SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced it has begun customer sampling of flash memory products based on its industry-leading 1Ynm process technology, which represents its second generation 19 nanometer (nm) manufacturing technology. SanDisk's achievement of this breakthrough in semiconductor manufacturing takes its memory cell size from 19nm-by-26nm to 19nm-by-19.5nm, delivering a 25 percent reduction of the memory cell area and allowing SanDisk to continue leading the industry in building smaller, more powerful flash memory products.

SanDisk's second-generation 19nm memory die uses the most sophisticated flash memory technology node to-date, including advanced process innovations and cell-design solutions. SanDisk's All-Bit-Line (ABL) architecture with proprietary programming algorithms and multi-level data storage management schemes help yield multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips that do not sacrifice performance or reliability. In addition, SanDisk's three bits per cell X3 technology, implemented in the second-generation 19nm node will deliver the lowest-cost flash solutions to address multiple growing end-markets for flash memory.

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a leading manufacturer of industrial-grade products, today announced the release of its SATA II 3Gb/s MSM610 mSATA mini solid state drive (SSD). With its diminutive yet robust form factor, impressive sequential read/write transfer speeds, and a host of reliability features, the MSM610 mSATA mini SSD delivers solid state performance and durability to today's advanced mobile devices such as tablet PCs, Ultrabooks, and other embedded storage applications.

Fully compliant with the SATA II 3Gb/s specification and built with industry-leading toggle-mode MLC NAND flash chips, the MSM610 mSATA mini SSD boasts blazing fast sequential read and write speeds up to 245 and 48 MB/s respectively. This outstanding performance translates into reduced boot up and data transfer times, superior application launch speed, and enhanced overall system responsiveness; especially useful for dual-drive notebooks and Ultrabooks taking advantage of both the high-speed MSM610 mSATA mini SSD and a high capacity hard disk drive.

Mach Xtreme Technology Inc., a worldwide leader in top performance, high reliability and user-friendly designed PC components, adds 256GB model to expanding FX USB3.0 flash drives series today. This addition will join existing 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB models.

With its advanced reliability and spacious capacity, the FX 256 GB USB Flash Drive gives user easy and fast way to transfer and back-up large files. MX-FX models are compliant with next-generation USB 3.0 specifications and are optimized for newer PCs with USB 3.0 ports. The extensive compatibility testing ensures complete compatibility with ASUS mainboards and notebooks, offering consumers full USB 3.0 usability.

Storage legend TDK launched the SDG4A line of entry-level consumer SSDs in the 2.5-inch SATA form-factor. Available in 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB capacities, the drives use TDK's in-house GBDriver RS4 processor, and MLC NAND flash. Featuring SATA 3 Gb/s interface, the drives offer transfer speeds as high as 180 MB/s reads, with 130 MB/s writes. Common SSD features such as TRIM, ECC, and read-retry. Production of the drives will begin later this month.Source: Hermitage Akihabara

Micron Technology, Inc. today announced a new PCIe all-flash I/O accelerator to improve overall performance in enterprise servers, appliances and storage platforms. The new Micron P420m combines consistent performance with the inherent power efficiency of an all-flash system to deliver improved economics for enterprise data centers. The P420m accelerates performance of today's demanding data center applications, including online transaction processing (OLTP), data warehousing and virtualization.

Ultimately, Micron's P420m ends the wait game for digital data. It features ultra-low latency performance that enables fast and predictable response times to information frequently used in data center environments. When tested against competing PCIe solutions in a MySQL server running an OLTP benchmark, the P420m is the fastest and most consistent performer, delivering more than 3,200 web server requests per second. It handily manages online requests during peak traffic times, improving the overall end-user experience.

SMART Storage Systems, an innovative enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) technology provider, today announced the new Optimus Eco, the first Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) 6Gb/s SSD on the market to leverage 19 nm multi-level cell (MLC) Flash. Continuing the company's effort to usher in a new era of Flash storage, and anticipating the changing needs of enterprise data centers, SMART Storage Systems' new Optimus Eco SSD represents the industry's best combination of performance, capacity, endurance and cost in an enterprise-class 2.5-inch drive.

Forced to do more with less, many organizations are choosing to build their own hyperscale architectures by combining best-in-class hardware and software to lower costs and meet growing data center demands. In addition, looking to control maintenance costs, data center managers are seeking the highest-capacity drives to pack more capacity into a rack, resulting in the ability to reduce their storage footprint. In fact, Gartner estimates that in 2016 the average capacity of an SSD deployed in enterprise storage and server environments will be more than 1.1 TB. When combined with SSDs that can provide the endurance necessary to support write-intensive applications with cost-effective 19 nm MLC Flash, the result is a dramatic reduction in storage total cost of ownership (TCO).

