LSI Corporation today unveiled the third generation of its market-leading SandForce flash controller line, the industry's most widely deployed flash management technology for driving PCIe and SATA solid state drive (SSD) and flash card solutions. Designed to support power-sensitive client computing applications as well as I/O-intensive enterprise and hyperscale environments, the new LSI SandForce SF3700 flash controller family provides the increased levels of flash performance, reliability and endurance needed to meet the exacting needs of SSD manufacturers.

The SF3700 family is the industry's first flash controller that provides the flexibility to support both native PCIe Gen2 x4 and SATA 6 Gb/s host interfaces in a single ASIC design. This unique capability greatly simplifies SSD designs and helps to significantly reduce development and manufacturing costs for SSD makers.

How many times did you get angry, cause computer works too slow and hard drive reads data so loud, that you cant really focus anymore? Starting even simple program takes so much time, that you can already go for another cup of coffe. Later working in the program with countinous lags and unexpected pauses, so system could read bytes from slow hdd, all this gives you chest pains. Today you can get rid of all this and do everything much faster and really smoothly. You can finish your work sooner and go to your family or meet with friends. Today new era starts, cause Mach Xtreme Express drives enters the european market with speed from the future. Even the latest SATA III standard (up to 6 Gbps) is too slow for them, so the disks can be only connected directly to mainboard through PCI-Express 2.0 x2 type.

V7, a global provider of premier computer accessories worldwide and a division of Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM), today introduced its V7 Elite 2.5-inch Solid State Drives (SSDs), offering exceptional performance and a thin profile to meet the demands for fast, dependable, compact storage for Ultrabooks, laptops, desktop PCs and servers.

V7 Elite 2.5-inch SSDs are ideal for users of desktop and laptop PCs, and administrators of mass storage servers who desire to boost system responsiveness above and beyond current capacities. Offering many compelling advantages over traditional hard disk drives, solid state drives have rapidly grown in popularity in both the consumer and enterprise information technology sectors. V7 Elite 2.5-inch SSDs capitalize on these technology benefits and offer significant features and functionality to support performance gains for any computing application.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the latest addition to the popular Deneva 2 Series which now utilizes 19 nanometer (nm) NAND flash. The new models are 2.5-inch, 6 Gbps SATA III-based Multi-Level Cell (MLC) drives that implement the Deneva 2 SSD Series feature-set and are built around a smaller NAND flash process geometry. This cutting-edge drive solution also features a completely new power architecture that was designed from the ground up to optimize server back plane functionality, providing enhanced management of in-rush current and power fluctuation. The result is an advanced SSD series that delivers superior storage performance, enterprise-class endurance, reliability and quality, and excellent total cost of ownership for customers.

"Our Deneva 2 has been a popular SSD series among IT professionals not only as an HDD replacement but to dramatically accelerate I/O access of such popular enterprise applications as OnLine Transaction Processing, database warehousing, read intensive data caching and server boot-ups," said Daryl Lang, SVP of Product Management for OCZ Technology. "By implementing new features and the latest NAND flash process geometry we are able to deliver an optimal balance of I/O performance and cost-efficiency to our customers."

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the SSDNow E50, the company's latest enterprise-class solid-state drive (SSD). SSDNow E50 enables performance-focused organizations that do not have heavy endurance needs to obtain the same enterprise-level performance as Kingston's SSDNow E100 but at a more cost-effective price point. A leader in memory solutions since 1987, Kingston will exhibit at VMworld (Booth 1647) to showcase the new drive.

SSDNow E50 allows companies to take advantage of enterprise-level SSD performance for tasks such as data caching, frequently accessed data within applications, online transactional processing and virtualization performance. SSDNow E50 helps alleviate I/O latencies and server bottlenecks by providing greater IOPS and higher bandwidth.

