Apacer Technology, a global innovator in memory module, takes advantage of its technical superiority again to step up the SSD read and write speed as well as its durability. The memory giant debuts today the Turbo II AS602 SSD series, which features top-of-the-line and high-speed SandForce SF-1222 controller that helps optimize sequential read/write performance to a blazing fast of 285/275MB and delivers more IOPS (30,000 input/ 13,000 output per second). Apacer also improves SSD's capability to transfer data involving small files and increases overall transfer rate. Plus, the built-in Duraclass technology delivers best-in-class reliability tantamount to enterprise-level SLC drives and edges over previous generations

"With its technical superiority in consumer and enterprise SSD as well as the use of SandForce SF-1222 controller, Apacer has managed to create the nearly impeccable AS602 SSD," said Apacer. "Compared with its SSD counterparts, Apacer's AS602 SSD has not only the fastest sequential transfer speed but fastest random read and write speed as well. It features incredible reliability and makes up all the SSD shortcomings so as to address the speed needs for users," Apacer added.

Intel on January 31, 2011 announced the detection of a design error in the new Sandy Bridge-based Intel 6 Series support chip, also known as Cougar Point. The shipment of existing Sandy Bridge products has been suspended by Intel, and the production of an updated support chip has commenced. The design error affects only the support chip, and not 2nd generation Intel Core processors such as the i5 and i7.

Acting on our philosophy and promise of inspiring innovation and persistent perfection, we've created a comprehensive response to this development to safeguard the best interest of ASUS customers around the world. We will provide total warranty services to maximize computing and usability, as each ASUS product is delivered with an uncompromising quality pledge. This includes the hassle-free return and/or replacement of all affected ASUS products. We're doing all this effective immediately - and as a first step, shipments of current ASUS Sandy Bridge-based products have been halted. The suspension covers all distribution and retail channels - ASUS only sells quality-assured products, at all times and across all product segments.

HighPoint Technologies, Inc. launches its Smart Hybrid HBA's product line. These ground-breaking PCI-E 2.0, SATA 6Gb/s HBA's combine solid state disks (SSD) with hard disk drives (HDD), into single, high-speed storage solutions, optimized for performance hungry workstations and applications. Smart Hybrid HBA's allow users to take advantage of the gigabyte-unit cost savings of a HDD's combined with the performance of SSD, without sacrificing capacity.

HighPoint's RocketHybrid HBA's are powered by Marvell's cutting-edge SATA 6Gb/s 88SE9130 IC and revolutionary HyperDuo technology. This technology was designed to aid SSD's acceptance into the mass-market by addressing the cost and capacity issues associated current SSD storage. Current hybrid approaches of combining SSD's and HDD's for use as boot drives, do not provide the consistent, high-speed file access required by high-performance applications, such as gaming or media editing.

As part of ongoing quality assurance, Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix. In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. The chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel's latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue.

StarTech.com, a leading manufacturer of hard-to-find connectivity parts has announced the availability of two new 4-Drive External Hard Drive Docking Stations, both offering USB and eSATA host connections, with support for 2.5" and/or 3.5" Serial ATA hard drives or Solid State Drives (SSDs).

Adding to StarTech.com's extensive line of Hard Drive Docking Stations, the SATDOCK4U3E SuperSpeed single connection dock and SATDOCK4U2E high speed single/multi-PC drive docking stations are the first in the market to support four SATA hard drives or solid state drives simultaneously, offering users a practical way to maximize their external storage capacity.

Active Media Products, a leading manufacturer of DOMs, small form factor SSDs and USB drives, today announced the world's first 64GB SATA DOM (Disk on Module) drives, which are ideal for servers and embedded computing applications where high reliability is paramount. These DOMs are built with MLC flash to provide outstanding resistance to extreme dust, temperature, shock and vibration. These 64GB DOMs are also less than half the size and a fraction the weight of a 2.5" SATA HDD or SSD, measuring only 2.2 x 1.3 inches (55 x 33 mm).

"These 64GB DOMs demonstate AMP's commitment to developing cutting edge storage solutions," said Active Media Products VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson. "Active Media Products has by far the widest selection of DOM types and the highest capacity DOMs available, and these 64GB offerings extend our leadership even further."

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, announces the latest Z-Drive R3 PCI-Express SSD solution for enterprise and OEM clients. Showcased for the first time at CES 2011, the Z-Drive R3 updates the existing lineup with greater performance, reliability, and design flexibility with a new compact footprint for server applications, and is the first SSD to officially deploy OCZ's proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture (VCA) technology.