Intel expanded its performance-segment SSD 335 series with a new entry-level 80 GB variant (model: SSDSC2CT080AK5). It joins the 180 GB and 240 GB variants, and occupies a price-point around the 110€ mark (excl VAT), which makes it particularly pricey in comparison to 120 GB drives. SSD 335 combines an LSI-SandForce SF-2281 series controller with Intel-made 20 nm MLC NAND flash.

Intel didn't update the product sheet with details of the new 80 GB model, but its bigger siblings offer sequential speeds as high as 500 MB/s reads, with up to 450 MB/s writes. Built in the 9.5 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, SSD 335 features SATA 6 Gb/s interface, and supports most standard consumer SSD features, including TRIM and NCQ. The drive should begin showing up on online stores worldwide, in both OEM (drive-only) and retail (includes bay-adapters and data migration software) trims.

First shown to crowds at this year's International CES event in January, ASUS' first enthusiast SSD, the ROG RAIDR, is heading toward a mid-May launch. A few more of its pictures and specs sheets were posted by SweClockers. As detailed earlier, the RAIDR is a compound SSD in the PCI-Express add-on card form-factor, with PCI-Express 2.0 x2 interface (supports x4, x8, and x16 slots). It uses two SandForce SF2281-driven SSD subunits striped in a hardware-abstract RAID 0 configuration. The subunits use Toshiba-made 19 nm MLC NAND flash chips, with 16 KB page size.

The ROG RAIDR supports TRIM command, NCQ and SMART, despite being a RAID 0-based SSD. It is bootable, and supports Windows 8 Secure Boot. Installing an operating system on the drive doesn't require any F6 drivers, as the controller masquerades as a standard AHCI controller and a single disk, with the subunits and their RAID 0 stripe completely abstract. This way, the drive can accept TRIM commands from the OS.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced today that it has begun mass producing a 128-gigabit (Gb), 3-bit multi-level-cell (MLC) NAND memory chip using 10 nanometer (nm)-class process technology this month. The highly advanced chip will enable high-density memory solutions such as embedded NAND storage and solid state drives (SSDs).

"By introducing next-generation memory storage products like the 128Gb NAND chip, Samsung is extremely well situated to meet growing global customer needs," said Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Device Solutions Division, Samsung Electronics. "The new chip is a critical product in the evolution of NAND flash, one whose timely production will enable us to increase our competitiveness in the high density memory storage market."

OCZ is reportedly readying the 5th generation of its Vertex line of high-performance consumer SSDs. Vertex 5, as it's being called, could retake market positioning of being the company's flagship product, from its Vector series. The new lineup, which could consist of 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB models, could be launched towards the end of May, 2013.

OCZ could use Vertex 5 to strengthen its lineup against Samsung, which appears to have captured the performance segment with its 840 and 840 Pro series, using aggressive pricing, particularly with 840 (non-Pro). Vertex 5 could be based on the same Barefoot 3 platform as Vector, with a few tweaks. It could integrate 20 nm MLC NAND flash. With the company engaged in legal tussles with some of its former investors, it could be interesting to see how the company competes with Samsung's pricing.Source: NordicHardware

HGST today announced the industry's fastest and most advanced enterprise-class, multi level cell (MLC) SAS SSD family – the Ultrastar SSD800MH, Ultrastar SSD800MM and Ultrastar SSD1000MR. From the market share leader in enterprise SAS/FC SSDs, these HGST drives are the first to double today's SAS interface speed.

Designed for the most demanding applications where "hot" data is accessed frequently, such as high-frequency trading, online banking, cloud computing, online gaming, and big data analytics, HGST's new 12 Gb/s SAS SSDs help increase input/output per second (IOPS) and improve response times to mission-critical data in cloud and traditional IT datacenters environments.

Crucial started shipping its M500 line of consumer SSDs. Available in 2.5-inch SATA (7 mm-thick), mSATA, and NGFF M.2 form-factors, the drives combine Micron 20 nm MLC NAND flash with a Marvell-made processor. All three form-factors take advantage of 6 Gb/s SATA. The drive is available in 120 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB capacities for all three form-factors, while the 2.5-inch gets a 960 GB "terabyte-class" capacity option, as well.

Sequential read speeds on all capacities are as high as 500 MB/s, while sequential write speeds cap out at 130 MB/s and 250 MB/s for the 120 GB and 240 GB variants, respectively; and reach 400 MB/s on the 480 GB and 960 GB variants. The drives are backed by 3-year limited warranties, 1.2 million hours MTBF, and 72 TB total bytes written (TBW) write endurance (that's 40 GB per day). TRIM, NCQ, and SMART are standard issue. The 120 GB, 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB variants are priced at US $129.99, $219.99, $399.99, and $599.99, respectively.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash storage application products, today announced the launch of the enterprise grade SX1000L solid state drive (SSD). While the company is well-established in the consumer SSD market, this is ADATA's first offering specifically tailored towards server applications.

