QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, today introduced the lightning-fast NVMe all-flash TS-h2490FU. With 24 drive bays for U.2 NVMe Gen 3 x4 SSD, the TS-h2490FU provides up to 472K/205K iSCSI 4K random read/write IOPS with ultra-low latency. Equipped with four 25 GbE SFP28 and two 2.5 GbE RJ45 LAN ports, five PCIe Gen 4 slots, and 1100 W redundant power supplies, the TS-h2490FU provides exceptional hardware and connectivity. The ZFS-based QuTS hero operating system also includes powerful applications for data reduction and SSD optimization, ensuring that SSD performance and lifespan is maximized for mission-critical virtualized workloads and data centers with all-flash investments.

Sonnet Technologies today announced the Fusion Dual U.2 SSD PCIe Card, the latest product in the company's line of high-performance storage cards that enable the installation of SSDs into a computer's or Thunderbolt expansion system's PCIe card slot. The Fusion card supports two U.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSDs, which share the same form factor as 2.5-inch SATA drives but deliver up to seven times the performance of the fastest SATA SSDs available.

The Fusion Dual U.2 SSD PCIe Card enables users to install two enterprise-class U.2 SSDs (sold separately) into a full-length PCIe card slot, mounting and connecting the SSDs with no cables, adapters, or mounting trays required. For users who need to add storage to their computer setup and require ultra-high-speed data transfer speeds for a smooth workflow—such as video editors working with 6K and greater resolution footage—U.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSDs are ideal. Mainstream U.2 SSDs are currently available in capacities up to 16 TB and support data transfers at up to 3,500 MB/s. With two SSDs installed on the Sonnet card and configured as a RAID 0 set, sustained data transfers up to 6,250 MB/s are possible.

Introducing the Z490 DARK K|NGP|N Edition, now the premier motherboard in EVGA's Z490 lineup. The Z490 DARK K|NGP|N is a limited-edition motherboard that features validated support for memory speeds at 5000 MHz+ (OC), and a collectable retail box hand-signed by K|NGP|N himself.

The EVGA Z490 DARK K|NGP|N is also packaged with an 18-phase power design, right-angled connectors, and an Intel 2.5 GbE NIC to ensure that the only limitation of your Z490 DARK K|NGP|N is your imagination. The Z490 DARK K|NGP|N is a masterwork of design and engineering, bringing the best performance and stability available on the Z490 chipset.

Running the ZFS-based QuTS hero operating system, the GM-1000 focuses on data integrity and features powerful block-level inline data deduplication and compression. Near-limitless snapshots, real-time SnapSync, and many more business-oriented features are also included to achieve reliable service-level agreement performance and Big Data storage.

"The GM-1000 features a unique dual-NAS architecture that delivers cost-efficient and space-saving advantages, ideal for offloading services between the two NAS nodes or running cross backup," said David Tsao, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "Its ZFS storage and performance makes it perfect for massive file storage, virtualization, and post-production with outstanding reliability and cost-effectiveness."

Kingston Digital Europe Co LLP, the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today began shipping the 7.68 TB model of the Data Center 1000M (DC1000M) NVMe PCIe SSD. The drive provides additional storage and implements strict QoS ensuring predictable IO and low latency for data centers powered by NVMe SSDs. DC1000M joins the recently released DC1000B NVMe boot drive, the VMware Ready DC500 series SATA SSDs and DC450R to form the most complete range of superior enterprise-class data center storage solutions in the market.

DC1000M utilizes a hot-pluggable U.2 (2.5") form factor, allowing seamless integration with latest generation servers and storage arrays currently using PCIe and U.2 backplanes. The lightning-fast drive provides enterprise-grade features such as end-to-end data path protection, power-loss protection (PLP) and telemetry monitoring for increased data reliability.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today began shipping the 7.68 TB model of the Data Center 500R (DC500R) and 450R (DC450R) SATA SSDs. The DC1000M 7.68 TB U.2 NVMe ships in June. The SSDs provide additional storage and implement strict QoS ensuring predictable IO and low latency for data centers using both NVMe and/or SATA.

