greenliant_sata_nanadrive_ssd.jpgGreenliant 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.

"Greenliant has optimized its NAND controllers and NANDrive production flow to ensure quality and reliability requirements, such as avoiding uncorrectable errors, when the MLC NAND is operating at extremely low and high temperatures," said Frank Lin, vice president of engineering, Greenliant Systems. "Through this technology advancement, we can now offer I-temp NANDrive, a cost-effective embedded SSD for cost-competitive applications that require extended reliability over extended temperature ranges."

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SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced it is providing Lenovo with the solid state drive (SSD) used in the new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, the world's lightest 14-inch Ultrabook computer.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon weighs in at less than three pounds, has an exterior made of extremely lightweight carbon fiber material, boasts optional embedded 3G connectivity for anywhere, anytime Internet access, and relies on a 256GB SanDisk X100 SSD for incredibly responsive, small form factor storage. The version of the SanDisk X100 SSD being used by Lenovo relies on a custom design that is smaller than the typical SSD, helping to reduce both the size and weight of the Lenovo X1 Carbon, as well as reducing power consumption. SanDisk offers the X100 SSD in both 256GB and 128GB capacities.

"Lenovo's leadership pioneering the X1 Carbon pushes the envelope in terms of bringing 'no compromise performance' to an extremely thin, light and connected form factor," said Tom Butler, director Worldwide ThinkPad Product Marketing, Lenovo. "Collaborating with SanDisk has helped us enable the ThinkPad X1 Carbon's design."

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While PC user is more and more concerning high performance and high quality SSD, the world renowned memory and Flash module manufacturer, KINGMAX, recently launches high performance SATA III Client Pro SSD – SMU32 and SMU35. Adopting Sandforce controller and high speed synchronous Flash memory, Client Pro SSD delivers sequential read/write speed up to 550MB/s, 520MB/s, and 4KB random write speed up to 85,000 IOPS. Its superior performance meets needs for every user, no matter for advanced gaming, multitasking or multimedia computing.  

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KINGMAX SATA III Client Pro SSD is based on powerful Sandforce controller and the latest firmware technology, which is able to maximize performance, extend product endurance and lifetime and enhance data protection and reliability. Since synchronous Flash is the higher grade memory, it achieves the better performance and the longer lifetime than asynchronous flash does, especially the performance under random write. For general users, synchronous Flash keeps high performance last after long term usages. 

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Marvell, a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions, is demonstrating its industry leadership in Flash-based solutions at the Flash Memory Summit being held at the Santa Clara Convention Center from August 21 to 23. Located in booth #800-802, Marvell will feature a broad spectrum of live demonstrations ranging from turnkey chipsets to board-level adapters that utilize NAND flash memory.

"The combined impact of big data, mobile computing and data-hungry apps is driving consumers and enterprises to embrace Flash memory," said Alan Armstrong, vice president of marketing for the Storage Business Group at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. "Marvell is a leading technology provider of silicon, silicon/software and board-level Flash-driven solutions that directly address end-to-end cloud computing from the home cloud to enterprise and public clouds. As a leader in ARM-based storage, networking and application processing, Marvell has the unique ability to create innovative reference design and turn-key solutions. Our breadth of offerings gives our OEM customers the flexibility and range of choice to select the right solution to meet their cost, power, density and performance needs."

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Toshiba’s Storage Products Business Unit of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., a committed technology leader, today announced it is expanding its enterprise Solid State Drives (eSSD) family with the PX-Series, featuring three models targeted for various enterprise applications: boot, read-intensive, entry level servers; entry-to-mid-range application servers; and high-performance enterprise application servers. The PX-Series reflects Toshiba’s continued storage innovation and coincides with the company’s celebration of its 25th anniversary as the inventor of NAND flash technology. Each model is optimized for its target segment with NAND flash processes, capacity, interface support, and capabilities.

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High-Performance: Targeted at applications requiring the highest levels of eSSD performance, the PX02SM series is Toshiba’s first eSSD to utilize 24nm eMLC (enterprise multi-level cell) NAND technology, with capacities of 200/400/800GB and 1.6TB, and is Toshiba’s first offering with a dual-port 12Gb/sec SAS interface with a form-factor equivalent to industry-standard 2.5inch HDDs.

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OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, will showcase its latest storage products, encompassing a mix of both solid state drives and software solutions, at this year’s Flash Memory Summit, Booth #208, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California, from August 21st through August 23rd.

