These guys, who, out of the kindness of their heart, decided to render PCMCIA obsolete and remap the PCI and USB buses into a new card form factor.
This is the first mention I ever caught of it in mainstream press, one full year after I got wind of its purpose.
In my honest opinion it ought to have been completely dumped in favor of minor enhancements to either USB or Firewire, but here’s to industry lobbies.