Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is shipping the SSDNow KC100, the company's first SATA Rev. 3.0 (6Gb/s) business-equipped SSD. KC100 utilizes the latest award-winning SandForce controller. This powerhouse SSD delivers exceptional performance and instantly boosts the productivity of any client system.

KC100 is backed by a five-year warranty to match the industry average for product refresh cycles in the enterprise. Utilizing SandForce's DuraClass technology, KC100 delivers world-class data integrity protection. Corporations can rest assured their data is safe as the drive offers advanced wear leveling and garbage collection to maintain optimal endurance and performance. Data integrity protection runs transparently in the background so it never disrupts daily business.

Intel is in no mood to settle down its high-end client solid-state drive (SSD) lineup, the company is preparing a new line of SSDs in the 2.5-inch SATA 6 Gb/s form-factor that succeeds the SSD 510 Series. Called the SSD 520 Series, the new line consists of various size options that didn't exist with SSD 510 Series, improvements in performance and price per gigabyte, and a few new features. While the SSD 510 is available only in two sizes (capacities): 120 GB and 250 GB, SSD 520 Series comes in a lot more: 60 GB, 120 GB, 160 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB. It's as if Intel is taking SandForce SF-22xx SSDs head-on at each price-point.

Sequential and random access performance figures are known to vary between different models (capacities) with Intel SSDs, but there's one set of them that we have in hand, perhaps it's of the fastest model: up to 530 MB/s read, 490 MB/s write sequential performance; and 40,000 IOPS reads and 45,000 IOPS writes random performance. SSD 520 Series drives make use of 25 nm MLC NAND flash memory, and a complete feature-set for today's client SSDs: TRIM, SMART, NCQ, and ACS-2 compliance. The drives are rated with 1.2 million hours MTBF, can operate between 0 and 70°C, and withstand up to 2.7 G (RMS) vibration. Production of Intel SSD 520 Series SATA 6 Gb/s drives are expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Apacer Technology Inc., the global leader in memory module, demonstrates its outstanding customizability by rolling out the next-generation industrial modular PATA SSD for embedded/Thin Client devices: ADM 4 (ATA Disk Module). ADM4 boasts the slimmest profile among Apacer's PATA SSDs. It adopts a 44-pin connector and can be used either in parallel (at 180°) or perpendicularly (at 90° or 270°) for various mechanisms. The just-launched next-generation modular SSD breaks through the speed barriers by reaching the read/write speed of as fast as 80/50 MB/sec, which is several times higher than its predecessors. Widely recognized by Thin Client device users for its extreme reliability, the ADM series has made Apacer one of the main SSD suppliers for Thin Client systems around the world.

OCZ is an established SSD vendor with SSDs of all shapes and sizes, from SATA to PCIe, and even USB 3.0. It's natural that the company would pick up on mSATA, a form-factor that finds relevence in ultra-portable notebooks, and recently, motherboards with SSD caching technologies such as Intel Smart Response. OCZ has two mSATA SSD lines, Strata and Nocti. Strata is driven by OCZ's own Indilinx controller, while Nocti is SandForce-driven.Specifications are tabled below:

In the weeks to come, Intel will unveil a new family of solid state drives, the SSD 710 series, codenamed "Lyndonville". These come in the 2.5-inch form-factor, and use the 3 Gb/s SATA interface. Intel is pitching SSD 710 series to the enterprise computing segment, as a potential successor of even the X25-E series. Its design principles include giving the enterprise segment an SSD with lower price per gigabyte and endurance comparable to X25-E. Intel is able to achieve lower price per gigabyte because it is using High Endurance Technology Multi-Level Cell (HET-MLC) NAND flash memory chips built on the 25 nanometer fabrication proces, and not 50 nm SLC NAND flash.

Intel's SSD 710 series are available in three capacities - 100 GB, 200 GB, and 300 GB. The endurance rating, 4 KB and 8 KB random read/write performance, and even sequential transfer rates vary between the three. Endurance and performance are also affected by overprovisioning. The drives can be set provide its maximum advertised unformatted capacity, or 20% of it can be overprovisioned. The SSD 710 drives provide up to 1,500 TB 4 KB random write endurance, and up to 2,400 IOPS 4 KB random write performance.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world's largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and mini-PCs, today debuts the palm-sized ZBOX nano AD10 series mini-PCs. The new ZOTAC ZBOX nano AD10 series shrinks the standard ZBOX form factor and adds more home theatre PC friendly features for your digital media needs.