Demonstrating SSD products along with recent partner implementations, OCZ will showcase a comprehensive lineup of innovative solutions for business, server, and OEM clients.  This includes product presentations of both the impending Intrepid 3 SATA III-based SSD solution based on the company’s Indilinx Everest 2 architecture, along with the company’s leading PCI Express (PCIe)-based Z-Drive R4 featuring new Linux Acceleration software (LXL) that unleashes the full performance potential of infrastructures that use this popular open source operating system. Live technical demos of LXL and Z-Drive R4 SSDs will include a VDI boot storm, efficient SQL CPU utilization, and vMotion and Fault Tolerance support. 

Additional booth demonstrations will include OCZ’s acceleration of SQL Server 2012 databases using its leading Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSD with VXL Cache and Virtualization software. This combined hardware/software solution dramatically increases SQL Server 2012 transactional IOPS performance, reduces database read latencies, and improves query completion times. OCZ will also demonstrate Talos 2 Series SAS-based drives showcasing the performance advantages of a true full duplex, dual-port SAS 6Gb/s SSD in a Microsoft Cluster in a Box (CiB) solution, further leveraging the strengths of OCZ’s storage drives when paired with leading partner systems.   

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SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today marked the 25-year anniversary of flash memory, the transformational technology used by billions of consumers and countless businesses in smartphones, tablets, ultra-thin laptops, data centers and other electronic devices.

Companies such as SanDisk have increased the capacity of flash memory by 30,000 times while decreasing its cost by 50,000 times over the past two decades. SanDisk's first product, a 20 megabyte solid state drive (SSD), sold for $1,000 in 1991 but would cost only two cents today. This efficiency has driven the wide adoption of flash memory and enabled the smart digital lifestyle of anywhere, anytime access to digital content. Flash memory fuels the three forces behind this trend - mobile computing, pervasive connectivity and the proliferation of digital content.

"We started SanDisk in 1988 with the belief that flash memory would enable entire industries and enrich the lives of billions of people," said Sanjay Mehrotra, president, chief executive officer and co-founder of SanDisk. "Demand for flash is greater than ever, and it's an exciting time to lead an industry that holds such tremendous potential for the future."

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To streamline the operation of machine rooms and cut down on hosting fees, many enterprises adopt compact 1U rack servers for a smaller machinery footprint, decrease in cost and increase in processing speeds. The purpose is to achieve a more efficient management on the part of IT personnel. With this trend going mainstream, and after having garnering the Taiwan Excellence Awards for its compact SATA modules, Apacer has added a new series of SDM4 mini industrial SSDs to the lineup.

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Tailored for the 1U server, the new series boasts upgraded speeds and a doubling of capacity. The minimum height is only 30.35mm, enhancing the air ventilation inside the 1U chassis. With the SATA connector on the left or right side of the PCB and with different types of casings, the SSD is available for customers' diverse choices. In this way, it meets the needs for various setups and is suitable for system startup/booting as a high-stability storage solution. 

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owc_mercury_auro_pro_rmbp.pngOther World Computing announced today the OWC Mercury Aura Pro as the industry’s first high-performance Solid State Drive upgrade for 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina display (rMBP) computers. Available in 480GB capacity, the 6G (6Gb/s) SandForce Driven Mercury Aura Pro offers rMBP owners 87.5 percent more capacity than the factory 256GB model. Additionally, customers buying the $579.99 MSRP Aura Pro direct from OWC until September 30, 2012, will later receive the OWC Envoy Pro USB 3.0 bus-powered portable enclosure (a $59.95 value) for re-tasking the rMBP’s factory flash module as an external drive at no additional cost.

When introduced this past June, the MacBook Pro with Retina display base model offered a 256GB SSD configuration with no upgrade option. Now, instead of being “factory locked”, rMBP owners can add 87.5 percent more capacity with a 480GB Mercury Aura Pro SSD. The only other and far more costly and time-intensive option for rMBP owners, as discovered by The SSD Review.com, is to upgrade the SSD through an authorized dealer. Making this an even less desirable option is the fact that the original 256GB flash module is retained and sent back to Apple.

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Plextor, a leading developer of high-performance digital storage equipment, today announced the M5 Pro Series Solid State Drive, a high-performance professional-grade SSD engineered using the latest Marvell® 88SS9187 Monet controller. The M5 Pro provides a unique enterprise-grade double-data protection featuring random read/write speeds of up to 94,000/86,000 IOPS and sequential read/write speeds of up to 540/450 MB/s.

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The M5 Pro has the ability to consistently deliver high read and write speeds for all forms of data and use the multi-core controller to handle extreme high loads. This makes the M5 Pro suitable for use in a heavy workstation, server role, or Raid 0 configuration setting. The M5 Pro also makes use of True Speed Technology to prevent the drastic performance drop seen in some SSDs after intense or long-term usage.

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