Kingston Technology Europe Co LLP, an affiliate of Kingston Technology Company Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced a series of Na'Vi branded products , developed in collaboration with the world's multiple champion eSports club Natus Vincere. The long and productive partnership of Kingston and Na'Vi has helped to create a series of bright & stylish branded products. Having won seven world championships and more than 2.5 million dollars in prize money, unlike anyone else, the professional players of Natus Vincere team, know which technical resources are necessary in order to become a champion.

The Na'Vi branded limited edition products are primarily aimed at gamers and enthusiasts, who require high performance and reliability, as well as all fans of Na'Vi and eSports, who want to own this unique product to show their support. The Na'Vi Limited Edition collection includes the SSD drives based on the high performance, award winning HyperX 3K model, available with a capacity of 120 GB or 240 GB, as well as top quality HyperX Genesis memory module kits.

ASUS ROG today announced RAIDR Express, the first PCI Express-based SSD in the world with a DuoMode feature that allows it to work with either legacy (traditional) or modern UEFI BIOS. Aimed at hardcore gamers and PC enthusiasts demanding a faster and more reliable computer experience, RAIDR Express combines the best compatibility and great performance with incredible durability.

With 240 GB capacity, sequential 830 MB/s read and 810 MB/s write speeds, and bundled with tons of features that maintain the high-speed performance and extend the lifespan, RAIDR Express is made for real speed-demons. Boasting the gorgeous ROG red and black design with double-sided metal shielding and an incredible 620,000 hours mean time between failure (MTBF) to ensure quality, RAIDR Express is built to last.

Intel launched its newest line of high-performance client SSDs, the SSD 530 series. Built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch, 80 mm M.2, and mSATA form-factors, with SATA 6 Gb/s interface, these drives come in capacities starting from 80 GB. In the 2.5-inch form-factor, the SSD 530 series is available in 80 GB, 120 GB, 180 GB, 240 GB, 360 GB, and 480 GB variants; the 80 mm M.2 and mSATA form-factors it will be sold to OEMs in 80 GB, 120 GB, 180 GB, and 360 GB.

In its product brief, Intel didn't mention performance numbers specific to capacities, but gave out numbers applicable to all capacities - up to 540 MB/s reads, up to 490 MB/s writes, up to 41,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 80,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The series is built around the latest version of SandForce SF-2281 controller with a few LSI refinements. It's based on Intel's 20 nm MLC NAND flash. The SSD 530 series, at least in the 2.5-inch form-factor, are expected to displace SSD 525 and SSD 520 series models from their current price-points.

According to a leaked SSD product stack roadmap by Intel, scored by VR-Zone, the company is close to launching its next-generation performance-segment consumer SSDs, the SSD 530 series. The line succeeds Intel's SSD 520 and SSD 525 series, features the latest 20 nm MLC NAND flash, but the same LSI-SandForce SF-2281 controller (probably the latest revision, backed by a better firmware). According to the roadmap, the series should have debuted back in June, which never happened. Apparently, it's off by a month, and Intel moved its launch window to some time between the 8th and 12th of this month.

Intel's SSD 530 series will be available in three form-factors, including the familiar 2.5-inch SATA (7 mm-thick), NGFF M2, and mSATA. The drives will be available in 80 GB, 180 GB, 240 GB, and 360 GB for the M2 and mSATA form-factors; and 180 GB, 240 GB, 360 GB, and 480 GB for the 2.5-inch form-factor. At this point, nothing is known about their rated performance or pricing. Elsewhere in the lineup, SSD 335 series will continue throughout the year, going into Q1 2014, as Intel's mid-range SSD offering.

Chinese flash memory specialist KingFast announced its take on high-capacity compound SSDs with the C-Drive 1 TB. The drive looks like any other 2.5-inch, 9.5 mm-thick SSD, but encloses two subunits striped in an internal RAID 0 configuration, that's abstract to the host, to which it connects over SATA 6 Gb/s. Each of the two 512 GB subunits is driven by an LSI-SandForce SF-2281 controller. KingFast didn't mention if the RAID controller lets the contraption retain support for the TRIM command, but unless they have something substantial like OCZ VCA, we suspect it doesn't. The SATA 6 Gb/s interface clearly bottlenecks the C-Drive, which offers sequential speeds of 559 MB/s reads with 532 MB/s writes, with 5~10% of the interface bandwidth being consumed by the various overheads.It's still the fastest sequential speeds advertised for a SATA 6 Gb/s drive.

