Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced the launch of the Corsair Storage Solutions P256 high-performance 256GB solid-state drive (SSD).

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The Corsair Storage Solutions P256 has been designed using cutting-edge technology to deliver the highest performance and compatibility, in a capacity that is big enough to replace conventional storage solutions in a high-performance PC. The P256 uses specially selected Samsung MLC flash memory and a sophisticated Samsung Controller IC, coupled with 128MB of super-fast cache memory and Native Command Queuing (NCQ) support for blistering, stutter-free performance, delivering read speeds of up to 220MB/sec and write speeds of up to 200MB/sec.

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Silicon Power, the leading brand among Solid State Disk (SSD) Manufacturers today launch a new product of 256GB 2.5 inch SATA II SSD M10. The Silicon Power M10 dimensions are that of a standard 2.5 inch hard disk drive. Featuring dual interface, USB and SATA II, it can be installed internally or used as an external hard drive. When used as an external hard drive, the aesthetic design suits the fashion conscious consumers that want the looks, reliability and yet not compromise on performance.

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M10 can also be easily installed into your desktop computer or laptop through its SATA II interface. Utilizing 2.5 inch hard drive dimensions, M10 also comes with a mini USB connection for you to use as an aesthetic external storage device. Unlike traditional hard drives, it has no mechanical moving parts. The M10 is reliable, consumes minimum power, has no operation noise, features high transfer rate, shock and vibration proof.

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Patriot Memory®, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash and computer technology, today announced the release of their Torqx SSD Series.

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The Torqx SSD line is one of Patriot's latest releases designed with Patriot's new cutting-edge technology that adds 64MB of DRAM cache in conjunction with its current equipped NAND technology.

"With SSD technologies becoming more 'mainstream' in the consumer market, Patriot's goal is to give their customers discretion across their purchasing preferences," says Meng J. Choo, Patriot's Flash Product Manager. "In these tough economic times, consumers are looking for options; our goal is to give them that opportunity to add new technology, and have no reservations about their decisions." Add a comment

Today LaCie announced significant advancements in two recognized and award-winning network storage solutions – the LaCie 2big Network and the LaCie 5big Network. The product upgrades include improved performance, enhanced features, comprehensive backup support, and extreme capacity expansion – ultimately providing customers with an easier setup experience and a variety of ways to archive, access, and share large amounts of content.

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The award-winning LaCie 5big Network takes advantage of a Gigabit Ethernet connection and features five hot-swappable drives that support seven RAID modes. Now, with the latest capacity advancements, the 5big Network includes a 10TB model, making it the first in its class to offer double-digit capacity.

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Fujitsu Limited today announced that it has come to an agreement with TDK Corporation ("TDK") to terminate their strategic business alliance in regard to hard disk drive ("HDD") heads, and in conjunction, the companies will dissolve their joint-venture agreement regarding HDD head manufacturer TDK FUJITSU Philippines Corporation ("TFPC"; 66% owned by TDK and 34% owned by Fujitsu).

In October 2004, Fujitsu and TDK signed a business alliance agreement on the HDD head business. In order to build a structure for technological cooperation, the two companies established the joint-venture TFPC in December 2004 to process and assemble HDD heads. Recently, however, Fujitsu decided to exit the HDD head and HDD businesses, and therefore the two companies have agreed to terminate the business alliance and dissolve the joint-venture agreement.

The TFPC joint-venture agreement will be dissolved, and the company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of TDK.

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Storage Appliance Corp., developers of Clickfree, the easiest-to-use PC backup solutions on the market, today announced two new products, the Clickfree Traveler and Clickfree DVD Transformer. Available May 7, 2009, both devices are PC and Mac compatible, and eliminate the confusing and time-consuming hassle associated with backing up irreplaceable digital data.

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As light as a pen and the size of a credit card, the flash-based Traveler slips easily into a wallet, allowing business travelers, photographers, music lovers and others to carry up to 64GBs of data in their hip pocket or purse. The Clickfree DVD Transformer enables consumers to quickly and easily back up important data to optical discs, bypassing tricky CD and DVD burning software. Coupled with recordable CDs and/or DVDs, it’s an inexpensive yet foolproof way to back up important files.