The three SSDs join the DC1000B NVMe boot drive, DC500M (for mixed workloads) SATA SSD and Server Premier DRAM to form the most complete range of superior enterprise-class data center storage solutions in the market. "Higher capacity options for data centers enables organizations to increase storage space in their current footprint as Cloud computing continues to grow at unprecedented levels," said Tony Hollingsbee, SSD business manager, Kingston EMEA. "Our evolving line of data center storage solutions serve enterprise customers of all levels from hyperscalers on down and are a key component for organizations to keep the total cost of ownership down."

NVIDIA is leveraging the 128-lane PCI-Express gen 4.0 root complex of AMD 2nd generation EPYC "Rome" enterprise processors in building its DGX-A100 super scalar compute systems that leverage the new A100 "Ampere" compute processors. Each DGX-A100 block is endowed with two AMD EPYC 7742 64-core/128-thread processors in a 2P setup totaling 128-cores/256-threads, clocked up to 3.40 GHz boost.

This 2P EPYC "Rome" processor setup is configured to feed PCIe gen 4.0 connectivity to eight NVIDIA A100 GPUs, and 8-port Mellanox ConnectX 200 Gbps InfiniBand NIC. Six NVSwitches provide NVLink connectivity complementing PCI-Express gen 4.0 from the AMD sIODs. The storage and memory subsystem is equally jaw-dropping: 1 TB of hexadeca-channel (16-channel) DDR4 memory, two 1.92 TB NVMe gen 4.0 SSDs, and 15 TB of U.2 NVMe drives (4x 3.84 TB units). The GPU memory of the eight A100 units add up to 320 GB (that's 8x 40 GB, 6144-bit HBM2E). When you power it up, you're greeted with the Ubuntu Linux splash screen. All this can be yours for USD $199,000.

EVGA today announced its flagship socket LGA1200 motherboard, the Z490 DARK, aimed at PC enthusiasts and professional overclockers. The company also announced its Z490 FTW and Z490 FTW WiFi motherboards targeted at high-end gaming PC builds. The Z490 DARK leads the pack with a 90° CCW rotated compute stage, which sees its memory area moved to the northern side of the PCB; and the CPU VRM to its west and south, cooled by elaborate heatsinks. There is only one DIMM slot per memory channel, so you don't bother about memory slot topology affecting your memory overclock.

The LGA1200 package is wired to two reinforced PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x8/x8 with both populated). Storage connectivity includes two M.2 NVMe slots, and one U.2 port (some lane sharing involved). The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, two 8-pin EPS, and a 6-pin PCIe power connectors. The EVGA Z490 FTW (and its WiFi) variant feature a more conventional ATX layout, and targeted at conventional gaming PC builds. A premium 11-phase VRM powers the processor, which is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, and a pair of PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots. Both boards offer dual-BIOS, and elaborate onboard diagnostics.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced its SSD business continues to grow at a strong rate following an astounding 2019. SSD demand through Q1 2020 remained high due to continued growth in the client, enterprise and OEM sectors. Since 2019, Kingston has broadened its SSD portfolio with three new client SSDs, five data center-specific drives - two of which achieved VMware Ready status - and launched its first U.2 NVMe PCIe solution.

Market share data for 2019 from analyst research companies Forward Insights and TRENDFOCUS showed Kingston in a strong leadership position. Forward Insights ranked Kingston in first place in worldwide channel SSD shipments with 18.3 percent market share, ahead of semiconductor manufacturers Western Digital and Samsung (16.5 percent and 15.1 percent, respectively). According to Forward Insights, almost 120 million SSDs were shipped in the channel in 2019.

Beijing Memblaze Technology Co., Ltd. today announced the launch of PBlaze5 920 Series enterprise-class NVMe SSD, which can greatly enhance user experience. PBlaze5 920 Series NVMe SSD adopts 96-layer 3D eTLC NAND with a capacity up to 7.68 TB, and comes in form factors of 2.5-inch U.2 and HHHL add-in card. PBlaze5 920 Series consists of 4 groups of SKU -PBlaze5 D920, PBlaze5 C920, PBlaze5 D926 and PBlaze5 C926.

