Lexar tries to jump its flash drives. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. Lexar… the flash memory maker that is in the process of being acquired by Micron Technology….is going its own way when it comes to portable applications on USB flash drives. While rivals such as SanDisk, Kingston and Verbatim are using what is called the U3 Smart Drive standard, Lexar has created what it calls Power to Go. Product manager Peter Carcioni….

"Traditionally, Jump Drives or flash drives were used for just data. And then the industry, Lexar included, developed small applications that enabled people to use their data while away from their main computer, while on the go. But now, what we're enabling people to do is add value themselves. To be able to customize their drive with their work environment, with their tools that they use. So this is really a portable working environment. As you can see I have Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, I even have a PowerPoint viewer, Skype is loaded on here, even a stock ticker, even some games that I previously owned. What makes these applications special is that they are standard Windows applications, the same applications that you already own. Now you can just take them portably."

Lexar plans to include Power to Go on its Lightning drives…and it will be available for other drives in its line as well. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.