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Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing the industry’s first three-dimensional (3D) Vertical NAND (V-NAND) flash memory, which breaks through the current scaling limit for existing NAND flash technology. Achieving gains in performance and area ratio, the new 3D V-NAND will be used for a wide range of consumer electronics and enterprise applications, including embedded NAND storage and solid state drives (SSDs).
Samsung’s new V-NAND offers a 128 gigabit (Gb) density in a single chip, utilizing the company’s proprietary vertical cell structure based on 3D Charge Trap Flash (CTF) technology and vertical interconnect process technology to link the 3D cell array. By applying both of these technologies, Samsung’s 3D V-NAND is able to provide over twice the scaling of 20nm-class* planar NAND flash.
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Plextor, leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital storage devices, and Maingear, leading custom designer of high performance PC systems, have announced a strategic partnership.
Plextor is currently center stage with their ultrafast SSD technology. This makes for a perfect match with Maingear that has a sterling reputation for award winning custom PC systems that are individually tuned for peak performance.
Plextor and Maingear featured a collaborative exhibit at last month's E3—the annual gaming expo held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The 2013 show was attended by upwards of 50,000 gaming enthusiasts.
Plextor and Maingear caught the crowd's attention with their exhibit featuring a Maingear RAID 0 computer equipped with four 128GB Plextor M5 Pro Xtreme Solid State Drives. As a post-E3 grand finale, Plextor gave away the Maingear computer in a drawing facilitated by PC Gamer.
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The USB 3.0 Promoter Group today announced the completion of the USB 3.1 Specification which adds enhancements to enable SuperSpeed USB to operate at up to 10 Gbps. This latest release of the specification will be available today for download from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) website.
SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps uses a more efficient data encoding and will deliver more than twice the effective data through-put performance of existing SuperSpeed USB over enhanced, fully backward compatible USB connectors and cables. Compatibility is assured with existing USB 3.0 software stacks and device class protocols as well as with existing 5 Gbps hubs and devices and USB 2.0 products.
Developers interested in implementing the new USB 3.1 Specification have the opportunity to learn technical details during three developer conferences currently being planned. The international conferences planned in Europe and Asia will offer more advanced system design training as breakout sessions on the second day. For more details and conference registration instructions, please visit the USB-IF website.
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Mach Xtreme Technology Inc., a worldwide leader in top performance, high reliability and user-friendly designed PC components, today launched LX Series USB 3.0 flash drives. The MX-LX is based on a native USB 3.0 controller chip and implementing advanced dual-channel technology. It is an economical USB 3.0 peripheral for those who demand leading-edge technology without paying more.
There is a wide range of high-end USB 3.0 flash drives available on the market. These pendrives typically carry a relatively high price tag compared to traditional USB 2.0 flash drives. MX-LX series utilizes the latest USB 3.0 specification and delivers blazing fast performance at an extremely competitive and affordable price. MX-LX USB 3.0 flash drive is fully backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports, at USB 2.0 speeds. Its dual-chip design and compact size makes it easy to carry virtually anywhere. The aluminum housing is also extremely durable, making it an ideal upgrade flash drive for users with busy and active lifestyles.
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Greenliant Systems, a leader in energy-efficient, highly secure and reliable solid state storage products, has entered the removable solid state drive (SSD) market and is sampling its new mSATA ArmourDrive GLS86 product line. Based on SATA NANDrive, using Greenliant’s internally developed NAND controller, mSATA ArmourDrive is designed for applications that require industrial temperature capability, high reliability and long-life data storage.
mSATA ArmourDrive operates at extreme temperatures between -40 to +85 degrees Celsius with 1-bit-per-cell (SLC) or 2-bits-per-cell (MLC) NAND flash memory, which gives customers a dependable, industrial temperature mSATA SSD using cost-effective MLC NAND. Addressing the needs of space-constrained embedded systems, mSATA ArmourDrive measures 29.85mm x 50.80mm x 4.80mm (JEDEC MO-300).
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Sony Corporation (‘Sony’) and Panasonic Corporation (‘Panasonic’) today announced that they have signed a basic agreement with the objective of jointly developing a next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs, with the objective of expanding their archive business for long-term digital data storage. Both companies aim to improve their development efficiency based on the technologies held by each respective company, and will target the development of an optical disc with recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015. Going forward, Sony and Panasonic will continue to hold discussions regarding the specifications and other items relating to the development of this new standard.
Optical discs have excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them a robust medium for long-term storage of content. Both companies have previously developed products based on the Blu-ray™ format, leveraging the strengths of optical discs. However, both Sony and Panasonic recognized that optical discs will need to accommodate much larger volumes of storage in years to come given the expected future growth in the archive market, and responded by formulating this agreement.
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sTec, Inc., a leading global provider of solid-state storage solutions, today announced it has expanded its s800 family of Serial Attached Storage (SAS) solid-state drives (SSDs) with the introduction of the industry’s first generally available Micro SAS SSDs. Additionally, sTec announced that the new small-form-factor (1.8-inch) Micro SAS SSDs are available with stringent 256-bit AES-XTS encryption, enabling hardware-level security in cloud computing, data centers and web-based applications, as well as in government and defense environments where data protection is crucial. The new sTec® Micro SAS drives are available directly from sTec and through its distribution channel.
Uniquely designed for blade servers, caching and high-density computing environments, the new Micro SAS drives provide storage-system developers with the smallest enterprise-class SAS SSD form factor yet. They meet the demanding performance, footprint and power requirements of today’s enterprise-storage applications.
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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 240GB capacity, sequential 830MB/s read and 810MB/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.
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VSO Software releases today VSO Video Converter, an all-in-one tool to convert videos from and into almost any format.
The software accepts all video types on the market and converts them to the most propular formats, so they can be played on any device. Indeed the software converts to a large selection of outputs: DVD (PAL and NTSC standards, with DVD menu), Avi, MKV, tablets (Ipad, Samsung Tab, etc), smartphones (Iphones, etc), PS3, Xbox and Playstation with various codecs available (H264, DivX, Mpeg2, Mpeg 4, AAC, AC3, DTS…), audio profiles and WebM. Virtually any videos are accepted as input, including decrypted Blu-ray and DVDs, with support of the right angle and automatic main movie detection.
“We had a few programs to convert videos into different formats, but a “universal” converter was missing from our catalog, and asked for by our users”, explains Cedric Van-Dendaele, developer at VSO Software. “Now with VSO Video Converter, only one tool fulfills all video conversion needs. All options are at hand to make custom video projects in any output format” With VSO Video Converter, conversions can be done in 1 easy click, while also providing a wide range of options for more advanced users. A clear timeline display allows for complete control over video customization.
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Seagate Technology plc, a world leader in storage solutions, today announced it is shipping the world’s fastest hard drive— the Seagate Enterprise Turbo SSHD. The industry’s first enterprise solid state hybrid drive (SSHD), the Enterprise Turbo SSHD combines the capacity of a hard drive with solid-state flash enabling high-speed performance for mission critical data.
Setting a new standard in mission critical performance, the Enterprise Turbo SSHD provides up to a 3X increase in random performance over existing 15K-RPM drives and is available with up to 600GB of capacity. By unifying the best of solid-state and magnetic technologies, Turbo improves tiered storage performance combining accelerated speed with hard disk drive (HDD) high-capacity.