Memblaze PBlaze5 920 Series NVMe SSD offers up to 5.9 GB/s read bandwidth and 970,000 read IOPS, with read and write latency lowering to 90 μs and 12 μs respectively. With superior performance, perfect data protection, good compatibility, and user experience, as well as abundant enterprise-class features, PBlaze5 920 Series NVMe SSD enables customers to build high-speed, high-reliability, and flexible storage solutions for their mission-critical applications.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced the availability of DC1000M, a new U.2 data center NVMe PCIe SSD. DC1000M is designed to support a wide range of data-intensive enterprise workloads, including Cloud computing, web hosting, high-performance computing (HPC), virtual infrastructures, artificial intelligence and deep learning applications. DC1000M joins the recently released DC1000B NVMe boot drive, the VMware Ready DC500 series SATA SSDs and DC450R to form the most complete range of superior enterprise-class data center storage solutions in the market.

"Mission critical services and Cloud-based applications depend not only on lightning-fast IOPS and bandwidth, but also on the consistency and predictability of the data being serviced," said Keith Schimmenti, enterprise SSD business manager, Kingston. "DC1000M provides the stability and low latency for the evolving data center, while powering the workloads that require one drive write per day (1 DWPD) endurance."

Greenliant is now sampling its NVMe U.2 EnduroSLC Industrial Enterprise EX Series solid state drives (SSDs) to customers that require ultra high endurance primary storage with sustainable low latency and high performance in extreme environments. Designed with Greenliant's EnduroSLC Technology, NVMe U.2 Industrial Enterprise EX Series SSDs provide ultra robust data retention and ultra high system-level lifetime endurance of 30 drive writes per day (DWPD) for 5 years.

"For the highest levels of data integrity, Greenliant's NVMe U.2 Industrial Enterprise SSDs implement on-chip adaptive RAID," said Xuanhui Li, Vice President of Business Development, Datacenter Products, Greenliant. "With Greenliant's NVMe U.2 Industrial Enterprise SSDs, customers can achieve the efficiency and scalability required to meet the demands of write intensive applications in harsh environments."

ASUS today rolled out the Pro WS X299 SAGE II, a redesign and refresh of its WS X299 SAGE series quasi-workstation motherboards, designed for those who want to use Intel's 10th generation Core XE "Cascade Lake-X" HEDT processors in a workstation-like environment (CEB form-factor) and can make do without ECC memory. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and two 8-pin EPS power connectors, along with an optional 6-pin PCIe power input to stabilize add-on card power delivery. An 8-phase VRM conditions power for the socket LGA2066 processor. The board employs PLX PEX8747 bridge chips to convert two x16 PCIe gen 3.0 links from the LGA2066 processor to four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots with full bandwidth, or seven slots with x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8 wiring.

Storage options on the ASUS Pro WS X299 SAGE II include three U.2 ports, two M.2 slots (one right below the PCH heatsink, and the other vertical); and eight SATA 6 Gbps ports. Network connectivity includes two 2.5 GbE interfaces driven by a pair of Intel i225-LM controllers. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports driven by an ASMedia controller (from which one is type-C), a second such controller driving an internal port, and eight USB 3.2 gen 1 ports from the X299 PCH. A high-grade onboard audio solution featuring Realtek S1220A HDA codec, headphones amp, ground-layer isolation, and audio-grade capacitors, make for the rest of this board. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has brought the latest software innovations to the company's most cutting-edge PCIe Gen4 solid state drive (SSD) series, opening up a new paradigm in SSD performance.

"We are combining breakthrough speeds and capacities with revolutionary software solutions as we accelerate expansion in the premium SSD market," said Kye Hyun Kyung, executive vice president of Memory Solution Product & Development at Samsung Electronics. "We plan to introduce additional innovation led by our most advanced (sixth-generation) V-NAND in helping to trigger a lot more growth in the global IT market."

At the 2019 Flash Memory Summit, Realtek announced a slew of new Flash memory controllers targeting a diversity of devices, spanning from USB flash drives to USB external SSDs, M.2/U.2 NVMe internal SSDs. Leading the pack is the RTS5771, the company's new flagship NVMe SSD controller that features a PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface, 8 NAND Flash channels with up to 1,200 MT/s speeds per channel, NVMe 1.3, and DRAM cache. This becomes the third PCIe gen 4.0-capable client-segment NVMe SSD controller after the Phison E16 and the Marvell 88SS132x.

The RTS5765DL is its cost-effective sibling, which has PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface, just 4 NAND Flash channels, and is DRAM-less, allowing manufacturers to design cost-effective SSDs. It still has 1,200 MT/s bandwidth per channel, so drives that implement it can offer sequential speeds similar to premium drives from the previous generation. The new RTL9210 is a bridge chip that converts USB 3.1 gen 2 (10 Gbps) to PCI-Express 3.0 x2, ideal for cost-effective external NVMe SSDs. The controller also features an integrated RGB LED logic, so drive designers can bling up their creations.

