HighPoint Technologies, Inc., an industry leading Storage HBA and RAID solutions manufacturer, will unveil a new series of Thunderbolt based Storage Controller Boards at the NAB 2012 tradeshow. This ground-breaking new product series aggregates Intel's revolutionary I/O technology, with HighPoint's extensive SAS, SATA and USB 3.0 design and manufacturing expertise, delivering innovative, highly versatile development platforms for storage solution providers.

Thunderbolt's revolutionary connectivity technology, presents great opportunities for HighPoint and solution providers the world over. For 2012, we are expanding our comprehensive product portfolio to include a new series of Thunderbolt based Storage expansion and controller boards.

For those who thought with the Indilinx buyout and release of Everest and Kilimanjaro series NAND flash controllers, OCZ is on course of becoming a largely self-sufficient SSD industry player, here's a revelation. Its new Everest series silicon, used in recently-launched SSD families (such as Octane and Vertex 4), is essentially a re-badged Marvell controller (found on SSDs such as Crucial M4, Intel SSD 510), with custom firmware developed by OCZ. This discovery by Anandtech was confirmed by OCZ (Indilinx).

The Indilinx Everest (Octane and Petrol series) and Everest 2 (Vertex 4 series), are both re-badged Marvell chips with Indilinx firmware. Although it doesn't change anything, it perfectly explains how OCZ could come up with two "new" SSD controllers (Everest and Everest 2) almost instantly, after the Indilix acquisition. Everest 1 is essentially a higher-clocked Marvell 88SS9174, while Everest 2 could very well be a re-badged Marvell 88SS9187, according to the source.

Lite-On, renowned as an Optical Storage innovator, has today announced its first solid state drive (SSD) for the UK. The E200 SSD is aimed at small/medium business users, with a design which is easily integrated into existing systems for minimal disruption and with a fast, consistent and reliable performance over time - at an affordable cost.

"With the E200 we aim to challenge the concept that SSDs are an unaffordable luxury for SMB; our aim is that smaller companies will be able to experience the increased speed and performance that a fast SSD provides," says Maarten Souren, Marketing Manager at Lite-On.

One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide every child in the world access to new channels of learning, sharing and self-expression, announced today that the Islamic Development Bank has fully funded the initial distribution of 5,000 XO laptops to primary school children in the West African nation of Cameroon. The project will initially span 51 schools in six regions; planning is underway to extend the deployment across the entire country.

The Islamic Development Bank is a multilateral financing institution whose purpose is to foster the economic development and social progress of its 56 member countries - of which Cameroon is one. The Cameroon project represents the first time that the Islamic Development has financed an OLPC deployment.

On the opening day of the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide every child in the world access to new channels of learning, sharing and self-expression, announced that Uruguay will be the first country in the world to receive the newest model XO children's laptop.

Uruguay began working with OLPC in 2007 and by mid-2010 achieved complete laptop saturation, providing XO's to all 570,000 primary school children in the country. The project recently ordered 60,000 XO 1.75's in order to take advantage of the many breakthrough hardware and software features in the new model.

Marvell today announced mass deployment of the Marvell 88SS9187 SATA controller fueled by high performance embedded processor technology. The 88SS9187 features a 6 gigabit-per-second (Gb/s) SATA Revision 3.1 compliant host interface optimized for the fast-growing solid state drive (SSD) sector, offering many game changing benefits to the consumer, mobile and enterprise markets. A significant number of high-profile SSD manufacturers are set to deploy Marvell's newest solution immediately, with additional partners expected to integrate 88SS9187 implementations later this year.

Marvell's newest SSD controller boasts an open, world-class architecture that supports industry-standard, high-speed NAND Flash interface up to 200 MB/s per channel. The 88SS9187 also offers a groundbreaking correction capability thanks to its high performance ECC engine with Adaptive Read and Write Scheme and on-chip RAID functionality to allow use of the latest generation of NAND Flash devices in the fast-growing SSD markets.

