ADATA Technology a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash storage application products, today announces the release of the DashDrive Durable UD310 USB Flash Drive, a tiny, water resistant USB flash drive with an attractive gem-like appearance.

The UD310 is manufactured through a special chip-on-board (COB) process, resulting in high water and impact resistance for the drive. A sparkling jewel-like faceted end-cap highlights the ultra-small and extremely portable design that takes up no space when used in a laptop or desktop. It allows for unrestricted sharing of pictures, music and videos, making the UD310 an ideal accessory for Ultrabooks and various slim and sophisticated electronic devices.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of NAND Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, and South Korean fabless semiconductor company Novachips Inc. announces a development project to make the dedicated Automotive Solid State Drive (SSD) based on Novachips SATA 6Gbps SSD controller, NVS3600.

Super Talent is a leading manufacturer and provider of Automotive SSD that currently delivers the SATA 3 6Gbps-based automotive SSD as the main storage device of the AVN system mounted on a luxury car. It is the world's first SSD mounted on the AVN system for regular cars.

Transcend announced a 128 GB variant of its StoreJet Cloud wireless SSD (model: TS128GSJC10K), which the company launched in December 2011, with 32 GB and 64 GB variants. Measuring 99 x 54 x 16.5 mm, and weighing 90 g (roughly the size and weight of an entry-level smartphone), the drive is a self-powered wireless SSD, which uses a Li-polymer battery that can keep the drive connected for up to 6 hours; and 802.11 b/g/n (up to 150 Mbps) WLAN interface, with which the drive can either be part of a wireless network, or serve up to five clients in a small radius.

Since it's technically a NAS, the StoreJet Cloud features support for basic NAS features, and can be controlled using apps for mobile devices via Google Play and Apple App Store. The drive uses USB 2.0/1.1 for charging, and can connect to a host as USB mass-storage device. Thanks to drops in NAND flash prices, the 128 GB variant is priced around US $150. For reference, the 64 GB variant was launched at $300, just last year.

Super Talent Technology, a leader of NAND Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announces their work with the several major sports brands to create customized USB products for them. Through its custom USB service, STT can make any shape or design the client desires at the highest volume of quantities with extremely short turn-around times. "We are very excited to offer such a variety of personalization options. With our custom USB service, there are no limits to business' creativity in designing their USB's. Our custom USB line provides companies with the opportunity to leave a memorable impression through their unique logo on a custom designed USB." -Shimon, VP Engineering, Super Talent Technology

Customers can get a preview of their logo on STT's USB drives. Super Talent has made these steps easy as 1, 2, 3 with their new interactive website for custom USBs. STT can even create a sample of the drive for client approval. Additionally, the client can send any files they wish to be pre-loaded on the drive. The customized USB line is available in capacities of 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, and the Open NAND Flash Interface Workgroup (ONFI) today announced the publication of JESD230 NAND Flash Interface Interoperability Standard (Package). This jointly developed document defines a standard for NAND flash device interface interoperability. JESD230 is available for free download from both www.jedec.org and onfi.org.

JESD230 addresses signaling descriptions, packages, definitions, abbreviations and conventions, and is backwards compatible with existing technologies to the greatest degree possible. The standard will help enable the design of interoperable systems that can support Asynchronous SDR, Synchronous DDR and Toggle DDR NAND flash devices.

TDK Corporation has developed the GBDriver RS4 series of NAND type flash memory controllers with support for 3 Gbps serial ATA. Sales will begin in January 2013.

With an effective access speed of 180 MB/sec, the GBDriver RS4 is an advanced high-speed SATA controller chip. It is fully compatible not only with the latest 1xnm generation and 2x nm generation 16 kB/page SLC (single level cell) and MLC (multi level cell) NAND type flash memory, but also with 8 kB/page and 4 kB/page structures. This allows the customer to select the optimal flash memory for the respective application, providing the flexibility to configure high-speed SATA storage with a capacity ranging from 512 MB to 1 TB.

As big data, high-performance computing (HPC) and cloud-computing applications push the demand for real-time access of data into the zettabytes, Intel Corporation announced today its next-generation data center solid-state drive (SSD), the Intel Solid-State Drive DC S3700 Series, designed to remove storage bottlenecks and maximize multi-core CPU performance. The Intel SSD DC S3700 Series delivers fast, consistent performance and low latencies along with strong data protection and high endurance to help IT personnel support today's most demanding data center applications.

