patents?"
"We have applied for twelve patents, covering structural design, control circuits, and firmware algorithms. International patents are also pending."
"Okay." Ling Yun put down the USB drive. "When do you plan to release it?"
"We can start small-scale trial production next month. But there's a problem..." Alex hesitated for a moment.
"What's the problem?"
"Interface standards." Alex pulled up a chart on his computer. "Currently, the mainstream standard is Intel's USB 1.0. Although our UHSB offers better performance, it requires motherboard manufacturers to support it. Dell, Compaq, and HP have signed agreements, but mass-produced motherboards haven't come out yet."
"So, you're saying there aren't any computers on the market that can use USB flash drives right now?"
"Yes. Our own Alienware computers can do it. Also, we sent twenty test units to several partner manufacturers, and they can adapt them. But for ordinary users..." Alex shrugged, "their computers don't have a UHSB interface."
Lingyun pondered.
This is indeed a chicken-and-egg problem. Without the UHSB interface, USB flash drives wouldn't sell; without killer applications like USB flash drives, manufacturers wouldn't be willing to produce UHSB interfaces.
Lingyun said, "I made an adapter, a UHSB to USB 1.0 adapter, so that USB flash drives can also be used on old computers. Although the speed will be reduced, at least it will work."
"We're working on it. Samples will be available next month."
"Okay." Ling Yun glanced at his watch. "That's all for today. Give me two samples; I'll take them with me."
"Where to?"
"Go see a few people."
After leaving Alienware, Lingyun went to the office of a venture capital fund on the other side of Silicon Valley. The fund partner was of Chinese descent, surnamed Chen, whom he had met at a meeting before.
"Mr. Ling, it's an honor to meet you." Mr. Chen shook hands. "I heard you have some big plans in Southeast Asia?"
"Just a small matter." Ling Yun sat down and took out a USB flash drive sample. "I came today to ask you to take a look at a product."
The demonstration is very simple. Plug it into the computer, copy the file, unplug it, and plug it into another computer.
Mr. Chen's eyes lit up.
"This thing... is so much more convenient than a floppy disk."
"We plan to launch next month. We are currently looking for our first batch of angel investors."
"price?"
"The first batch is a limited edition, $89. If you're interested, I can give you 100 for $70."
"I need two hundred," Mr. Chen said without hesitation. "The startups I invest in all need these."
"it is good."
"In addition," Mr. Chen said, "I can introduce you to a few hardware manufacturers. They are all looking for new growth areas."
Thank you.
After leaving the venture capital fund, I went to two more software companies. The same presentations, the same response. In half a day, I secured five hundred pre-orders.
In the evening, we returned to the hotel.
Zhao Hu was organizing the order records.
"Mr. Ling, is this thing really going to be a hit?"
"Yes," Lingyun said, "because it solves a real need. Programmers need to carry code, business people need to carry presentation files, and students need to carry assignments. Floppy disks are easily damaged and have small capacity. USB flash drives are revolutionary."
"Then why didn't anyone do it before?"
"The technology wasn't mature yet. Flash memory chips were too expensive before, and the control chips weren't perfect either." Ling Yun looked at the USB drive in his hand. "We just happened to be in the right place at the right time."
The phone rang. It was Alex calling.
"Ling, I have some news. Intel released the USB 1.1 standard specification today. The speed is improved a little, but it's still slow."
"They are fighting back."
"Should we speed things up?"
"Speed up. Hold a press conference next month to officially release the USB flash drive and UHSB 1.0 standard. Invite all the media and make a big splash."
"clear."
After hanging up the phone, Lingyun went to the balcony.
The lights in Silicon Valley at night are sparse, unlike the dense lights in Hong Kong.
Another war is raging here. A war of standards, a war of ecology.