Team Group showed off its Dark L3 line of mainstream consumer SSDs. Based on the common SandForce SF-2281 platform, and built in the conventional 9.5 mm-thick 2.5 mm form-factor with SATA 6 Gb/s interface, these drives use 19 nm MLC NAND flash, and come in 60 GB, 120 GB, and 240 GB capacities. All three models offer up to 550 Mb/s reads, the 60 GB and 120 GB variants offers up to 450 MB/s writes, while the 240 GB variant offers up to 500 MB/s. All three models offer 35,000 IOPS 4K random reads, the 60 GB variant offers 25,000 IOPS 4K random writes; while the 120 GB and 240 GB variants offer up to 50,000 IOPS. Most common client SSD features such as TRIM, NCQ, and SMART, are standard issue.

ADATA showed off a new high-performance server-grade SSD, the SX2000. Built in the 2.5-inch form-factor, this drive features a PCI-Express 2.0 x4 interface (a cable runs to a PCIe riser card). It is driven by an LSI-SandForce SF-8639 controller, which is a single-chip solution that connects to the host over PCI-Express, and appears to the operating system as ATA AHCI controller, with one drive connected to it. The chip features nearly more than double the ONFI channels as an SF-2281, which reflects on the drive's advertise performance numbers: up to 1,800 MB/s reads with up to 1,800 MB/s writes; up to 200,000 IOPS 4K random reads. The controller supports all modern enterprise SSD features, including TRIM, DEVSLP support, and SMART. It ships in 100 GB, 200 GB, 400 GB, 800 GB, and 1,600 GB variants. The latter was up on display.

ADATA also showed off its SX1000 enterprise SSD, which features a more modest SATA 6 Gb/s interface, an LSI SandForce SF-2500 or SF-2600 series controller, sequential performance numbers of up to 550 MB/s reads with up to 500 MB/s writes, up to 75,000 IOPS 4K random reads/writes, can work as DAS, and most modern enterprise features. This drive will be available in 100 GB, 200 GB, and 400 GB capacities, the 200 GB variant was on display. It's unclear which kind of NAND flash the two drives use, but we're guessing it's high-endurance MLC NAND. Both offer 5-year warranties.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the latest addition to its SSDNow family, the KC300 solid-state drive. KC300 enables business, mobile and power users to be more productive as the drive maximizes power efficiencies in notebook PCs. KC300 provides advanced power management via an LSI SandForce second-generation SF-2281 processor, allowing users to do more from a single charge.

KC300 is the next-generation business drive, replacing the Kingston V+200 and KC100 SSDs. The drive features enterprise-grade SMART attributes, allowing IT departments to monitor wear range data, SSD life left, write amplification and total bytes written. KC300 comes equipped with Data Integrity Protection featuring DuraWrite technology to extend the life of the SSD by effectively and efficiently reducing the number of Flash writes via an intelligent compression engine without sacrificing data integrity. RAISE reduces the number of uncorrectable errors in the drive, over and above standard error code correction.

I-O Data rolled out the SSDN-3V line of consumer SSDs. Built in the Ultrabook-friendly 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, the drives just about take advantage of SATA 6 Gb/s interface, and include a USB adapter that lets you plug it externally, to clone your existing software installation, using the included Acronis True Image 2013 software license. Available in 60 GB (SSDN-3V60), 120 GB (SSDN-3V120), and 240 GB (SSDN-3V120) capacities, the drives appear to be based on a SandForce 2281 controller platform, offering transfer-rates of up to 308 MB/s reads, with up to 185 MB/s writes. A 7 to 9.5 mm adapter comes included. The three are slated for the end of May.