Powered by the AMD "Brazos" E-350 APU Platform with Discrete-Class AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics, the ZOTAC ZBOX nano AD10 series packs plenty of performance with hardware video decode acceleration technologies for popular high-definition video formats, including Blu-ray and Adobe Flash, into a miniature 127mm x 127mm x 45mm form factor that fits in the palm of your hand.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the release of the RevoDrive Hybrid PCI Express (PCIe) storage solution. Designed to dramatically accelerate applications and system responsiveness, the RevoDrive Hybrid's superior combination of SSD and hard disk drive (HDD) technology is a revolutionary step forward for high-performance, economical storage.

The RevoDrive Hybrid integrates the benefits of both SSD and HDD technology into a single solution to offer both enhanced responsiveness and ample storage capacity. The drive comes bundled with Dataplex caching software which dynamically manages the use of the 100GB SSD with the 1TB HDD for superior overall storage performance. This combination creates an environment where the most frequently used "hot" data stays on the ultra-fast SSD, while the "cold" data remains on the larger capacity HDD. Advanced caching algorithms learn user behavior and adapt storage policies to ensure optimal performance for each individual user, maximizing productivity for the most demanded programs and applications.In addition, the drive not only eliminates the SATA bottleneck unleashing ground-breaking bandwidth up to 910 MB/s, but also features up to 120,000 IOPS (4K random write) for high transactional workloads delivering true SSD-level performance. Finally, the RevoDrive Hybrid provides unique benefits to users by incorporating features of OCZ's proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture (VCA) 2.0.

"The RevoDrive Hybrid leverages the best attributes of both solid state drives and traditional hard drive technology to deliver dynamic data-tiering on a single easy to deploy PCIe storage drive," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. "Leveraging Dataplex software to efficiently manage frequently accessed data delivers superior performance and capacity, making the RevoDrive Hybrid the ideal solution for high performance computing and media content creation."

The all-new OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 1TB comes backed by a three-year warranty and will be available worldwide for an MSRP of $499.99, delivering the industry's best price per GB for SSD-level performance.

Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the availability of its new SuperSpeed Universal Serial Bus (USB 3.0) SATA3 bridge system-on-chip ([SoC], part number, µPD720230) that enables data transfer between a USB3.0 host system and a Serial ATA (SATA) device in external USB storage equipment. The new SoC is the world's first USB 3.0 Bridge SoC that supports the UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) protocol that significantly speeds up data throughput for large volumes of data.

USB 3.0 achieves data transfer speeds more than 10 times faster than the previous version of the standard, USB 2.0 (currently the mainstream data transfer technology) and therefore easily supports the growing need for increased data-recording media capacities. Renesas has led the industry by releasing the µPD720200 USB 3.0 host controller in May 2009 and began mass production in June that same year. Since then, the company's lineup of USB 3.0 host controllers has been widely adopted by customers worldwide. Total shipments of these products have already exceeded 40 million units since May 2010, and Renesas has ramped up production of its USB 3.0 host controllers to 6 million units per month. During this period, the company also released in December 2009 a UASP driver that achieves high-speed data transfers for storage devices by improving the performance limit of the BOT (Bulk-Only Transfer) standard used by USB 2.0, making it possible for external storage devices to take advantage of the increased speed offered by the new USB 3.0 standard.

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced worldwide retail availability of 180GB and 240GB Force Series GT SSDs. The new high-capacity 180GB and 240GB models join the 60GB and 120GB Force Series GT models already on the market.

