Verbatim, a global leader in data storage and computer peripherals, is pleased to announce its participation in this year's IFA exhibition in Berlin (01-05 Sept 2023). Attendees at the Verbatim stand, located in Hall 10.2, Booth 112, will have the opportunity to explore an impressive selection of new storage products and mobile and desktop accessories designed to enhance everyday practicality, efficiency, and peace of mind.

Innovative SSDs take centre stage
Verbatim will be proud to demonstrate its new Vi12000 Generation 5 PCIe NVMe M.2 internal SSD, one of the fastest internal SSDs on the market, with read / write speeds of 12300 MB/s and 11,888 MB/s respectively. Alongside this flagship product, Verbatim will also present an assortment of internal and external SSDs, including the Vi7000G internal SSD, tailored for gaming enthusiasts and compatible with PlayStation 5 consoles.

Recently, the spot market for NAND Flash chips has seen a rise in active price inquiries for certain products, a movement driven by successful increases in wafer contract prices. TrendForce reports this uptick primarily stems from negotiations in late August between NAND Flash suppliers and key Chinese module makers. These discussions led to a new wafer contract that successfully boosted the price of 512 Gb wafers by approximately 10%.

Other suppliers have also raised prices for their comparable products, signaling a shift in supplier sentiment: they are now less inclined to finalize deals at lower prices. This change has contributed to a short-term surge in the wafer spot market. Nevertheless, whether this surge in procurement is supported by actual end-user demand remains uncertain, as these orders have arisen in reaction to adjustments in supply-side pricing.

TrendForce research reveals that, due to the impacts of high inflation and economic downturn, CSPs are adopting more conservative strategies when it comes to capital expenditure and consistently reducing their annual server demand forecasts. Currently, CSPs in China have reported a decline in cloud orders compared to last year, leading to a subsequent decrease in annual procurement volumes for enterprise SSDs. In North America, some clients have postponed mass production timelines for new server platforms while ramping up investments in AI servers. These factors have resulted in enterprise SSD orders falling below expectations. Consequently, global enterprise SSD revenue hit an all-time low in the second quarter, totaling just $1,500 million—a QoQ decrease of 24.9%.

Demand for AI servers remains strong in the third quarter, while orders and shipment momentum for general-purpose servers have yet to show signs of recovery. This continues to put pressure on the purchasing volume of enterprise SSDs, and annual bit volume is expected to be lower than last year. Meanwhile, vendors have once again reduced capacity utilization to slow down inventory growth. Server customers still maintain high inventory levels, and their purchasing momentum remains insufficient. This is expected to lead to an approximate 15% QoQ decline in the average price of enterprise SSDs in the third quarter, which may further result in a lackluster revenue performance for the peak season.

Following the release of the AORUS gaming laptops and AERO creator laptops featuring the RTX 40 series laptop GPUs in the first half of 2023, GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd has now officially introduced the G6 gaming laptop designed specifically for students and casual gamers in anticipation of the back-to-school season. This laptop is equipped with the latest 13th/12th generation Intel Core processors and the highly acclaimed RTX 40 series laptop GPUs.

It caters to various entertainment, work, and learning needs. The 16:10 aspect ratio with a 165 Hz refresh rate gaming display enhances gameplay satisfaction and also aligns well with multitasking creative demands. The compact and lightweight design allows it to fit seamlessly into various environments, ensuring readiness for any task. GIGABYTE is committed to empowering gamers to compete endlessly, thanks to the combination of style and performance!

TrendForce expects that memory suppliers will continue their strategy of scaling back production of both DRAM and NAND Flash in 2024, with the cutback being particularly pronounced in the financially struggling NAND Flash sector. Market demand visibility for consumer electronic is projected to remain uncertain in 1H24. Additionally, capital expenditure for general-purpose servers is expected to be weakened due to competition from AI servers. Considering the low baseline set in 2023 and the current low pricing for some memory products, TrendForce anticipates YoY bit demand growth rates for DRAM and NAND Flash to be 13% and 16%, respectively. Nonetheless, achieving effective inventory reduction and restoring supply-demand balance next year will largely hinge on suppliers' ability to exercise restraint in their production capacities. If managed effectively, this could open up an opportunity for a rebound in average memory prices.

