SSD

Intel's new X25-E Extreme SSD blows the competition away

Paul Mah — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:55:19 -0500

Intel has unveiled a new solid state drive (SSD) in the form of the X25-E Extreme, which is even faster than the X25-M which was released in September. The folks over at the Tech Report got their hands on an engineering sample, where they wrote, "This is without a doubt the fastest solid-state drive we've ever tested." Due to the performance of its single-level cell (SLC) memory chips, the 32GB X25-E Extreme SSD is perfectly suited for the enterprise environment at which it's targeted at. However, the drive doesn't come cheap at $719, which works out to $22 per gigabyte. Still, nothing else beats this device if you are looking for the absolutely fastest drive. Other than Intel, companies such as Seagate, Samsung and SanDisk are scrambling to manufacture and flood the market with high-performance SSDs.

For more on this story:
- check out this article from the Tech Report

SanDisk unveils dramatic performance boost for SSD

Paul Mah — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:10:09 -0500

SanDisk, on Wednesday, announced a new flash memory management system called Extreme Flash File System (ExtremeFFS) that it claims can work up to 100 times faster than the existing generation of solid-state drives (SSD). One feature of ExtremeFFS essentially allows data to be written to the disk without erasing and rewriting nearby stored data, according to Don Barnetson, senior director of marketing. SanDisk went as far as to predict that the performance of SSDs will improve by "a factor of four" in 2009 over that of current-generation SSDs. This will put them at approximately six times faster than the newest 2.5-inch hard drives. In addition, the company also proposed a virtual RPM (vRPM) standard which compares the performance of an SSD with that of an equivalent hard disk. With big-leaguers Intel, Samsung and Seagate in the SSD race as well, it'll be an interesting 2009 ahead for SSDs.

To read more about this story:
- check out this article from the Computerworld.com

Intel ships new solid-state drives

Paul Mah — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:02:15 -0400

Intel started shipping its new X25E Extreme SATA SSD on Wednesday. Available in a 2.5-inch form factor, the drive is built with Intel's 50-nanometer single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory technology. The SSD delivers a performance of 3,300 write IOPS, which Intel claims is 100 times better than that of a hard disk drive. In terms of power consumption, the X25E Extreme consumes just 2.4 watts when active, or about 14,000 IOPS per watt of power. Samples of larger 64GB SSDs are scheduled to be sent to computer makers this quarter, and are due for production in the first quarter of 2009. High prices are still a major disadvantage of SSDs, limiting their use in situations where speed and low power consumption are more important than cost.

To read more about Intel's SSDs:
- check out this article in InformationWeek

Related Article:
Intel ships first solid-state drives

Intel ships first solid-state drives

Paul Mah — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:07:03 -0400

Intel has started shipping solid-state drives (SSD) for use in both desktop and laptop computers. Leveraging on multi-level cell flash memory chips for performance, the X-18M and X-25M SSDs are both SATA drives designed to fit into 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch drive bays respectively. They don't come cheap, costing upwards of $595 for just 80GB of storage in quantities of 1,000. These are no laggards though; by using 10x NAND flash channels with native command queuing, the 80GB drive can achieve read speeds of up to 250MB/sec and write speeds of 70-80MB/sec. Intel expects these drives to be available in products in the next few weeks.

For more on this:
- check out this Information Week article

Samsung, Sun joins forces to bring SSDs to servers

Paul Mah — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:02:40 -0400

Samsung and Sun Microsystems announced Tuesday that they have co-developed a new 8-GB single-level-cell (SLC) flash memory for use in solid-state drives (SSD). According to the companies, the new memory gives a five-fold increase in terms of the number of write-and-erase cycles over current products available on the market today. What is so unique here is that the breakthrough is implemented at the level of the flash chips themselves, with no changes necessary in the controller. With the market for SSD projected to reach as many as 2.2 million solid state drives by 2012, it is not hard to see why everyone is eager for a slice of the pie. In fact, Sun has earlier said it expects to offer flash drives as an option across the range of its servers and storage.

For more about the report:
- check out this InformationWeek article

Google adds experimental options to Gmail; Second release candidate of Firefox3 out;

Paul Mah — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:01:55 -0400

> Virtualizing onto a mainframe. Article
> IBM adds in-memory database option to DB2 and Informix. Article
> Sun, EMC adopt different strategies in SSD battle. Article
> Google adds experimental options to Gmail. Article
> Intel fined by South Korea's antitrust regulator for $25.4M. Article
> Second release candidate of Firefox3 out. Article

And Finally... Panasonic launches new range of plasma TVs with web connectivity. Article

Seagate plans 2TB SSD for next year

Paul Mah — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:21:50 -0400

Seagate will be bringing in the company's first SSD (solid state drive) offering by next year. Not surprisingly, it will be targeted squarely at the enterprise where they can afford the premium of using flash memory as a hard disk. In this article in The Inquirer, CEO Bill Watkins reiterates Seagate's long-term commitment of targeting SSD toward top-tier enterprises eager for both its higher performance and low energy consumption. Yet all the talk about SSD in the enterprise avoids the fact that it remains a technology yet to prove itself in a transaction-intensive environment. Still, with Google also looking at SSD for use in its data centers, there definitely are niche applications out there perfectly suited for SSDs.

For more on Seagate's move toward SSD:
- check out this The Inquirer article

Intel introduces 32Gb flash chips

Paul Mah — Fri, 30 May 2008 07:20:02 -0400

Intel is set to produce a 32Gb NAND flash memory that it jointly developed with Micron Technology. Based on a 34-nanometer technology, it is the smallest NAND process geometry on the market and should result in the production of cheaper solid-state drives.

The company's NAND flash profits have been hit hard as a direct result of a recession-related reduction in consumer spending in high-tech devices utilizing flash memory. Intel's CEO Paul Otellini has unveiled a plan to squeeze these higher-density flash chips into enterprise storage arrays to balance up the loss from consumer sales. Shipments of samples are expected to begin in June, with mass production to follow in the second half of 2008.

For more on Intel's 32Gb flash chips:
- check out this Ars Technica article

Samsung flaunts 256 GB SSD

Paul Mah — Tue, 27 May 2008 03:41:38 -0400

Samsung plans to launch a 256 GB solid state disk before the end of this year. A prototype sporting the same 2.5-inch form factor as the hard disk drives traditionally utilized in notebook computers was unveiled in Taipei at a Samsung event. This effectively allows the SSD to function as drop-in replacement for current generation of laptops. The prototype has a read speed of 200 MB/sec, with a sequential write speed of 160 MB/sec. Samples are expected to be available by September, with mass production to follow. A 1.8-inch version is also expected to be ready by the fourth quarter. No pricing information is available at the moment, though.

For more on Samsung's new 2.5-inch SSD:
- check out this IDG News article

Google looking to shift some servers over to SSD

Paul Mah — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:43:18 -0400

Plans are afoot over at Google to shift some of its servers over to SSD-based storage. The motivation has to do with lower electrical consumption compared with that of traditional Winchester (or spinning) hard drives, say sources at memory makers. The SSDs will first see action at servers in Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters. Intel will be supplying the flash chips, while the server controller chipsets will come from Marvell.

With the sheer number of servers that Google operates, DIGITIMES predicts that a shortage of both 16Gb and 32Gb NAND flash chips could result. According to them, shipments are due to arrive late second quarter.

For more on Google and SSD:
- check out the DIGITIMES article