"Today's data explosion creates unique storage challenges for data center professionals," said Rob Crooke, Intel vice president and general manager for the Intel Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) Solutions Group. "High latencies and slow storage I/O can cripple data centers' ability to deliver exciting big data or cloud-computing applications with fast, low latency data access. Intel's next-generation Intel SSD DC S3700 Series breaks through SSD limitations for the data center on all fronts - fast, consistent performance, strong data protection and high endurance -- so IT professionals can deliver on their most demanding technology initiatives."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, today announced that it is producing advanced solid state drives (SSDs) that are designed specifically for use in servers and enterprise storage systems. These drives - the SM843 and the SM1625 - will be particularly useful as high-speed storage for a wide range of server and storage applications that depend on extremely fast data writing including social media in the cloud, SQL database logs, media streaming, virtualization, video on demand and online transaction processing (OLTP).

Samsung's new data center and enterprise SSDs deliver extremely high performance with low power consumption in providing the most efficient storage solutions for data center applications," said Myungho Kim, vice president of memory marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung will aggressively produce its new line-up of SSDs beginning this month to accelerate SSDs' move into not only the server but also the storage marketplace, as we continue to affirm our leadership in the SSD market."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced revenues of 52.18 trillion Korean won on a consolidated basis for the third quarter ended September 30, 2012, a 26-percent increase year-on-year. For the quarter, the company's consolidated operating profit reached an all-time high of 8.12 trillion won, representing a 91-percent increase year-on-year. Consolidated net profit for the July-September period was 6.56 trillion won.

In its earnings guidance disclosed on October 5, Samsung estimated third quarter consolidated revenues would reach approximately 52 trillion won with consolidated operating profit of approximately 8.1 trillion won. Samsung's solid performance is mainly attributed to increased sales of handheld phones and stronger demand for display panels. The Mobile Communications Business posted 26.25 trillion won in revenue for the quarter, accounting for more than half of Samsung's total revenue. As for the display panel segment, increased shipments of Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) and Liquid Crystal Display panels used in tablets and smartphones, as well as TVs drove up profitability.

The NAND and NOR flash memory market landscape is shifting rapidly, with increasingly sophisticated mobile handsets playing a leading role in driving industry trends and determining which suppliers will be successful, according to an IHS iSuppli Mobile & Embedded Market Tracker Report from information and analytics provider IHS.

Revenue for the flash memory market by year-end is projected to decline to $24.3 billion, down 4.7 percent from 25.5 percent from $25.5 billion in 2011. The NAND segment this year will account for $20.8 billion and the NOR sector will make up the remainder at $3.5 billion.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, will display its enterprise storage solutions at the Gartner Symposium/ITXpo, Booth #1044, Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, from October 21st through October 25th. The Gartner Symposium/ITXpo is an annual gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives seeking the latest tools, technologies, and information to improve IT capabilities and data center effectiveness.

For SAN acceleration of I/O intensive workloads, OCZ will present its leading Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSDs supporting both full-height (FH) and half-height (HH) configurations, enabling the CPU with direct access (zero-latency storage) and instant boot capabilities. The FH (3/4 length) RM88 model enables an industry best 2.8GB/s of sequential throughput, 410K of random IOPS performance, and usable MLC NAND flash capacities from 800GB to 3.2TB. The HH (half-length) RM84 model is also a performance leader enabling 2GB/s of sequential throughput, 250K of random IOPS performance and usable capacities from 300GB to 1.2TB.

Super Talent Technology, a leader of NAND Flash storage solutions, today announced their second-generation DataGuardian flash drive. The new DataGuardian is a high-performing USB 3.0 flash drive that keeps your files and private information safe from prying eyes, even if the drive is lost or stolen.

Users are asked to set up a password when using the DataGuardian for the first time. Every time after, the DataGuardian will immediately ask for the password when plugged in. This built-in password protection means there is nothing to download or install, no public/private partitions to manage, and no administrative rights are required.

Super Talent Technology, a leader of NAND Flash storage solutions, today announced their fourth-generation Value SSD (VSSD), the VSSD Bolt. The new VSSD Bolt is perfect for business and home users who want the performance and durability gains of solid-state drives without breaking the budget.

The Bolt features a second-generation SandForce processor and offers fast read/write speeds of up to 250 MB/s - up to three times faster than previous-generation VSSDs. TRIM support and S.M.A.R.T. Command Transport (SCT) technology keep the Bolt performing like new and help prevent data loss by reporting on a number of reliability indicators.