Force Series GT is designed for enthusiasts who demand the fastest performance available. It uses the SandForce SF-2280 SSD Processor, with native support for SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3), combined with ONFI synchronous flash memory. Force Series GT SSD upgrades deliver outstanding read/write performance and significantly faster system response, boot times, and application load times than SATA 2 solid-state drives, with out-of-box performance of up to 85K Random Write IOPS, read speeds of up to 555 MB/s, and write speeds of up to 525 MB/s. The use of synchronous flash memory makes the Force GT Series particularly adept at reading and writing non-compressible data, such as video and music files.

Active Media Products, a leading manufacturer of small form factor SSDs and DOMs, today announced a new line of SaberTooth M1 mini SATA (mSATA) SSD drives for notebook upgrades that deliver transfer speeds up to 160 MB/sec, write speeds of up to 80 MB/sec, and are fully compliant with the JEDEC MO-300B mSATA specification.

mSATA is a new JEDEC standard for small form factor SSDs based on the ubiquitous SATA-II, 3Gbps interface. Measuring only 2.0 x 1.2 inches (51 x 30 mm) mSATA SSDs are extremely small and lightweight. This very small and low cost package is perfectly suited for netbooks, notebooks and other ultra mobile computing devices. mSATA drives use an existing mini PCIe connector, but with a modified SATA pinout.

A new firmware update by Crucial for its M4 series SATA 6 Gb/s SSDs was released last weekend, marked 0009. The new firmware, applicable to Crucial M4 SSD models CT064M4SSD2 (64 GB), CT0128M4SSD2 (128 GB), CT0256M4SSD2 (256 GB), and CT0512M4SSD2 (512 GB), packs a large number of changes. To begin with, the update is said to increase sequential read speeds by 20%. Tests run by SSD Review verify this. PCMark Vantage Disk performance is also increased.

The new firmware also works to increase throughput performance, lower write latency, wider compatibility with latest chipsets (AHCI modes), and fixes various kinds of cold-boot failures. The firmware lowers SATA speed negotiation time with host controllers, resulting in faster boot. Depending on the model, the 0009 firmware update for Crucial M4 series SSDs can be downloaded from here.

Digital Storm, the predominant name in computer system integration and engineering, proudly debuts its latest innovation in the quest to design the most superior PC on the planet: the Cryo-TEC Cooling System. Based on the Sub-Zero Liquid Chilled system developed by Digital Storm that chills liquid below 0°C, this redesigned version is smaller, more powerful and utilizes direct contact heat dissipation technology.

The new and improved Cryo-TEC cooling system from Digital Storm is a radical leap forward in cooling technology. The Cryo-TEC system utilizes the same thermo-electric technology as Digital Storm's previous generation Sub-Zero Liquid Chilled system; however, the Cryo-TEC cooler now incorporates new direct contact heat dissipation technology. By placing the processor in direct contact with the thermo-electric cold plate, the Cryo-TEC system is more efficient in lowering processor temperatures below 0°C and increasing overclocking performance. The Cryo-TEC cooling system also includes a control board designed by Digital Storm engineers that automatically optimizes cooling power and efficiency.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, today announced the $129.99 MSRP 60GB capacity model to its award-winning, built in the USA OWC Mercury Electra 6G Solid State Drive line. Offering a lower starting price point to one of the industry's fastest 6G SSD lines, the new SandForce Driven 6Gb/s 60GB capacity OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSD utilizes the highest quality components available, including Tier 1/Grade A NAND, to deliver 556MB/s read and 523MB/s write sustained data rates for over 7X faster performance than a standard factory hard drive found in Mac and PC computers.

Last week, Intel released a firmware update (0362) for its SSD 320 Series products that it claimed would address the "8 MB bug", which results in a data loss with the drive not being able to see more than 8 MB of the installed NAND flash memory. After application of the firmware update, some reported back to Intel Support Community claiming that the new firmware did not effectively address the 8 MB bug, and has in some cases, made the drives even more unreliable. The users note that a SSD self-test cycle by the drive is causing Windows to crash with a bluescreen (BSOD). Intel has not responded to these posts.

Active Media Products, a leading manufacturer of SSDs and DOMs, today began shipping a 64GB mini 1.8-inch PATA ZIF SSD that measures only 2.1 x 1.3" (54 x 32 mm) and is ideal for upgrading many popular laptops including the HP Mini 1000. This new SSD delivers transfer speeds up to 80MB/sec, which is substantially faster than most 1.8" PATA hard disk drives (HDDs), yet it is much smaller and lighter than an HDD.