Other World Computing (OWC) www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today the OWC Envoy Pro EX ultra-portable Solid State Drive solution. Elegantly designed in anodized aluminum to match modern Macs and PCs, the Envoy Pro EX fits easily into a coat pocket, backpack, or briefcase for rugged mobile high performance storage and/or backup capacity.

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Bus-Powered SSD
Inside the Envoy Pro EX resides a SandForce Driven OWC Aura Pro 6G SSD which offers real world sustained reads up to 436 MB/s and writes up to 429 MB/s. Besides offering blistering fast performance, the USB 3.0 interface can bus-power the Envoy Pro EX so an AC power adapter isn't required.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, today introduced the OWC Mercury Helios+E2 Thunderbolt SSD Solution. The bootable 'all-in-one' storage performance and expansion solution offers owners of Thunderbolt technology enabled Macs and PCs sustained read/write data throughput up to 617MB/s from up to 960GB of OWC Mercury SSD capacity; two Thunderbolt interfaces for connecting multiple Thunderbolt devices; and two eSATA 6Gb/s expansion ports for connecting up to an additional 32TB or more of external storage/backup capacity.

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.

ADATA released a firmware update for its SSDs based on SandForce SF-22xx series controllers. These models include all capacity-variants of SX910, SX900, SP900, SP800, S511, S510 and S396. The new v5.0.7a, according to the company, improves TRIM performance, which affects the drives' write speeds. The firmware is also said to fix other "minor issues," although the company didn't detail them. The firmware is available as both the EEPROM binary image, and as an updater for popular operating systems.DOWNLOAD: ADATA Firmware Update 5.0.7a

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.

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.

Intel's performance-segment mSATA SSDs, the SSD 525 series, started selling in Japan under OEM packaging, although freely available in ground stores (much like bare hard drives). Based on the LSI-SandForce SF-2281 processor and Intel's own 25 nm MLC NAND flash chips, the SSD 525 is available in four capacities: 30 GB, 120 GB, 180 GB, and 240 GB. The 240 GB variant stands out, with speeds of up to 550 MB/s reads with 500 MB/s writes; while the others max out at 500 MB/s reads with 275 MB/s writes. The 30, 120, 180, and 240 GB variants are priced at 5,180¥ ($57), 14,480¥ ($160), 20,800¥ ($228), and 26,980¥ ($295), respectively.

Mushkin, Inc., an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance and mission-critical computer products, today announces the U.S. availability of the 480 GB Atlas mSATA solid-state drive. Mushkin's 480GB Atlas mSATA solid-state drive (Model No.: MKNSSDAT480GB) is initially available in the U.S. at Newegg.com, with worldwide availability scheduled for end of January. MSRP on Mushkin's 480GB Atlas mSATA SSD is $499.99 USD. The Atlas mSATA SSD is covered by a three-year limited warranty.

Mushkin's Scorpion line of PCI-Express SSDs, which made for good show at last year's CES, made a comeback with this year's, albeit with a design overhaul. To begin with, while last year's Scorpion featured a PCI-Express 2.0 x4 host interface, this year's Scorpion uses a newer controller, with double the host interface bandwidth, at PCI-Express 2.0 x8. Also, this year's Scorpion shows traces that are designed to hold capacitors that can keep the SSD running for a few seconds, just enough to "gracefully" shut it down in case of a power-failure, and safeguard data. The new Scorpion also appears to use an auxiliary SATA power input. Aside from these, the new Scorpion appears to use the same SandForce SF-2281 based SSD subunits as last year's drive (which is pictured at the far-right, below).

Among an avalanche of other major products, memory maker Mushkin announced a new line of USB 3.0 flash drives that are SandForce-driven, and pack no less than 240 GB of space for your precious (n). The drives use a USB 3.0 to SATA 6 Gb/s host controller PCB, which is then wired to another one, which holds a SandForce SF-2281 processor, which marshals fewer NAND flash chips than it's capable of. Yet, the drive is capable of over 300 MB/s of transfer-rates (read/write specifics not mentioned).