Samsung developed a new file-system that's optimized for storage devices with multiple NAND flash memory chips. Called "Flash-Friendly File-System" or F2FS, Samsung's newest creation has been submitted to the group governing the Linux kernel, and an implementation of it on derivatives such as Android is possible in the near future. F2FS is designed to take into account the "internal geometry" of NAND flash storage devices, using a log structure approach that overcomes shortcomings of file-systems designed for older spinning-disc physical media (such as floppy, hard drives, and optical discs). There's also promise for F2FS, particularly in future high-density servers using enterprise SSDs.

Toshiba announced the new MQ01ABD series hybrid hard drives for notebooks. Built in the 2.5-inch 9.5 mm-thick form-factor, the drives embed a dual-platter hard drive with 8 GB of SLC NAND flash memory, and 32 MB cache for the hard drive component. The hard drive component has a maximum spindle speed of 5,400 RPM. Available in 750 GB (MQ01ABD075H) and 1 TB (MQ01ABD100H) variants, the drives support SATA 6 Gb/s interface, and Advanced Format. The company did not reveal pricing, as the two drives are being sampled from today.

MyDigitalSSD has teamed up with SuperSSpeeds to offer the fastest and top performing solid state drives on the market today. Utilizing the SandForce SF-2281 controller and SLC NAND flash, the SuperSSpeed boasts incredible speed for advanced gaming, multitasking, and multimedia computing power. Rated at 550MB/s Read and 520MB/s Write, the SuperSSpeed is proof that in this day and age, you get what you pay for, being arguably 20 times better than its nearest MLC rival at only twice the expense including accessories.

As with all MyDigitalSSD drives, the SuperSSpeed runs cool and quiet with no moving parts to create heat. Coupled with being shockproof, meaning that dropping your SSD or notebook no longer means losing your data, the SuperSSpeed it a far more durable and reliable upgrade to a traditional spinning hard drive (HDD).

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun volume production of 128-gigabyte (GB) embedded memory for next-generation smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Samsung started producing the new 128GB eMMC (embedded multimedia card) Pro Class 1500 in late August, which is only one month after it started delivering eMMC Pro products in 16-, 32- and 64-GB densities, rapidly completing the industry's widest line-up of eMMC products.

"By doubling the highest density of its previous eMMC products, Samsung expects to contribute significantly to a timely release of leading-edge mobile devices," said Wanhoon Hong, executive vice president, Memory Sales & Marketing, Samsung Electronics. "The higher data storage and faster data transmission will bring a range of benefits to users that compare to those of ultra-slim notebook PCs."

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced that its 2.5-inch SATA III Deneva 2 SSD series, supporting multi-level cell (MLC) synchronous and asynchronous NAND formats, are now compatible with QNAP Systems Inc.'s Turbo NAS products. The addition of Deneva 2 SSDs into QNAP's Turbo NAS peripherals compatibility list represents the first successful enterprise certification of OCZ SSDs into this platform and the third successful certification of OCZ SATA III SSDs, joining OCZ Vertex 3 and Agility 3 SSDs on the list.

With the industry's fastest transactional performance for SATA III-based drives, Deneva 2 SSDs deliver up to 80,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) performance (random 4K writes) and a maximum bandwidth of 550 MB/s. They also support best-in-class enterprise endurance and reliability, featuring power loss data protection, minimal write amplification, intelligent block management and wear-leveling, security encryption, and advanced error correction.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global leader in memory semiconductor technology, today held a groundbreaking ceremony for a major new memory fabrication line in Xi'an, China. Once completed, the new facility will make use of advanced 10-nanometer (nm)-class technology in producing NAND flash memory chips, a critical component powering IT and mobile applications for high-speed and large-density data storage.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman and CEO Dr. Oh-hyun Kwon hosted the event, which welcomed 600 attendees including government dignitaries such as Zhao Leji, secretary of provincial party committee and director of provincial People's Congress Standing Committee, and Kyu Hyung Lee, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to China. Other honored attendees included Sang-Jick Yoon, vice minister for Industry and Technology at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, as well as hundreds of Samsung suppliers and customers.

Apparently, Toshiba's strategy of inflating NAND flash pricing by cutting down production by 30 percent, stimulating similar reductions across the industry, backfired. Taking advantage of Toshiba's production cuts, Micron Technology ramped up its production, gaining market share. The Idahoan company's increased market share at Toshiba's expense ensured that SSD makers with Toshiba NAND flash create variants of their products with Micron's chips. Toshiba's latest move, according to a TweakTown report, is to scale its NAND flash production back up, and cut NAND flash prices down by 20 - 25 percent. Such a price-cut could result in further SSD price-cuts across the board, as the industry would end up with large inventories of Toshiba- and Micron-branded NAND flash chips.