Creating a 'virtual super controller,' OCZ's VCA (Virtualized Controller Architecture) pools the resources of two or more NAND flash controller interfaces, MCPs, storage processors, and a physical interface complete with customizable features and interface options that eliminates the need to re-spin expensive silicon. VCA is able to address NAND flash in an innovative way through the use of a massively parallel array, eliminating bottlenecks by increasing both read and write speeds up to the theoretical interface limit while keeping access latencies to a minimum. With VCA, IT Architects can now take advantage of enterprise-rich features that are not available when utilizing traditional raid cards with an array of SSDs in their servers. With the Z-Drive R3, which makes use of VCA technology, clients can now overcome this obstacle and deploy a single solid state drive that not only delivers exceptional bandwidth but also beneficial enterprise features including TRIM, SMART monitoring, native command queuing (NCQ), tagged command queuing (TCQ), power fail management, and wear-leveling.

Gigabyte made an addition to its peripherals lineup, with the Pure Rock series of portable hard drives. Pure Rock carries the model number GZ-PMPRxxxU-BR/ WR (where xxx is capacity in GB, and BR/WR refer to black/white), and features a durable anti-vibration mechanism. It also sports a compact (128 x 82 x 15 mm, weighing 172 g), and subjectively elegant design. Internally, it uses 2.5" SATA hard drives, but connects to the system over USB 2.0. It also draws power from the same USB connection. It is available in capacities of 320 GB, 500 GB, 640 GB, and 750 GB. The internal drives have spindle-speeds of 5400 rpm, with 8 MB caches. A carry-pouch is bundled, the drive is covered by a 3-year warranty. Gigabyte did not give out pricing.

Committed to the growing market for cost-effective, capacity-optimized drives, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today introduced its new enterprise-class, 3.5-inch, 3TB Ultrastar 7K3000 drive family - the world's first and only 7,200 RPM drive family rated at 2.0 million hours MTBF and backed by a five-year limited warranty. The new Ultrastar 7K3000 drive family represents the fifth-generation of Hitachi's five-platter mechanical design, which has been stringently designed, tested and field proven for quality and reliability by global server and storage OEMs, as well as the most well known Internet giants worldwide.

With millions of five-platter Ultrastar drives shipped over the last three years, Hitachi's field reliability data shows an unprecedented AFR below 0.40 percent, exceeding customer and industry AFR quality specifications for a 7,200 RPM drive. By increasing the MTBF specification to 2.0 million hours, with an AFR 40 percent lower than drives rated 1.2 million hours MTBF, Hitachi enables data center managers to expect reduced failures, improved up-time and lowered TCO when using a large population of Ultrastar 7K3000 hard drives over a period of time.

Synology Inc. today launched the DiskStation DS411slim, a palm-sized 4-bay NAS server, which boasts a read speed of over 100MB/sec and is tailored for home and small office users who look for a green and quiet file sharing and backup solution, along with multimedia enrichment.

With a small and lightweight construction, the DS411slim measures 120x105x142 mm, nearly a quarter of the size of a conventional 3.5-inch 4-bay NAS server, and weighs 0.66 kg only. However, its compact design does not sacrifice its high performance, which reaches 106.9 MB/sec reading and 48.6 MB/sec writing speeds under RAID 5 configuration in a Windows environment.

Extending its innovation in the 1.8" hard disk drive (HDD) category, Toshiba Storage Device Division announces the industry's first 1.8" drives with low-insertion force (LIF) SATA (Serial ATA) connectors, enabling a 10% smaller footprint compared to standard 1.8" drives using microSATA connectors. Developed for use in multiple devices, including tablets, consumer electronics devices and external HDDs, the new MKxx39GSL series offers three models, at 160GB (MK1639GSL), 200GB (MK2039GSL) and 220GB (MK2239GSL) capacities. The MK2239GSL features the largest capacity 1.8" single-platter HDD (5mmH) available. The MK2239GSL, MK2039GSL, and the MK1639GSL are designed for the most demanding mobile computing applications, surpassing 2.5" HDDs in terms of vibration robustness, low power consumption, and quiet operation. Samples will be available for customer qualification in February.

PSU OEM Super Flower became the first to market an 80 Plus Platinum certified modular power supply unit (PSU), the SF-550P14PE. An 80 Plus Platinum certified PSU delivers power with 92% of typical efficiency. Further, its fan controller is programmed to run the fan only if the internal temperatures cross 65~70°C. If temperatures are below that, the fan stays off. The company displayed a 550W model, a 650W model (SF-650P14PE) is also in the works.

The PSU makes use of a single 12V rail design, with a single 45.5A rail. The PSU is ATX v2.3 & EPS12V v2.92 compliant, and features modular cabling. The 24-pin ATX, 4+4 pin EPS, and two PCI-E (6 pin and 8 pin) are fixed, two additional PCI-E power connectors (6 pin and 8 pin) can be connected, apart from a number of SATA, Molex, and Floppy connectors. Key connectors such as PCI-E have REMI-cores to reduce EMI. The company has just started marketing these in Eastern markets, it remains to be seen when and if these will make it to Europe and US.