Buffalo Inc. has today announced the SSD-NS/PM3P series solid state drives featuring a Marvell controller and Toshiba-made MLC (multi-level cell) NAND Flash memory. These SSDs have a 2.5-inch form factor, a SATA 6.0 Gbps interface, 256 MB (on the 128 GB model) or 512 MB (256 and 512 GB drives) of DRAM cache, TRIM and NCQ support, they deliver transfer speeds of up to 500 MB/s, and are backed by a three-year warranty,

Buffalo's drives come bundled with a 2.5-inch to 3.5-inch adapter and are priced at $300 (128 GB), $588 (256 GB) and $1,112 (512 GB). The 128 GB and 256 GB models will go on sale in Japan in mid-March while the 512 GB SSD will follow soon.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated mobile devices graphics chip shipments and suppliers' market share for 2011.

We found that shipments during the fourth quarter of 2011 of GPUs in mobile devices (tablets and smart phones) had a CAGR for the year (Q1 to Q4) of 18%. Samsung's sales surged in Q3 and Q4 giving them the highest CAGR for the year (39%), Followed by Apple (26%), and Qualcomm (16.5%) which was already enjoying high shipment rates.

In terms of shipments Qualcomm led the pact and ended up with 31% market share for the year, followed by Apple (23%) and TI (17%).

AREA PC also introduced the RAIDJet SD-PESA3-2RL, a cheap 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s RAID card. The card uses a Marvell-made SATA 6 Gb/s RAID controller that gives out two ports, and connects to the host of PCI-Express 2.0 x1. RAID 0 and 1 are the only modes possible. The controller supports standard AHCI/RAID drivers. The card has a half-height PCB, making it compatible with low-profile PCs. It will be available as low as 2,980 JPY (US $38).

In its CeBIT invitation circular, Patriot Memory unveiled names of three new client SSD product lines, which it will launch in Hanover. These include new high-performance client SSD lines, the Wildfire Pro, and Wildfire SE; and a new mainstream client SSD line called Magma. With no other details, we're left to only speculate. Patriot's flagship SandForce SF-2281 driven Wildfire series features among some of the highest performing SATA 6 Gb/s client SSDs. The Wildfire Pro and SE, in all probability, could be higher-performing parts, with higher sequential speeds, and random access performance. With Magma, Patriot could design a client SSD using a controller of another make than SandForce; probably Marvell, or even OCZ-Indilinx.

Marvell introduced its latest line of SATA 6 Gbps controllers, under the 88SE92 Series. The series includes the 2-port 88SE9220, 4-port 88SE9230, and 4-port 88SE9235. All three take advantage of the new PCI-Express 2.0 x2 interface. PCI-Express x2 (2 lanes) has till now only been hypothetically possible, since PCI-SIG has no slot specification for it. With increasing need for system bandwidth while keeping pin-counts and package sizes low by onboard controllers (such as SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0), PCIe 2.0 x2 has emerged as a viable solution based on the proven PCIe 2.0 specification, as PCIe 3.0 is yet to attain maturity in the industry. PCIe 2.0 x2 gives the controller system bandwidth of 1000 MB/s per direction, 2000 MB/s total. This ensures that a connected SATA 6 Gb/s device doesn't face a bottleneck at a given time, something which was impossible on older PCIe 2.0 x1 chips.

This system bandwidth bottleneck alleviation also allowed Marvell to add support for up to 4 SATA 6 Gb/s ports on the 88SE9230 and 88SE9235. All three controllers further support port multipliers. Among the three, the 88SE9230 is the top-of-the-line chip, supporting Marvell RAID software, HyperDuo (Marvell's in-house SSD caching technology), RAID 0, 1, 10 modes, AHCI, and 128/256-bit AES native encryption. The 88SE9235 is a cost-effective variant of the 88SE9230, it lacks RAID, and only features AHCI/IDE modes. It also lacks native encryption. The 88SE9220, the 2-port controller, otherwise supports all the features of the 88SE9230, except of course support for RAID 10 (since it's not possible with just 2 member disks).

Plextor, leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media and storage equipment, announces the release of its latest Solid State Drive, M3 Pro, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas today.