WD, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corp. today announced it is sampling a 5 mm-thin hard disk drive featuring hybrid technology. WD has developed hard drives slim enough for integration into today's thinnest notebook PCs, which provide high-capacity storage and robustness while featuring instant-on and application performance similar to today's client solid state drives (SSDs). The new technologies will be showcased during WD's Investor Day, Sept. 13, 2012.

"Mobile devices are becoming smaller, thinner, lighter and more responsive," said Matt Rutledge, vice president of client storage solutions at WD. "Working with our technology partners, WD has developed new 5 mm hard drives that enable high capacity storage along with excellent performance and superior economics to allow our customers to expand their thin offerings."

Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT), the Analog and Digital Company delivering essential mixed-signal semiconductor solutions, today announced the industry's first NVM Express (NVMe) enterprise non-volatile DRAM (NV-DRAM) controller with native support for PCIe Gen 3. The new NVMe NV-DRAM controller expands upon IDT's previously announced NVMe flash controller family to provide standards-based, high-density, high-performance PCIe-attached NV-DRAM solutions built around a combination of DRAM and NAND flash devices.

The IDT 89HF08P08AG3 NV-DRAM controller supports up to 32 GB of DDR3 SDRAM and 8 channels of NAND flash, with a PCIe x8 Gen 3 host interface. The controller is designed to fully comply with the NVMe standard - a standard that defines an optimized register interface, command set, and feature set for PCIe-based solid-state drives (SSDs). IDT's new PCIe NV-DRAM controller enables unparalleled read and write random performance with extremely low latency and high endurance, making it ideal for storage-intensive enterprise-class applications. The programmable controller provides OEMs the flexibility to quickly develop and deploy NV-DRAM solutions that use standard NVM Express drivers.

Strontium Technology has announced a new series of high-performance solid state drives (SSDs) named HAWK. These Hynix-built solid state drives with Strontium branding are based on SandForce's SF2281 controller and SK Hynix Flash. These drives are said to be a good upgrade option featuring 500MB/s of read and write performance and also claim to offer faster performance for PCs and Macs. Needless to say, SSDs feature enhanced durability, shock-proof, silent operation and are more reliable as compared to traditional hard drives.

The 2.5-inch HAWK drive is available in 120GB and 240GB storage capacities. The sequential (256KB, MAX) read speed is 510 MB/s and write speed is 470 MB/s. The random (4KB, MAX) performance is 50,000 IOPS read and 38,000 IOPS write. It comes with support for SATA I/ II/ III interface, TRIM Support (O/S support required) and has a Mean Time between Failures (MBTF) of 1.2M. Strontium HAWK SSD has been designed to offer quicker boot up and shorter lead time in the loading of applications to enhance productivity.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, announces its USB 3.0 Express RC8 has been certified as a go to market partner with Microsoft for usage with Windows To Go, a new feature of Microsoft's Windows 8 Enterprise edition. Windows To Go enables enterprises to provision a full corporate image on an external USB drive which users can boot and operate from almost any PC.

Certified through the Windows 8 Hardware certification kit, Super Talent's RC8 is one of the world's top USB 3.0 drives with SSD technology; it provides high random read/write speed capabilities and reports itself as fixed media. Supertalent RC8 meets and surpasses many of the performance requirements of Windows To Go certified drives.

Greenliant Systems, a leader in energy-efficient, highly secure and reliable solid state storage products, is now sampling its industrial temperature SATA and PATA interface NANDrive embedded solid state drives (SSDs) using 2-bits-per-cell (MLC) NAND flash memory. The new NANDrive devices are the first ball grid array (BGA) package SATA / PATA SSDs based on MLC NAND that are capable of operating at temperatures between -40 to +85 degrees Celsius.

NANDrive combines Greenliant's internally developed NAND controller with NAND flash die for a fully integrated SSD in a multi-chip package. SATA and PATA NANDrive products have the same pin-out across all capacities in each family to ensure backward compatibility and simplify board design. The BGA package allows for easy and firm mounting to a system motherboard, and the 1mm ball pitch increases long-term reliability for applications enduring mechanical shock, vibration and temperature cycling.