Active Media Products VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson stated, "We're pleased to finally offer the SaberTooth Z in a 64GB capacity. We've had so many requests from our upgrade customers for this product. This advancement demonstrates AMP's continued commitment to developing ever faster, more capacious solid state storage solutions." The SaberTooth Z accommodates a wide range of ZIF cable thicknesses that includes standard Toshiba and Hitachi cables, and it is 100% compatible with 40-pin ZIF HDDs.

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced worldwide retail availability of Force Series 3 and Force Series GT SSDs in 90GB configurations.

Corsair Force Series 3 high-performance SSD upgrades have native support for SATA 6Gb/s, with a maximum sequential read speed of 550MB/s and a maximum sequential write speed of 500 MB/s. The Force Series 3 uses asynchronous flash memory to provide the industry's best 90GB SSD performance value. Force Series GT, designed for enthusiasts who demand the fastest performance available, uses ONFI synchronous flash memory and boasts read speeds of up to 555 MB/s and write speeds of up to 505 MB/s. The use of synchronous flash memory makes the Force Series GT SSD particularly adept at reading and writing non-compressible data, such as video and music files.

Japanese company Green House launched two lines of SSDs for use in compact devices and embedded applications. These include the GH-SSD*S-H in the "half-slim" SATA form factor (where * stands for number of GB in capacity), and GH-SSD*S-M in mSATA form factor. The half-slim form factor is basically a half length SSD PCB with its case stripped out, which makes it a lot more compact. The two are further available in two variants based on NAND flash type used, SLC and MLC. The SLC variants come in capacities starting from 1 GB to 16 GB, including 2, 4, and 8 GB models along the way; while the MLC variant includes capacities starting from 4 GB to 128 GB, with 8, 16, 32, and 64 GB models along the way.

Transfer rates are different between each specific model. The the SLC variant, it's 29 MB/s (read) / 17 MB/s (write) for the 1 GB, 55 MB/s (read) / 34 MB/s (write) for 2 GB, 100 MB/s (read) / 65 MB/s (write) for 4 GB, and 120 MB/s (read) / 100 MB/s for the 8 and 16 GB models. Moving on to MLC, it's 34 MB/s (read) / 12 MB/s (write) for the 4 GB, 66 MB/s (read) / 24 MB/s (write) for 8 GB, 120 MB/s (read) / 45 MB/s (write) for 16 GB, 135 MB/s (read) / 90 MB/s (write) for 32 GB, 200 MB/s (read) / 170 MB/s (write) for 64 GB, and 200 MB/s (read) / 200 MB/s (write) for the 128 GB model. All drives make use of a Phison-made controller, with 64 MB DRAM cache. The drives are rated to have 1,000,000 hours of MTBF, and pack standard features such as TRIM command support and NCQ. They are backed by 1 year warranty.

Intel today released the much awaited fix for the "8 MB bug" (BAD_CTX 0000013x error) affecting some 320 Series solid state drives, which it announced it was looking into, back in July. The fix comes as a firmware update, version 1.9. The bug is caused by an unexpected power loss, which causes the drive to stop seeing data above 8 MB, resulting in a data loss. Intel fixed this bug with a new firmware update, which can by run by downloading the disk image (.iso file), burning it onto a blank CD, and booting from it. The firmware update can be downloaded from this page.

Active Media Products, a leading manufacturer of SSDs and DOMs, today announced immediate availability of 8GB and 16GB low-profile 9-pin USB 2.0 disk on module (DOM) drives that are designed for servers and embedded computing applications.

"We're continuing to expand our lineup of DOM products, which already includes 9 different types of SATA and PATA DOMs in capacities up to 64GB. These new USB DOMs are by far the smallest, lightest and lowest power drives in our DOM family," Active Media Products VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson said in a statement. Maximum active power for these USB DOMs is rated at a mere 150MA. Moreover, DOMs offer superior resistance to shock, vibration, dust and temperature extremes than hard disk drives, making them advantageous for use in industrial environments.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, announced today volume production of SSDs (solid state drives) that support the Serial ATA Revision 3.0 interface with data transmissions at six gigabits per second (6Gb/s). The new high-performance PM830 SSDs are available at up to 512 gigabyte (GB) densities.