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Fujitsu Microelectronics Limited today announced 2 new transcoder ICs that can convert between Full HD (1920dots x 1080lines) MPEG-2 video data and H.264 video data, as well as transcoding between audio formats while featuring a low power consumption of only 1.0Watt(W) including the in-package memory. These new ICs are targeted to support the growing number of electronic equipment that can record digital broadcasts. By employing Fujitsu’s proprietary transcode technology, Fujitsu Microelectronics realized industry-leading low power consumption. Combined with the small form-factor packaging, these ICs can be used not only for non-mobile fixed electronic equipment – such as digital video recorders (DVRs) - but also in such mobile products such as notebook PCs. In addition to the transcode function, security functions are included on a single chip to make it easy for customers to create their systems. Sample shipment of the new transcoder ICs, the MB86H57 and MB86H58, will begin from late July, 2009., will begin from late July, 2009.

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While Blu-ray still has a long ways to go before it overtakes the DVD, a new report issued by The NPD Group shows that the format is moving further into the mainstream. According to NPD's latest point-of-sale tracking data, first quarter sales of stand-alone Blu-ray players in the U.S. grew to more than 400,000 units, an increase of 72 percent over Q1 2008. Consumer awareness also reached 90 percent with 6 percent of those surveyed stating that they would be “extremely or very likely” to buy a Blu-ray player in the next six months.

According to the latest point-of-sale (POS) tracking data from The NPD Group, a leading market research company, Blu-ray Disc (BD) video technology is moving further into the mainstream. First quarter (Q1) sales of stand-alone Blu-ray players in the U.S. grew to more than 400,000 units, an increase of 72 percent over Q1 2008. Dollar sales increased 14 percent, to reach $107.2 million according to NPD’s retail tracking service.
                                                     
"The rising penetration of high-definition televisions and lower Blu-ray player prices are broadening the format’s market opportunity," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD. "Even as options expand for accessing movies digitally, Blu-ray is carrying forward the widespread appeal of DVD into the high-definition marketplace."

NPD’s “Blu-ray Report” March 2009 update revealed that overall consumer awareness of the BD format in the United States has reached 90 percent awareness in the past six months.  Purchase intent for Blu-ray set-top boxes also rose slightly in NPD’s most recent tracking surveys, with 6 percent of respondents saying they would be “extremely or very likely” to buy in the next six months, compared with 5 percent who responded similarly in the August report.  Despite these high awareness levels, more than half of adults (58 percent) continue to report that they were still “not very familiar” with BD. 

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QNAP Systems, Inc. today launches the 2-bay Intel Atom-based TS-239 Pro Turbo NAS with iSCSI target service for SMB and SOHO users. Adopting the low power Intel 1.6GHz CPU, 1GB DDRII memory, and DOM (Disk on Module) architecture, the TS-239 Pro delivers outstanding system performance in data intensive business environment. The NetBench test result shows the TS-239 Pro delivers an extremely high throughput of over 350MBit/s when 20 clients are accessing the NAS simultaneously, which is 3 times faster than other NAS brands in the same class. With the support for two 2TB hard drives, hot-swappable disk trays with locks, two Giga LAN ports, three USB 2.0 ports, and two eSATA ports, the NAS has become the top-class 2-bay NAS model with the best specifications and of the highest scalability, redundancy, storage capacity, and stability in the current market.

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The TS-239 Pro supports Windows, Mac, Linux, and UNIX OS. Advanced features such as built-in iSCSI target service (max 8 iSCSI devices) with Thin Provisioning, Online RAID Capacity Expansion, Online RAID Level Migration, AES 256-bit volume-based encryption, Wake on LAN, automatic policy-based IP blocking, instant SMS and email alert, BT and EMule download, schedule power on and power off, two IP cameras for network surveillance are also available.

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Optical disc drive manufacturers are facing yet another shortage of pick-up heads (PUHs). According to DigiTimes, the latest shortage is because Sanyo Electric, Hitachi, Sony and Sharp have not expanded the production of ODD PUHs to meet the growing demand for notebooks and desktops.

The global supply of pick-up heads (PUHs) used in optical disc drives (ODDs) has fallen into considerable short supply, which will not ease until the end of the second quarter, according to Taiwan ODD industry sources. The short supply is because Japan-based Sanyo Electric, Hitachi, Sony and Sharp, which together account for almost all of the global production of ODD PUHs, have not expanded output to meet the growing global demand for notebooks and desktops since early 2009, the sources said.

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