Taking advantage of its expertise in NAND flash memory technology, ADATA is emphasizing the reliability and performance of the SX1000L. It employs static wear-leveling technology to maximize device mean time between failures (MTBF) to 1,500,000 hours, providing the long-term dependability required by high density computing and heavy load server operations. Available in 2.5" standard SATA form factor, the SX1000L implements advanced controller technology to enhance read/write performance. Sequential read speeds reach 560 MB/sec, and sequential write is as high as 340 MB/sec, with IOPS of 73,000 and 45,000 (Maximum 4K random read and write, respectively).

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has announced that solid state drives (SSDs) built on the company's 19nm Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash technology are now readily available across Europe. Toshiba was the first company to develop 19nm NAND SSDs and the family includes the world's smallest and highest density NAND flash drives.

Toshiba's THNSNH family addresses the storage, performance and power efficiency demands of even the most data-intensive and energy-sensitive systems. The drives are ideal for high-end notebooks, tablets, PCs, all-in-one desktop computers and industrial PCs. Capacities of 512GB1, 256GB, 128GB and 60GB are all now available in 2.5-inch form factors with a choice of 7.0 mm and 9.5 mm profiles. mSATA modules with capacities of 256GB, 128GB and 60GB are also available.

Nowadays, new products in the SSD market have mostly been upgraded to the more efficient and high-speed SATA interface solid-state drive. However, the majority of industrial computers (IPC) are still using the PATA interface (or IDE interface), which are now facing certain problems -- malfunctioning and bad tracks are beginning to emerge in the older technology and facilities.

To solve the problem, one of the most viable upgrade options at this stage in terms of data security and cost effectiveness would be the PATA interface solid-state drive with built-in security functions. In response to customer needs, Apacer launched this value-added PATA SSDs with Data Security benefit. These products come in two specifications - 2.5-inch, 44 pin AFD 257 and 1.8-inch 40 pin AFD 187. Both models come with three built-in data security functions - Full Erase, Destroy, and Write Protect to provide advanced and upgraded data security advantages.

Micron Technology today announced another addition to its growing lineup of solid state drives (SSDs) targeted at data center appliances and enterprise storage platforms. The new Micron P410m SSD is a high-endurance, high reliability 6 Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drive built to provide the performance necessary for mission-critical tier 1 storage applications that require uninterrupted, 24/7 data access.

SAS is preferred in these applications due to its dual-port interface, which offers the high availability and accessibility customers have come to expect from a SAS drive. The new Micron P410m provides the consistent low latency and balanced read/write performance necessary for tackling the unique workloads of persistent data storage.

Greenliant Systems, a leader in energy-efficient, highly secure and reliable solid state storage products, has begun volume production of its industrial temperature SATA and PATA interface NANDrive embedded solid state drives (SSDs) using 2-bits-per-cell (MLC) NAND flash memory. Overcoming the temperature sensitivity risk of MLC NAND, industrial temperature (I-temp) SATA and PATA NANDrive operate between -40 and +85 degrees Celsius.

Compared to significantly more expensive 1-bit-per-cell (SLC) NAND-based SSDs, I-temp MLC NANDrive offers cost-effective, ball grid array (BGA) products that meet quality and reliability requirements—such as avoiding uncorrectable errors and data retention issues—when the MLC NAND is operating at extremely low and high temperatures. NANDrive combines Greenliant's internally developed NAND controller with NAND flash die for a fully integrated SSD in a multi-chip package.

SMART Storage Systems, an innovative enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) technology provider, today announced the industry's first 1.8" Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) SSD with an extension to its Optimus product line. The new Optimus 1.8" SAS SSD is designed for applications that need industry-leading performance, capacity, endurance, and reliability where space constraints are a concern.

Designed for blade servers, caching and other high-density computing environments which typically have physical space constraints, the Optimus 1.8" SAS SSD delivers random read/write performance of 100K/45K IOPS and sustained read/write speeds of 500/500MB/s using the test methodology defined by the Storage Networking Industry Alliance's (SNIA) Solid State Storage Enterprise Test Specification with consistent performance throughout the five year warranty.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced a new 20 nanometer (nm) NAND flash version of its award-winning Vertex 3 SSD Series. The new Vertex 3.20 SSD is a 2.5-inch, 6 Gbps SATA III-based Multi-Level Cell (MLC) drive that implements the feature-set of the Vertex 3 Series but is built around smaller, state-of-the-art NAND flash process geometry.

Being that the Vertex 3 Series is one of OCZ's most popular SSDs to date, and has received numerous accolades from media reviewers globally, the implementation of 20 nm NAND flash will extend its availability and enable mainstream users of mobile and desktop platforms to improve gaming, multimedia, and the overall computing experience over traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) and other competing SSDs. The Vertex 3.20 SSD will be available in 120 GB and 240 GB storage capacities, with 480 GB capacities to follow soon.

