On the software front, SanDisk used CES to announce it's now offering encryption and online backup features across its entire retail USB portfolio. This includes the company's SecureAccess software, which creates a password-protected folder or "vault" on the USB drive, and up to 2GB of storage in the cloud offered by Dmailer.

"Business travelers lose more than 12,000 laptops each week in U.S. airports, and more than half of those laptops contain confidential or sensitive information," said Kent Perry, director, product marketing, SanDisk. "Data security has become an absolute necessity, and SanDisk USB drives with SecureAccess software offer an easy to use vault protected by AES encryption."

SanDisk is also expanding its USB flash drive offerings with the introduction of the Ultra and Cruzer Edge. The Ultra serves up transfer speeds up to 15MB/s and comes in 8GB ($45) and 32GB ($110) capacities, while the Cruzer Edge sports a compact slider design and is available in 2GB ($13), 4GB ($32), 8GB ($45), and 16GB ($80 capacities).

Hit the jump to read about SanDisk's CompactFlash announcement.

There's a new CompactFlash card in town, Kingston's CompactFlash Ultimate 600x. With read and write speeds up to 90MB/s, it's Kingston's fastest card to date.

"The Kingston CF Ultimate 600x cards are great for photographers shooting in burst mode. For example, in a situation like a wedding or sporting event where the ability to rapidly take successive shots could make the difference between capturing the perfect shot or just missing it," said Mike Kuppinger, Flash card product manager, Kingston. "We are pleased to add the 600x card to our CompactFlash family of products which also includes the 266x Ultimate and 133x Elite Pro cards."

Kingston's shipping the new card in 16GB and 32GB capacities, both of which come with free downloadable data recovery software from MediaRECOVER.

No word on price, though a quick search online shows the CF/16GB-U3 (16GB) and CF/32GB-U3 (32GB) selling for around $110 and $185 shipped, respectively.

SanDisk today announced a new line of Extreme Pro CompactFlash memory cards the company says is designed for professional photographers.

To that end, SanDisk says it has outfitted its new cards with an advanced memory controller capable of boosting read and write speeds up to 90MB/s, or double the performance from previous SanDisk high-end memory cards.

"The new SanDisk Extreme Pro CompactFlash line is the direct result of SanDisk's passion, commitment, and break-through engineering innovation to provide best-in-class flash memory cards for professional photography," said Eric Bone, vice president, retail product marketing.

In addition to raw performance, SanDisk says its Power Core Controller's firmware algorithms and 42-bit ECC engine also ensure data integrity and a longer life through optimized wear leveling.

The new Pro series will be available in capacities of 8GB to 32GB with an MSRP ranging from about $130 to $375.