Samsung's new high-speed SSDs are ideally suited for use in high-performance OEM notebooks and tablets. Sample production of the SATA 6 Gb/s 512 GB SSDs began in May, with volume production initiated earlier this month. The new drives are expected to replace SATA 3 Gb/s-based SSDs by year-end.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced that it has implemented the new SATA µSSD specification into its SanDisk iSSD product line of postage stamp-sized embedded SSDs. SATA-IO, an industry consortium dedicated to sustaining the quality, integrity and dissemination of serial ATA (SATA) technology, introduced the standard today.

The number of media tablets shipped worldwide is expected to grow from 17.8 million units in 2010 to 53.5 million units in 2011. The five-year CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) is 48.5 percent, according to the IDC 1Q11 Media Tablet and eReader Tracker Forecast. These thin, high-performance mobile computing platforms combine sophisticated components in a small physical area, compounding design complexity and driving the need for industry standards.

The Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO), the industry consortium dedicated to sustaining the quality, integrity and dissemination of Serial ATA (SATA) technology, today announced it is developing SATA Express, a new specification that combines SATA software infrastructure with the PCI Express (PCIe) interface. SATA Express enables the development of new devices that utilize the PCIe interface and maintain compatibility with existing SATA applications. The technology will provide a cost-effective means to increase device interface speeds to 8Gb/s and 16Gb/s.

Solid state (SSDs) and hybrid drives are already pushing the limits of existing storage interfaces. SATA Express will provide a low-cost solution to fully utilize the performance of these devices. Storage devices not requiring the speed of SATA Express will continue to be served by existing SATA technology. The specification will define new device and motherboard connectors that will support both new SATA Express and current SATA devices.

Until recently, conventional wisdom stated that SLC-based (single level cell) solid state drives (SSDs) were the only drives suitable for demanding Tier 0 Enterprise applications. That has changed with the introduction of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies' (Hitachi GST) new Ultrastar SSD400M MLC (multi level cell) SSD family. As a cost-effective alternative to SLC SSDs, Hitachi GST's Enterprise MLC SSDs are the most advanced in the industry, utilizing Intel's 25 nanometer (nm), highest endurance Enterprise-grade, MLC NAND Flash and delivering outstanding performance. Couple this with Hitachi GST's known quality and reliability, and the result is a compelling Enterprise-class MLC SSD that meets the performance, capacity, endurance and reliability demands of today's Enterprise and Cloud data centers. Targeting Enterprise capacity sweet spots, the Ultrastar SSD400M family is available in a 2.5-inch form factor with a 6Gb SAS interface in capacities of 200GB and 400GB.

Lenovo today announced the ThinkCentre M71 all-in-one (AIO) desktop designed for large businesses, schools and governments. The new AIO boasts a variety of performance features, from fast boot up to the latest second generation Intel Core processor family, interactive touchscreen options and advanced video conferencing features.

"We're seeing more and more business customers embrace all-in-one desktops for their space savings, portability and style benefits," said Tom Shell, general manager and vice president, Worldwide ThinkCentre Business Unit, Lenovo. "We've built the ThinkCentre M71z to go beyond these advantages and give any business that needs it the highest levels of desktop performance."

Active Media Products, a leading manufacturer of SSDs and DOMs, today announced three new ZIF SSD upgrade kits for the first generation MacBook Air, most Sony Vaio models and other popular laptops that include a ZIF SSD, a cloning device, a mini screwdriver and an illustrated installation booklet. AMP's cloning adapter enables customers to quickly clone their existing ZIF drive onto the new ZIF drive through a USB port.

"Our cloning adapter will help customers get up and running that much faster because now they don't need to reinstall the OS and all their applications. We included a detailed installation guide and a mini screwdriver in the box to simplify the upgrade process," stated Active Media Products VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson. AMP does not include a USB cable or cloning software in these kits.