SMART Modular Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of SMART Global Holdings, Inc., and a leader in specialty memory, storage and hybrid solutions including memory modules, Flash memory cards and other solid state storage products, today announced the introduction of three new families of SSD products on display this week at the 2019 Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, CA.

The three new Enterprise Grade SSD product families - the S1800, the Q400 and the R800 - offer the quality, performance and reliability expected in business critical applications in storage, networking, data communication and industrial embedded market segments. These SSD products are designed for performance consistency in continuous workload conditions.

Western Digital today announced two new 96-layer 3D flash NVMe SSD families, the Ultrastar DC SN640 and Ultrastar DC SN340. Both are purpose-built for either mixed-use-case workloads or very read-intensive applications, respectively. The new Ultrastar drives help meet the evolving, and increasingly specific workload demands placed on data centers today, while building a strong, flexible foundation for the zettabyte-scale era of the future. Leveraging Western Digital's in-house SSD controller designs, firmware development and vertical integration, these new solutions underscore the company's strengths in developing innovations that allow customers' data to thrive, from edge to core to cloud.

NVMe is having a great impact on enterprises and what they can do with data, particularly for real-time analytics, M2M and IoT, and emerging technologies like composable infrastructure. Data center customers understand the nature of their data streams and application workloads and are realizing that today's general-purpose architectures are inefficient and can carry resource and cost overhead.

SK hynix Inc. announced today that it launched a new low-power Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) Enterprise SSD (eSSD) with the 72-layer TLC 3D NAND flash that offers best-in-class performance for power as well as Quality of Service. The product features an in-house NVMe controller on top of the 72-layer 3D NAND technology currently in mass production. With the launch, SK hynix has established itself as a memory producer that designs, develops, and mass-produces all key components, from NAND and DRAM to controllers, in-house, for not only Client but also Enterprise applications.

Meanwhile, power consumption of datacenters is an increasingly important concern in terms of energy and environmental preservation, as their footprint grows amid rising enterprise demand for cloud, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML). As datacenters are expected to account for one-fifth of the world's energy consumption in 2025, low-power components that enable datacenter energy efficiency are expected to only grow in importance.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today introduced the QDA Series, a range of drive adapters that provide users with the ability to install various drives into their PC/workstation (Windows , Linux ) or QNAP NAS to meet various storage needs. When used with a QNAP NAS, drives installed using QDA Series drive adapters can be easily monitored using the QTS Storage Manager app.

The QDA-A2AR drive adapter accommodates two 2.5-inch SATA drives within a 3.5-inch SATA drive bay with up to 6 Gb/s file transfer speeds. No software driver is required, and it can be installed in a PC/workstation (Windows, Linux) or QNAP NAS. Supports hardware RAID, and provides a disk mode switch tool for selecting RAID modes (Individual, JBOD, RAID 0, or RAID 1). Windows users can use the QNAP External RAID Manager utility to view the RAID and disk information.

Micron Technology, Inc., today unveiled its new series of flagship solid-state drives (SSDs) featuring the NVM Express (NVMe) protocol, bringing industry-leading storage performance at higher capacities to cloud and enterprise computing markets. The Micron 9300 series of NVMe SSDs enables companies with data-intensive applications to access and process data faster, helping reduce response time.

"The introduction of our third generation of NVMe SSDs endorses our tradition of continued innovation for cloud and enterprise markets," said Derek Dicker, corporate vice president and general manager for Micron's Storage Business Unit. "The Micron 9300 is our flagship series of NVMe SSDs, which feature industry-leading sequential write performance and latency, increased capacities, and delivery of a 28% reduction in power over the previous generation."

Advantech, a global leading provider of the industrial flash storage solution SQFlash, today releases a flagship NVMe SSD product-SQFlash 920 series. This new series product line brings high performance, density, and full function storage security support, which allows complete design-in service for industrial applications. Advantech's SQFlash 920 series NVMe SSD includes the very popular M.2 2280 form factor (SQF-CM8) as well as a 2.5" U.2 form factor (SQF-C25) using the latest Toshiba BiCS3 3D NAND Flash technology to achieve up to 8TB per drive capacity.