PC: The annual growth rate for average DRAM capacity is projected at approximately 12.4%, driven mainly by Intel's new Meteor Lake CPUs coming into mass production in 2024. This platform's DDR5 and LPDDR5 exclusivity will likely make DDR5 the new mainstream, surpassing DDR4 in the latter half of 2024. The growth rate in PC client SSDs will not be as robust as that of PC DRAM, with just an estimated growth of 8-10%. As consumer behavior increasingly shifts toward cloud-based solutions, the demand for laptops with large storage capacities is decreasing. Even though 1 TB models are becoming more available, 512 GB remains the predominant storage option. Furthermore, memory suppliers are maintaining price stability by significantly reducing production. Should prices hit rock bottom and subsequently rebound, PC OEMs are expected to face elevated SSD costs. This, when combined with Windows increasing its licensing fees for storage capacities at and above 1 TB, is likely to put a damper on further growth in average storage capacities.

Ciphertex Data Security, a GSA contract holder (GS-35-487DA), introduces the new durable SecureNAS CX-160KSSD-X to contribute to the advancement of data security for our national defense. Ciphertex joins over 200 exhibitors in public IT and the federal cybersecurity community at DAFITC in Montgomery, Alabama, from August 28th to the 30th at Booth 506.

The SecureNAS CX-160KSSD-X storage unit is powered by an Intel Xeon D processor (4, 8, or 16 Core) and supports up to sixteen hot-swappable 2.5" SSDs and two internal 2.5" SSDs and can store up to 490 TB, while improving security and endurance. The system meets the maximum-security standards of the US government. The ultra-high-capacity SAS SSD offers faster read and write speeds that reach up to 400,000 IOPS and 50,000 IOPS. It can achieve up to 2,000 MB/s sequential write speed at 13.5 W power, making it four times more power efficient than 15K RPM HDDs while providing six times the performance.

GIGABYTE Technology, one of the top global manufacturers of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, announced today the latest AORUS Gen5 12000 SSD with an M.2 2280 form factor. Harnessing the power of a PCIe 5.0 controller with ultra-fast 3D-TLC NAND Flash, the AORUS Gen5 12000 SSD delivers a boosted performance of more than 70% over PCIe 4.0 SSDs with easy installation and superb capability. Equipped with the ultimate thermal design of M.2 Thermal Guard Extreme, the AORUS Gen5 12000 SSD becomes the perfect choice for power users, content creators, and gamers.

With PCIe 5.0 support on new motherboard platforms, the bandwidth and transfer performance are raised to the next level. The AORUS Gen5 12000 SSD is equipped with the latest Phison PS5026-E26 8-channel controller, providing users with superior control of random read speeds. Along with an over 232-layer stack structure of 3D-TLC NAND Flash and a built-in LPDDR4 cache design, the AORUS Gen5 12000 SSD unleashes the full potential of PCIe 5.0 performance with 12 GB/s ultra-fast access speed, which is more than a 70% increase compared to its predecessor. Furthermore, with AORUS optimized Direct Storage support, the AORUS Gen5 12000 SSD brings next-level performance with optimized stability.

The world leader in gaming, content creation, business & productivity and AIoT solutions, MSI announced today its participation in IFA 2023 on September 1st. Established in 1924, the IFA Berlin International Consumer Electronics Exhibition stands as a beacon with an impressive history spanning nearly a century. IFA remains one of the trade fairs that profoundly impacts global PC buyers, wholesalers and retailers by providing a platform that offers comprehensive solutions for the industry.

