PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (also: people can't memorize computer industry acronyms) This serious mouthful of acronym stands for the name of a trade association founded in 1989 to establish standards for expansion cards for portable computers. Based in Sunnyvale, California, the PCMCIA's specifications for the PC Card enabled the computer industry to manufacture credit-card-sized removable cards to add RAM, modems, network adapters, hard disks, and even radio devices like pagers and global positioning systems to portable computers. Many people call PC Cards by the longer name PCMCIA cards. The association has trademarked the term PC Card, however, so that's the preferred usage. See also: PC Card