Heading towards AIoT applications such as auto-piloting and industrial machine vision, the SQFlash 920 series is an industry first wide-temperature 3D NAND SSD that comes with built-in smart thermal management and comprehensive security features. Using the latest controller technology that includes LDPC and a RAID-ECC error correction engine, SQFlash 920 series provides best-in-class reliability and the same endurance level as planer MLC NAND Flash. What's more, a cloud ready online predictive maintenance feature (PMQ) is also available to help users remotely monitor their SSD.

Western Digital Corporation, a data infrastructure leader, today announced it is extending the breadth and depth of its data center portfolio into the rapidly evolving in-memory computing market segment. The new Ultrastar DC ME200 Memory Extension Drive is the company's first product that enables customers to better optimize in-memory system capacity/performance for running demanding applications that drive today's real-time analytics and business insights.

"Today's requirement for faster analytics, data processing, cloud services and high-performance computing (HPC) is increasing demand for in-memory computing across a variety of industries, including healthcare, telecommunications and IT, and retail," said Ashish Nadkarni, group vice president, IDC. "By expanding in-memory capacity, the Ultrastar memory drive helps alleviate the high cost of adding extra DRAM, as well as addresses the physical limitations of available DIMM slots, where scaling is either cost-prohibitive or nearly impossible."

QNAP Systems, Inc. introduces the brand-new TS-2888X AI-Ready NAS, an all-in-one AI solution combining robust storage and a ready-to-use software environment that simplifies AI workflows with high cost-efficiency. Built using next-gen Intel Xeon W processors with up to 18 cores and employing a hybrid storage architecture with eight hard drives and twenty high-performance SSDs (including 4 U.2 SSDs), the TS-2888X also supports installing up to 4 high-end graphics cards and runs QNAP's AI developer package "QuAI". The TS-2888X packs everything required for machine learning AI to help organizations quickly and easily implement AI applications.

"Compared with typical AI workstations, the TS-2888X combines high-performance computing with huge-capacity storage to greatly reduce latency, accelerate data transfer, and to eliminate performance bottlenecks caused by network connectivity," said David Tsao, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "integrating AI-focused hardware and software reduces the time and complexity for implementing and managing AI tasks, making the TS-2888X the ideal AI solution for most organizations."

MSI drew more than a few eyeballs at Computex 2018 when it showcased the X399 MEG Creation motherboard for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors. With the advent of "new" Skylake-X Refresh processors by Intel, the company has a new high-end motherboard with the X299 MEG Creation. MSI appears to have toned down on the design from its X399-based product, although you still see the metal waveform design along the chipset heatsink that's contiguous with M.2 SSD heatsinks, the VRM heatsink, and the rear I/O shroud. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, and two 8-pin EPS power connectors, conditioning it for the LGA2066 processor with a 14-phase VRM.

Expansion slots on the MSI X299 MEG Creation include four PCI-Express 3.0 x16, from which three are wired to the CPU, and the fourth one to the PCH. Between them are three M.2-2280 slots with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 wiring, each. You can add up to four more M.2-2280 SSDs with the included M.2-Xpander Aero accessory, which is a 4-slot M.2 riser with air-cooling, which made its debut with the X399 MEG Creation. Another star attraction with this board is Realtek 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, alongside an Intel i219-V powered 1 GbE interface, and an 802.11 ac + BT 5.0 WLAN. Another interesting accessory is the ThunderboltM3, a Thunderbolt 3.0 card with two type-C ports, and two DisplayPort connectors, for daisy chaining your displays. Storage connectivity, besides the seven M.2 slots, includes eight SATA 6 Gbps ports, and a U.2 port. This board could be priced around the $500-mark.

Intel today introduced 1.5 TB variants of the Optane 905p SSD that implements 3D XPoint memory. The drive comes in half-height PCI-Express 3.0 x4 add-on card, and 15 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor with U.2 interface. Both variants offer sequential transfer rates of up to 2,600 MB/s reads, with up to 2,200 MB/s writes. Random access speeds are rated at up to 575,000 IOPS reads, with up to 550,000 IOPS writes. A function of its sheer capacity and 3D XPoint, endurance for these drives is rated at 27.37 PB (bytes written). The drives retain the feature set of their less capacious siblings, including 256-bit AES native encryption. The company didn't release pricing.