At IFA 2023, MSI will showcase its full lineup of cutting-edge products. This highly anticipated range encompasses laptops, desktops, monitors, graphics cards, motherboards, peripherals and components. These products symbolize MSI's pursuit of innovation and its commitment to delivering high-quality experiences for global consumers. MSI's Vice President of Marketing, Sam Chern commented, "MSI is thrilled to be part of IFA 2023 event again, it's a fantastic chance to present our achievements. Our MSI team is all about bringing the latest technology to users around the world, making their lives more convenient and joyful. We invite everyone to visit MSI booth and explore our exciting products and innovations!"

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, joined Gamescom 2023 for the first time. Lexar also unveiled some of the new products that are estimated to be launched in Q4 2023 for the first time at the show. Designed for PC enthusiasts to accelerate their workflow, the new portfolio includes internal SSDs, DRAM.

The performance of Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 Desktop Memory reaches a new height of 8000MT/s and 8400MT/s, allowing hardcore gamers and PC enthusiasts to experience superior performance with next-gen DDR5. And, in addition to the performance, this memory also features Lexar RGB Sync so gamers can customize the RGB LED to their own style, and its sleek premium aluminium heat spreader keeps the system cool. It is built with on-die ECC, which leverages real-time data error correction for increased data stability and reliability. With on-board Power Management IC (PMIC), it provides better power control and power delivery.

Samsung Semiconductor introduced its 990 PRO Flagship PCIe Gen 4 SSD range a year ago, with 1 TB and 2 TB models available day one on launch. The South Korean company also teased a 4 TB variant for release in 2023—recent activity on social media indicates that the higher capacity model will be coming soon (but no firm date was touted): "You wanted it so badly, we had no choice but to deliver. The 4 TB 990 PRO by Samsung SSD is coming. Same blazing-fast storage with double the max capacity for gaming, video, 3D editing, and more. Stay tuned for more details."

According to Samsung's specification sheet, the 990 Pro 4 TB is due to arrive in two forms—a plain drive (MZ-V9P4T0BW) with a simple/thin graphene heat spreader and a fancier version sporting an aluminium heatsink (MZ-V9P4T0CW). The latest marketing blurb continues to place emphasis on the 990 Pro M.2 2280 drives being ideal candidates for upgrading the PlayStation 5's (PCIe 4.0) internal storage—we will have to wait closer to launch time for the 4 TB variant's MSRP, although its eventual pricing is most likely going to target enthusiast PC users. The 2 TB model (w/ heatsink) is currently available for $149.99 (down from the original launch value of $309.99) at the time of writing.

Over the past few months there have been reports of issues with SanDisk portable SSDs and Western Digital released a firmware update in May that was meant to prevent the drives from "unexpectedly disconnect from a computer". However, it appears that this firmware update didn't solve the problem and Western Digital is now being taken to court over drives not just having disconnect issues, but also randomly failing. The court case is expected to become a class action suit, as the plaintiff claims that the issue of failing drives affect tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people in the USA.

The models included in the complaint includes the SanDisk Extreme Pro, Extreme Portable, Extreme Pro Portable and WD My Passport SSD. A further firmware update was released in July, which is said to have made the issues even worse, with data being lost on drives or being inaccessible to drive owners. In some cases the drives go into read only mode, but sometimes this means that the drives become inaccessible to the OS, which in turn also means dataloss to the user. Time will tell how this plays out, but it's not looking great for Western Digital, but it wouldn't be the first time a storage device maker has been taken to court over failing products.

Frore Systems, the maker of AirJet Mini, the World's first solid-state active cooling chip, demonstrated record breaking large capacity SSD performance, in an industry first 64 TB SSD storage device with AirJet. The collaboration with OWC, a leader in reliable solutions for computer hardware, accessories, and software, showcases the 64 TB OWC Mercury Pro U.2 Dual storage device with silent active cooling using 8 AirJet Minis, unleashing performance and enabling the fastest, compact, 64 TB capacity SSD storage device in its class.