Micron Technology, Inc. today introduced the industry's smallest 128-gigabit (Gb) NAND flash memory device utilizing its award-winning 20-nanometer (nm) process technology. The new 128Gb device stores three bits of information per cell, called triple-level-cell (TLC), creating a highly compact storage solution.

Measuring 146 mm², the new 128Gb TLC device is more than 25 percent smaller than the same capacity of Micron's 20 nm multi-level-cell (MLC) NAND device. The 128 Gb TLC device is targeted at the cost-competitive removable storage market (flash cards and USB drives), which is projected to consume 35 percent of total NAND gigabytes in calendar 2013.1 Micron is now sampling the 128Gb TLC NAND device with select customers; it will be in production in calendar Q2.

Intel made an addition to its SSD 335 line of performance-segment consumer SSDs, which is currently available in just one capacity, 240 GB. The new 180 GB variant (SKU: SSDSC2CT180A4K5) retains the feature-set and rated speeds of its older sibling, boasting of up to 500 MB/s reads, up to 450 MB/s writes, and up to 52,000 IOPS 4K random write throughput. Based on the LSI-SandForce SF-2281 processor, the drive features 20 nm MLC NAND flash chips by IMFlash Technologies (Intel, Micron JV).

In addition, Intel updated the drive body design, which will also apply to newer batches of the 240 GB variant. The new design consists of a brace running the perimeter of the drive (without affecting its 2.5-inch 9 mm-thick size compliance), and a "circuit board" print art. Backed by a 3-year warranty, the Intel SSD 335 180 GB is priced at US $179.99.

Super Talent Technology, a leader of NAND Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today highlights its extensive collection of Flash Disk Modules (FDMs). These FDMs are ideal for embedded computing applications with their ability to plug directly into motherboards and their compact size which allows them to fit into small spaces. These FDMs also provide lower power consumption and greater ability to withstand harsh environments than mechanical hard disks, making them a wise upgrade choice or an excellent initial choice.

With offerings of MLC or SLC 40-pin, 44-pin, 7-pin, horizontal, vertical, and USB flash disk modules this collection provides businesses with a plethora of options. Stay alert as STT could expand this line even more in 2013. For more information, visit the product page.

According to the top ten Taiwan ICT market trend predictions of 2013 published by IDC, as reaction to the uncertainty of prosperity in the next year, the enterprises will continuously increase IT budget and expenditure with primary growth power from cloud computing, mobility and the market driven by massive data, and expects a robust growth of 3.9%. To respond to these trends and needs, the storage devices will definitely continue to develop toward energy-saving, high efficiency and compactness. Therefore, Apacer correspondingly launches three SATA 3.0 SuperSpeed transmission interface SSDs, including 2.5-inch SFD 25S-M, MO-297-compliant SFD 18S5-M and mSATA S1-M designed in compliance with MO-300, respectively applicable for cloud data center, various servers, embedded system, and compact Ultrabook and Networking devices, which meet different needs for cloud, massiveness and mobility.

Japanese company Green House announced the GH-SSD22A line of consumer SSDs in the 2.5-inch (9.5 mm-thick) SATA form-factor. Available in 32 GB (GH-SSD22A32), 64 GB (GH-SSD22A64), 128 GB (GH-SSD22A128), and 256 GB (GH-SSD22A256) capacities, the drives are based on Phison PS3107-S7 controller platform, with MLC NAND flash memory. The SATA 3 Gb/s capable drives feature 200 MB/s sequential read speeds, with up to 140 MB/s writes. Most common consumer SSD features, including TRIM, NCQ, 48-bit/1KB ECC, and SMART are available. The GH-SSD22A drives are expected to occupy entry-level price points with about $0.75/GB.Source: Hermitage Akihabara

A PCI-Express variant of OCZ's Vector SSD is exhibited at CES. Pictures reveal it to be a compound SSD, that uses two subunits of the Vector 256 GB, striped into RAID 0, and connected to a SATA 6 Gb/s RAID controller that talks to the rest of the system over PCI-Express 2.0 x4. Each of the two Vector SSD subunits on Vector PCIe features an OCZ-Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller, sixteen 25 nm Intel-made MLC NAND flash chips, and 512 MB of DDR3 DRAM cache.

OCZ ran benchmarks of the drive, which reveal performance upscaling over the 2.5-inch SATA Vector SSD that's expected of a RAID 0 setup. Sequential speeds were as high as 926.2 MB/s reads, with 881 MB/s writes, a respectable 563 MB/s 4K-QD64 reads, with 501 MB/s 4K-QD64 writes. Overall, the Vector PCIe is a suitable successor to the company's 2-subunit RevoDrive, and is aimed more at consumers, but could help businesses just as well, thanks to the good multi-threaded performance of the Barefoot 3 platform.