The new M3 Pro Series offers improvements to the current M3S, including a significant boost in sequential and random read/write speeds. Other changes include high-grade 24 nm Toggle Flash, firmware updates, and a new 7 mm height form factor to fit ultra-slim notebooks.

On site at the Storage Visions conference in Las Vegas, the OCZ Technology Group (OCZ for short) has revealed to the world its newest portable storage solution, the Lightfoot solid state drive featuring Thunderbolt support.

Encased in a metal shell (resembling that of the OCZ Enyo), the Lightfoot makes use of a Marvell controller, is capable of transfer speeds of up to 750 MB/s and is set to be available in 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB capacities. Unfortunately OCZ didn't say when Lightfoot will ship or how much it will cost.

Marvell, a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions, today announced new education solutions designed to enable "Classroom 3.0," a connected, secure learning environment that simplifies and speeds the deployment of technology to students around the world. Marvell's collaboration with Stanford University has resulted in the Marvell SMILE Plug, the first plug development kit designed to turn a traditional classroom into a highly interactive learning environment. Designed to engage students in critical reasoning and problem solving, the SMILE Plug creates a "micro cloud" within a classroom that is completely controlled by the teacher. Marvell also announced that it has extended its relationship with the One Laptop per Child Association (OPLC) on a number of new products, including the upcoming OLPC X0 3.0, a low cost, low power tablet designed for education.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, and Marvell, a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions, today unveiled the industry's fastest and most versatile PCI Express (PCIe) storage system, the Z-Drive R5. The increased performance, reliability, and endurance of the Z-Drive R5 is designed to take PCIe-based solid state storage to the next level for enterprise environments.

The Z-Drive R5 features a jointly developed "Kilimanjaro" OCZ and Marvell native PCIe to NAND flash controller platform, allowing for completely scalable performance and redundancy while eliminating the need for a separate storage controller, thus reducing the cost to deploy high performance solid state storage systems in the data center.

Next month at CES 2012 in Las Vegas (January 10-13), Chinese company RunCore Innovation Technology (RunCore for short) is set to show off a trio of NAND-based storage solutions, the Xapear, Falcon and Pro V 7mm solid state drives.

The ultrabook-friendly Pro V 7mm SSDs come with a SATA 6.0 Gbps interface and deliver read/write speeds of up to 540/500 MB/s, while the Falcon Series models are known to have SATA 6.0 Gbps connectivity and a Marvell controller (no word on speeds through).

The Xapear drives are a bit special because they feature both automatic AES128 encryption and RFID (radio-frequency identification) support so as to ensure a high level of data security. Moreover, the Xapear allows users to check drive status or activate a self-erase function via mobile phone. Other specs were not revealed but will surely be available at RunCore's CES booth.

Orico unveiled its latest HM01 series performance SSD, which was pictured in a recent review by Expreview. Built in the standard 2.5-inch form-factor, these drives take advantage of the SATA 6 Gb/s interface. These drives use a Marvell-made controller, and MLC NAND flash memory. The HM01 series will be available in three capacities: 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB. While the 256 GB variant offers read/write speeds of up to 500 MB/s (read) and 440 MB/s (write), the other variants offer speeds of up to 500 MB/s (read) with 330 MB/s (writes). The company did not give out pricing/availability details.

Although Intel has its SSD 510 series to target the high-end client market segment, it's available in very few capacities, and is facing tough competition from "SandForce-Driven" SSDs (SSDs that use SandForce-made controllers). In 2012, Intel will give its SSD lineup a large-scale revamp, which includes the gradual replacement of SSD 510 series with new SSD 520 "Cherryville" series. Targeting the same high-end client segment, SSD 520 will be available in a wider variety of capacities that includes 60 GB, 120 GB, 180 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB.

We are now getting to learn through a fresh report by TheSSDReview, the idea behind SSD 520: that Intel wants to use SandForce SSD processors. The new drives feature transfer rates of up to 550 MB/s reads, 520 MB/s writes, 70,000 IOPS 4K random write throughput, and overprovisioned capacities consistent with most SandForce-driven SATA 6 Gb/s SSDs in the market. SSD 520 should hence provide the best of both worlds: the trust Intel brand brings to the table with a possible secret-sauce firmware; and the high-performance of SandForce controllers. Intel's SSD 510 uses a Marvell-made controller, many of its previous generation SSDs have used its in-house SSD controllers. TheSSDReview reports that the launch of these drives is imminent.