Heat is the single biggest problem facing the electronics industry, and SSDs are no exception. The excessive heat generated by the fully loaded operation of 64 TB SSD renders the device inoperable when using traditional cooling methods like noisy mechanical fans or bulky ineffective heat sinks. With AirJet, the 64 TB OWC Mercury Pro U.2 Dual storage device operates between 2200 MB/s to 2600 MB/s sustained sequential writes, enabling large scale data storage in a compact form factor for the first time. This is great news for industries like film and television, that need silent, fast, secure and large-scale storage in small portable packages. The live demonstration of the 64 TB OWC Mercury Pro U.2 Dual storage device is on display at the Flash Memory Summit 2023 in Santa Clara, California.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), the global leading motherboard, mini PC, notebook, mobile device, and smart solution provider, will attend Europe's largest and the most iconic consumer electronics trade show, IFA Berlin 2023, to exhibit a series of new laptops for education and business.

Optimize Cloud-Based Learning & Teaching: A New Series of Education Chromebooks Can Fulfill Teachers' and Students' Different Needs
After the world enters the post-pandemic era, there are enormous changes in both teaching and learning modes. Meanwhile, digital trend is arising. To meet various requirements from education fields, ECS launches the brand new SG20, SE40, and EP20 education PC series. These thin and ultraportable laptops feature rugged chassis certified by MIL-STD-810H tests. Equipped with Chrome OS, their battery life can last up to 10 hours. Besides, they support 4G LTE and Wi-Fi 6, which is ideal for remote learning.

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for Cloud, AI/ML, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is delivering a high-throughput, low latency E3.S storage solutions supporting the industry's first PCIe Gen 5 drives and CXL modules to meet the demands of large AI Training and HPC clusters, where massive amounts of unstructured data must be delivered to the GPUs and CPUs to achieve faster results.

Supermicro's Petascale systems are a new class of storage servers supporting the latest industry standard E3.S (7.5 mm) Gen 5 NVMe drives from leading storage vendors for up to 256 TB of high throughput, low latency storage in 1U or up to a half petabyte in 2U. Inside, Supermicro's innovative symmetrical architecture reduced latency by ensuring the shortest signal paths for data and maximized airflow over critical components, allowing them to run at optimal speeds. With these new systems, a standard rack can now hold over 20 Petabytes of capacity for high throughput NVMe-oF (NVMe over Fabrics) configurations, ensuring that GPUs remain saturated with data. Systems are available with either the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors or 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors.

KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced that its CD8P Series data center SSD has received a Flash Memory Summit "Best of Show" award in the "Most Innovative Memory Technology" category. These awards recognize the most significant products and companies worldwide within the flash memory and solid-state storage industries.

"We are proud to recognize KIOXIA for their unwavering commitment to advancing flash memory," said Jay Kramer, Chairman of the Awards Program and President of Network Storage Advisors Inc. "KIOXIA was the first vendor to offer drives designed with PCIe 5.0 NVMe 2.0 interface technology. The new KIOXIA CD8P drives continue the company's momentum by delivering the high performance and low latency required by next-generation digital enterprise and data center infrastructures."

It appears that Silicon Motion is ready to start competing with Phison in the PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD controller market, as the company has shown a new controller at the Flash Memory Summit 2023 which should give Phison a run for its money. The SM2508 as the controller is called is set to be the most power efficient PCIe 5.0 NVMe controller to date, with a power consumption of 3.5 W, which is in line with most PCIe 4.0 SSD controllers. This still means that a decent heatsink will be needed, but not active cooling or massive heatsinks that we've seen on the current crop of PCIe 5.0 drives based on Phison's E26 controller.

Silicon Motion also appears to have the Phison E26 beat, in terms of performance, as the SM2508 promises to deliver sequential read and write speeds of up to 14 GB/s. Random performance is rated at 2.5 million IOPS read and 2.4 million IOPS write. To get the most out of the SM2508 2400 MT/s or faster NAND flash is going to be needed to deliver the claimed performance figures though, but according to Anandtech, the SM2508 is future proofed by supporting NAND flash speeds of up to 3600 MT/s, so we might see faster drives based on the controller once faster NAND appears, such as SK Hynix new 321-layer NAND, which is scheduled for a 2025 introduction. The SM2508 on the other hand is said to be launching at the end of this year or early 2024.