Flash memory and DRAM major Kingston Technology is reportedly seeking a stake in JMicron, a company that specializes in serial ATA connectivity products such as SATA host controllers and SSD NAND flash controllers. JMicron has been supplying Kingston with controller chips for its entry-level SSDs. JMicron will host a special investors meeting tomorrow to pass the company's proposal to raise new funds through a private placement.

In a segment seeing domination with companies such as Marvell and SandForce, JMicron has seen success in 2010 with its entry-level SSD controllers. Industry sources estimated that JMicron's SSD controller shipments for 2010 totaled more than one million units. Kingston accounted for over 30% to the output, the sources said. Kingston's partnership indicates that we will get to see more of Kingston's products feature JMicron controllers.

Eurocom announces an addition to its already extensive line of fully configurable, performance based Mobile Notebooks with the EUROCOM Racer. This new model will feature next generation technology from ATI, Intel and NVIDIA and will support Intel's new seventh generation chipset platform, the Huron River HM 65. The EUROCOM Racer is expected to ship February 1, 2011.

The EUROCOM Racer will support up to a 100W GPU which will allow it to run up to an NVIDIA Geforce GTX 485M, AMD Radeon Mobility HD6970M or NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M graphics solution. A major innovation in the EUROCOM Racer model is support for four memory modules which can be configured with up to 32GB of RAM. The EUROCOM Racer supports both DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1600 memory.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) is delighted to introduce the latest Intel based mini-ITX motherboard - ECS H67H2-I motherboard, designing to support the 2nd generation Intel Core processors and redefining home theater PC of the new era.

ECS has been very experienced and professional at Research & Development of small form factors motherboards, and we have envisioned that there will be a growing trend for HTPC. At both CeBIT & Computex exhibitions in 2010, ECS H55H-I was the first HTPC platform of mini-ITX form factor; it definitely caught visitors' attention among all similar categories. ECS H55H-I motherboard has successfully fulfilled product differentiation from the origins and ECS H67H2-I motherboard definitely will break the record in 2011. ECS H67H2-I motherboard continues carrying the advantages of space-saving, power-efficiency and surely brings much more vivid 3D visual experience as it supports amazing GPU O.C capability along with features of blu-ray HD playback and 3D gaming experience.

Zalman announced its first external HDD enclosure. Unlike any other External HDD enclosures, we have spiced it up with world's first virtual drive function on ZM-VE200. Now, end users do not need to carry around uncomfortable CD/DVDs. All they need to do is simply extract ISO image from the CD/DVDs and store them in the ZM-VE200. ZM-VE200 comes with the LCD that displays the list of the ISO files that have been loaded. Then they can install various OS / software by user's choice with faster USB connection. Also with its stylish slim design will definitely attract customers to take anywhere they go.

Transcend Information, Inc., a global leader in storage and multimedia products, today announced the launch of its upgraded 2.5" solid state drives (SSDs). Built on a faster and newer controller, the revamped SSDs provide random read speeds of up to 40MB/s, resulting in significantly faster system boot up and application launch performance.

The newly released SSDs are available in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. Thanks to their use of the new advanced controller chip and 64MB of built-in DDR2 DRAM cache memory, the new SSDs feature sequential read and write speeds up to 260MB/s and 240MB/s, and random read/write speeds of 40MB/s and 27MB/s. This dramatically improved performance not only reduces average system boot times, but also offers stutter-free response and stability for netbooks, notebooks, high-end gaming PCs and industrial computers. Users can also take advantage of their cool, noiseless operation to enjoy the perks of silent and practical computing.

The new ICY BOX IB-NAS6220 is a network storage for networking people who love music and movies, who want to share this love with friends and family and who are no IT-experts. The new ICY BOX IB-NAS6220 combines what commonly exists in separation: store your own data; enjoy your own data like movies and music wherever the Internet is available; confer rights to use while maintaining the control.

The NAS6220 has space for two 3.5" SATA HDDs with up to 2 TB. All data can be made available to the home network and are thus accessible through the Samba server. Also the printer server can be shared. For the installation you don't need special IT skills. If you can use a computer you are also fine with the NAS6220.

AeroCool introduced the new RS-4 mid-tower ATX case. Targeting gaming PC builds, the RS-4 is designed to accommodate components in a way that's optimal for carrying around, to LAN parties. Measuring 475 (H) x 200 (W) x 475 (D) mm, it sports a red+black color scheme with predominantly red interiors. A door protects the front drive bays, and doubles up as a front air-intake grille. The front-panel is located on the top, next to a handle.