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the Performance Pro Series SSDs.

The Performance Pro Series, designed with the Marvell SATA 6 Gb/s SSD controller, delivers an impressive ATTO Max performance of up to 515MB/s Sequential Read and 440 MB/s Sequential Write, and can sustain very similar performance when reading and writing compressed and non-compressible data, such as audio, images, and video files. Additionally, the Performance Pro Series has built-in advanced background garbage collection to allow for consistently strong performance even with operating systems that do not support the TRIM command. This integral performance optimization makes Performance Pro SSDs an ideal solution for RAID configurations, which typically do not support TRIM.

ASRock's socket LGA2011 motherboard lineup doesn't end with X79 Extreme7 as thought before, the company thinks there's scope for an even more loaded model that's literally bursting with connectivity and expansion features. Enter the X79 Extreme9. This board uses high-grade digital PWM circuitry to power the CPU. It draws power for the CPU VRM from two 8-pin EPS connectors. Unlike the X79 Extreme7, this board features eight DDR3 DIMM slots, two per memory channel. Expansion slots include five PCI-Express 3.0 x16, and a PCIe x1.

Since it completely ran out of room on the main PCB, ASRock put two important connectivity features on a separate (included) addon card, called the ASRock "Game Blaster". This card occupies the PCIe x1 slot, it packs a next-generation Creative SoundCore3D audio processor (more advanced than X-Fi), and a low-overhead/low-latency gigabit Ethernet connection. It's not exactly known if this connection is driven by a Killer 2100 or a more common PCIe GbE PHY backed by ASRock's proprietary packet prioritization software (XLAN).

Here are pictures of the release-grade revision (1.0) of Gigabyte's socket LGA2011 motherboards in its main linuep, the GA-X79-UD3 and GA-X79-UD5. These are the release-grade 1.0 revisions, that are redesigned for X79 chipset with just six SATA ports (doing away with SAS). With the LGA2011 motherboard lineup, Gigabyte is doing away with the "UD7" model, in its segment there is GA-X79-OC. We saw this coming, because UD7 was meant to be an overclocking motherboard identifier. On the company website, for example, the product page of GA-X58A-UD7 (2.0) shows GA-X58A-OC as a "newer model". The GA-X79-UD3 is poised to be the most affordable LGA2011 motherboard from Gigabyte, while the GA-X79-UD5 offers some premium connectivity and memory expansion features.

The GA-X79-UD3 uses a simple 8+1 phase VRM to power the LGA2011 CPU. The memory is powered by a 4-phase VRM. There are just four DDR3 DIMM slots, one per channel. There are four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, among which two are x16 capable, and all four are x8 capable. There are two PCIe x1, and surprisingly, a legacy PCI slot (uncommon for LGA2011 platform). All six SATA ports from the X79 chipset are assigned as internal ports: two SATA 6 Gb/s (white), and four SATA 3 Gb/s (black). Three Marvell-made SATA 6 Gb/s controllers provide four additional internal ports (gray), and two eSATA 6 Gb/s. There are just four USB 3.0 ports, two on the rear panel, and two via internal header. 8+2 channel HD audio, a number of USB 2.0 ports, and one gigabit Ethernet connection make for the rest of the GA-X79-UD3.

Plextor Japan introduced its latest generation of solid state drives (SSDs) in the 2.5-inch SATA form factor. The drives take advantage of the SATA 6 Gb/s interface. The lineup currently consists of two models, the 128 GB PX-128M2P, and the 256 GB PX-256M2P. Both drives make use of Marvell 88SS9174 controller, and Toshiba TH58TV68D2FDA88 Multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash built on the 34 nm process.

