smart_cloudspeed_500_ssd.pngSMART Storage Systems, an innovative and rapidly emerging enterprise SSD technology provider, today announced the CloudSpeed 500 Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gb/s solid-state drive (SSD). Leveraging cost effective consumer grade multi-level cell (MLC) Flash, CloudSpeed 500 is an enterprise-class SSD that delivers the high-performance and endurance required in enterprise server environments at consumer MLC value, fundamentally changing the total cost of ownership (TCO) for cloud storage and server applications.

With the rise of social networking and other cloud computing services, data creation and the need to access data in near real-time has grown at an unprecedented rate. This has led enterprise organizations to utilize SSDs in order to meet the throughput levels necessary to work with an ever-increasing data-set. In the past, enterprise organizations turned to client-class SSDs leveraging consumer MLC Flash because they provided significant performance improvements over traditional hard disk drives (HDD) at a lower cost than higher-endurance SSDs utilizing single-level cell (SLC) Flash. However, client-class SSDs are designed for read-intensive environments and quickly wear out in typical cloud storage and server mixed workload environments. This has forced IT managers to use a consumption model, resulting in the need to replace an SSD multiple times within a typical warranty period, driving up TCO.

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Silicon Power, the world’s leading provider of memory storage solutions today unveiled Velox V60, a 2.5” consumer solid state disk that combines aesthetic and performance. V60 features a sleek metal body with SATA III interface delivering personal style, speed and quality, taking computing experience to a new level.

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Unlike a traditional SSD that is rigid and bulky, SP V60 offers a stylish brushed aluminum enclosure in metallic gray. It features a hairline finished cover with a silver embossed diamond cut logo and a body with curved edges. Its minimalist design speaks quality and character; adding style to functionality so consumers will never need to compromise aesthetic for performance.

Featuring the latest SandForce controller, SP V60 unleashes the potential of SATA III 6Gbps interface to deliver up to 550MB/s reads; 500MB/s write transfer rate. The V60 can significantly improve performance over hard drive; it can boot a computer in seconds and quickly launch applications.

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Dane-Elec, a global leader in consumer electronics, today announced Marvel's The Avengers USB drive product line with Marvel Entertainment, LLC. The four Avengers characters featured in Marvel's The Avengers movie premiering this May -- Captain America, The Hulk, Thor and Iron Man -- will be brought to life in the form of 8 gigabyte (GB) flash drives. Users can collect them all with Marvel's The Avengers 4-Port USB Hub and let the Super Heroes transport and protect their data for years to come.

HULK SMASH!

"We are thrilled to offer Marvel fans our second line of USB drives, which is based on the characters in the upcoming Marvel's The Avengers movie," said Sherry Chapman, director of marketing for Dane-Elec. "The Marvel Classics line is extremely popular and we are excited to give movie fans the Marvel's The Avengers drives. Both adults and children can now store and transport data on these replica character statuettes that have a sleek sliding USB drive embedded in the base. Marvel's The Avengers Super Heroes collection is both unique and practical for all ages."

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OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced that its SAS-based Talos 2 SSDs have been selected by HyVE (Hybrid Virtualization Engine) Systems for implementation within three high-compute platforms targeted for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) academic and corporate end user compute solutions. Providing stellar read/write input/output operations per second (IOPS) performance, high reliability and availability of stored data and desktop applications, the ability to grow with the HyVE Systems platforms, and cost-effectiveness were the key attributes that aided in the selection of OCZ Talos 2 drives.

Combining proven virtualization solutions with state-of-the-art, best-of-breed hardware products that support next-generation cloud requirements, the HyVE System VDI platform provides a cost-effective, high-performance environment that scales to the needs of their customers while providing an extremely low cost per desktop without jeopardizing quality, reliability or performance. A typical HyVE System VDI solution has a fixed cost of approximately $200 per desktop which is significantly lower than traditional virtual solutions that typically start at $1,500 per desktop, and scale down cost to approximately $700 per desktop, depending on infrastructure costs.

HyVE Systems' VDI solutions are smaller, less expensive high-compute platforms that can run either 100+ or 200+ VDI desktops on a single node. For example, many K-12 school districts do not have the budgets to purchase, deploy and maintain brand new computing equipment for their student population and must leverage the existing network infrastructure to cost-effectively extend its life while enabling students and teachers to use their own computing devices regardless of age, operating system or hardware architecture. This approach enables state-of-the-art VDI solutions to be stored as a virtualized desktop on the HyVE central server platform so that students and teachers can work from whatever local computing device they have while the system programs, applications, processes and data are kept on the remote server and run centrally.

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voicelok_usb_flash_drive.pngYou wouldn't think there would be much to say about a USB flash drive, but in this case, what you say, and how you say it, is your key to data security. Advanced technical skills are definitely not required, because this is a plug-and-play device, requiring no software installation. All critical software is embedded in the flash drive itself, and it is fully functional the moment it is removed from the box.

After inserting the USB into a computer, red and green LEDs flash to signal to the user that the drive is ready to hear the password through its on-board microphone. Armed with a dedicated on-board microprocessor, the drive's voice-recognition software then sorts out the various nuances and frequencies of an authorized voice, and the only necessary password is a spoken one.

The caveat of course, is any sort of illness which may alter one's voice, such as laryngitis, the common cold, or even a lack of sleep, which could prevent unlocking the data. An alternate method of securely unlocking files is provided should that occur. That procedure requires recognizing, and responding to, a specific sequence of flashing color LEDs. That pattern-recognition password is also secure and easy to use, because it is a combination that has been predetermined by the user, just as the user also chooses the spoken password.

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