Front utility panel includes 2 x USB 2.0, eSATA, mic and headphone connectors; a fan controller, a 58-in-1 card reader, and four 5.25" drive bays. Internally, 3.5" bays are split into two cages, one of which is detachable to accommodate very long graphics cards. Ventilation is care of a 140 mm fan in front, one on the top, and two side red-illuminated 120 mm fans. Drive installation is tool-free. The motherboard tray has a hole that gives easy access to CPU coolers with backplates. A pair of holes lets you pass water tubing through. AeroCool's RS-4 is priced at €79.90.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of world class NAS servers, NVR Video Surveillance Systems, and Network-based Media Players today announced expansion of their Turbo NAS lineup with the addition of the TS-419U+ rack-mounted NAS server targeted specifically at the fast-growing SMB and workgroup market segments. The TS-419U+ features 4 hot-swappable SATA hard drives with up to 8TB of total capacity (using 2TB drives) packaged in a compact 1U rack-mounted chassis. The TS-419U+ supports 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch hard drives in hot-swappable drive carriers, giving users more flexibility on selecting hard drives for installation. The TS-419U+ features a Marvell 1.6GHz CPU and 512MB of DDRIII memory, providing sustained high performance with low power consumption.

Super Talent displayed its first consumer SSDs based on SandForce SF-2000 series controllers. To be branded under the TeraDrive FT3 and TeraDrive CT3 series, SuperTalent's new SSDs will be available in a wide range of capacities starting from 50 GB, all the way up to 480 GB. Built in the 2.5-inch form-factor, the drives use SATA 6 Gb/s interface to support read/write speeds of over 500 MB/s, and "impressively fast random read/write speeds".

PowerColor is ready with its mini-ITX motherboard based on the AMD "Brazos" platform. The unnamed motherboard that is yet to get its heatsink(s) on, uses an AMD Fusion "Zacate" E-350 APU that embeds a dual-core x86-64 processor clocked at 1.60 GHz, and an AMD Radeon HD 6310 DirectX 11 compliant GPU. The APU is wired to two DDR3 SODIMM slots (notebook memory). Power is drawn in from a standard 24-pin ATX connector. The lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 2.0 x4 with an open-end (to let you fit x16 graphics cards).

Storage connectivity includes four internal SATA 3 Gb/s, other features include 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF output, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 and a number of USB 2.0 ports. Display outputs include DVI and D-Sub. The motherboard is best suited for entry-level home PCs and office PCs.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced a refresh to their Ultra Drive SSD series, the new UltraDrive MT. SuperTalent's new SATA II SSD is equipped with the new Barefoot controller-plus Indilinx Martini firmware, offers a host of attractive new features and performance, without breaking the bank. This new 2.5" SATA drive includes the latest reliability features including: Garbage collection, Trim support, Wear leveling and ECC, designed to keep this SSD running at optimum performance for the life of the drive.

"The UltraDrive MT offers an important balance between price and performance. Now is a great time to upgrade to an SSD"., said Super Talent COO, CH Lee. The Ultra Drive MT posts an impressive 255MB/s Read and 250MB/s Write speed. The new Barefoot controller, and Indilinx Martini firmware, offers a substantial increase random write performance over its predecessor. Performance of these smaller random blocks is important for OS and application performance and thus has a noticeable impact on the drive's overall performance. Available in capacities of up to 240GB, Ultra Drive MT is the optimal performance upgrade option at an attractive price.

At a time when everyone including ASUS is cramming the AMD Fusion E-350 APU into netbooks and mini-ITX motherboards to get rid of Atom; the motherboard major saw "bigger" prospects for the E-350, and designed a micro-ATX motherboard based on it. The E35M1-M Pro from ASUS uses AMD Fusion E-350 APU that embeds a dual-core x86-64 processor based on the "Bobcat" architecture with an AMD Radeon HD 6310 DirectX 11 compliant GPU. The processor is backed by the brand new Hudson M1 single-package chipset. The E35M1-M Pro is intended for everything from office PCs to home PCs, and HTPCs. It draws power from conventional 24-pin ATX and 4-pin CPU power connectors, and uses a 3+1 phase VRM.

The CPU and chipset share a heatsink. The CPU is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, one PCI-E x1, and two PCI slots. Storage expansion includes five internal SATA 6 Gb/s and one eSATA 6 Gb/s. Connectivity includes 6-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF output, 7.1 channel audio over HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports, FireWire, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. ASUS added a bunch of exclusive features that can let you squeeze out the most performance, and manage power consumption.

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash, storage and enthusiast computer products, today debuts the Javelin Media Server - the perfect central hub for all your digital media storage needs. The Patriot Memory Javelin delivers form and function with stylish aesthetics and world-class network connectivity.

Equipped with four drive bays that support standard 3.5-inch drives, the Patriot Memory Javelin is a media server that is customizable to your storage requirements -- up to 12TB of storage capacity is achievable when equipped with four 3TB SATA or SAS drives. The Patriot Javelin supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 10 and a hot-spare drive for enhanced storage efficiency whether performance or redundancy is needed.