The 128 GB model features a 256 MB DDR3 cache, while the 256 GB model is backed by 512 MB DDR3 cache. Sequential speeds vary between the two models. The 256 GB drive can transfer data at 500 MB/s read and 440 MB/s write; while the 128 GB drive transfers at 500 MB/s read and 320 MB/s write. The drives feature SMART, NCQ, TRIM, Bad Block Management, Instant Restore, and Plextor TrueSpeed firmware. The 256 GB drive is priced at 46,800 JPY, an equivalent of US $610, while the 128 GB model is priced at 21,800 JPY, or $284.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced three new Turbo NAS models: the TS-419P II (4-drive), TS-219P II (2-drive), and TS-119P II (single-drive), positioned to provide corporate workgroups, SOHO, and home users with budget-friendly network attached storage (NAS) solutions for efficient data backup and convenient file sharing. The new models can be upgraded to the latest, free to download QNAP NAS firmware (version 3.5), with many new features and enhancements, and are backed by a two-year warranty.

The new models of the TS-x19P II series are equipped with a 2.0GHz Marvell processor, 512 MB DDR3 memory and one or two Gigabit LAN ports. The products can be easily integrated into an existing network of workgroups, provide centralized storage with antivirus protection, cross-platform data sharing for Windows, Mac, Linux, and UNIX users, as well as secure connections for users to access data on the server via FTP, a web-based file manager, or WebDAV. With the MyCloudNAS service, the new models can also be converted into private cloud storage systems for remote access from the Internet.

While using a low-capacity SSD to cache a hard drive has shown in some cases to be the next best thing to owning a large SSD as the proper primary drive, SSD caching is limited by the availability of the right technology. On the one hand, you have Intel offering it with its Smart Response Technology, on the other you have special storage enclosures such as HDDBoost from SilverStone. Smart Response Tech for now is limited to socket LGA1155 platform, and in it, Z68 Express chipset-based motherboards. In Japan, a new add-on card design has surfaced, by a company called Kuroutoshikou, which lets you use an mSATA SSD to cache a SATA hard drive, and its installation is claimed to be fairly straightforward.

The PCI-Express 2.0 x1 add-on card pictured below, makes use of a new Marvell-made 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s controller. One of its two ports is wired to an mSATA, the other to a standard SATA port. The SATA controller in this card features Marvell's HyperDuo technology, which works similar to Intel's Smart Response Technology, and installation is almost plug-and-install-driver. The card uses a half-height PCB, and packs a low-profile expansion bracket cover, if your SFF case demands it. Pretty much any make of mSATA SSD and SATA hard drives can be used. This addon card is priced in Japan for 3,980 Yen, which is about US $50.3, a $20 premium over some of the cheapest 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s cards are around that price range. It's possible that peripheral specialists of the likes of Rosewill, Siig, Syba, etc., might market such cards Stateside in the future.

Pictures of ASUS' upcoming upper-mid range LGA1155 motherboard based on the Intel Z68 chipset, the P8Z68-V Pro surfaced on Chinese websites, revealing what comes across as a blend of P8P67's feature-set, and P8H67's display connectivity (which is what Z68 is all about). The new board makes use of a 14-phase Digi+ VRM to power the CPU. Highlights include CPU overclocking features driven by the UEFI BIOS, coupled with Intel Flexible Display Interface, letting you make use of the processor's embedded Intel HD 3000 graphics with Intel QuickSync accelerated video encoding. Further, the board is Lucid Virtu certified, letting you use (and switch between, depending on graphics load) both the integrated and discrete graphics simultaneously, and saving power in the process.

Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8 with both populated), one PCI-Express x16 (electrical x4), two PCI-Express x1, and two PCI. This wholesome expansion area is backed by a wealth of connectivity options, including four SATA 6 Gb/s ports (two from PCH, two from Marvell controller), four SATA 3 Gb/s internal, and one eSATA 3 Gb/s; display connectivity that includes one each of dual-link DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI 1.4a; 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF output; four USB 3.0 (two internal/by header), a number of USB 2.0 ports, FireWire (by header), Bluetooth, and gigabit Ethernet. A number of overclocking features found on P8P67 series motherboards are present.