Phison Electronics, a global leader in NAND flash and storage solutions, announces a technology demonstration of unique customer-based solutions fully realized through the IMAGIN+ customization service at Flash Memory Summit 2023.

Phison has expanded its IMAGIN+ design service to include AI computational models and AI services solutions. Customers work with specialized Phison teams to design and engineer custom flash deployments that precisely address the data performance and endurance requirements of next generation products including those highly optimized for aiDAPTIV AI+ML workloads. With IMAGIN+ design services, Phison teams work hand-in-hand with customers to deliver AI-boosted SSD solutions that address demanding requirements.

From the cloud, to the edge, to the enterprise, data center architects are deploying higher levels of flash to unlock the potential of AI, object storage, file sharing and more. At the same time, they are laser-focused on controlling spend and must find solutions to help them manage, scale and utilize storage assets more efficiently. This is driving a growing trend to disaggregate and share NVMe flash over fabric (NVMe-oF) for improved performance, availability and flexibility of storage resources.

Helping customers simplify NVMe/NVMe-oF storage deployment, Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced its enhanced OpenFlex Data24 3200 NVMe-oF JBOF/Storage Platform along with the next-generation RapidFlex A2000 and C2000 NVMe-oF fabric bridge devices (FBDs), and the new Ultrastar DC SN655 PCIe Gen 4.0 dual-port NVMe SSD. These new storage solutions are enabling an ecosystem, providing more flexibility and choice for simplifying NVMe and NVMe-oF deployment for customers. Western Digital is now the only company with vertical integration capabilities targeting both ends of the Ethernet wire to deliver solutions where data travels from the server initiator to the storage target.

MaxLinear, Inc., a leader in data storage accelerator solutions, today announced the production-release of the OCP 3.0 storage accelerator adapter card for Panther III. The ultra-low latency accelerator is designed to quicken key storage workloads, including database acceleration, storage offload, encryption, compression, and deduplication enablement for maximum data reduction. The Panther III OCP card is ideal for use in modern data centers, including public to edge clouds, enterprise data centers, and telecommunications infrastructure, allowing users to access, process, and transfer data up to 12 times faster than without a storage accelerator. The OCP version of the card is available immediately with a PCIe version available in Q3 2023.

"In an era where the amount of data generated exceeds new storage installations by multiple fold, Panther III helps reduce the massive storage gap while improving TCO per bit stored," said Dylan Patel, Chief Analyst at SemiAnalysis.

KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced the addition of the KIOXIA CD8P Series to its lineup of data center-class solid state drives (SSDs). KIOXIA CD8P drives are well-suited to general purpose server and cloud environments that can take advantage of PCIe 5.0 (32 gigatransfers/s x4) performance. These data center applications can generate complex mixed workloads spread across large scale virtualized systems. The new drives are available in capacities up to 30.72 terabytes (TB) and in both Enterprise and Data Center Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) E3.S and 2.5-inch (U.2) form factors.

Optimized for the performance, latency, reduced power and thermal requirements of data center environments where power and cooling efficiency is critical, the KIOXIA CD8P Series provides the predictability and consistency needed for a seamless user experience. According to Jeff Janukowicz, Research Vice President, IDC, "Growth in NVMe SSDs continues with PCIe capacity shipments in servers and storage systems expected to grow at a 40% CAGR between 2022 and 2027. The new CD8P Series SSDs gives these customers the range of performance, capacity, and security choices essential for meeting the storage requirements of next-generation digital enterprise and data center infrastructure."

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is excited to announce three additions to its gaming product lineup - the new Lexar NM790 M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4×4 NVMe SSD, Lexar ARES DDR5 Desktop Memory in 6400MT/s, and Lexar ARES RGB DDR4 Desktop Memory in 3600MT/s.

The NM790 M.2 NVMe SSD is perfect for gamers and content creators, delivering incredible speeds of 7400 MB/s read, 6500 MB/s write thanks to its PCIe Gen 4 tech, which includes HMB 3.0 and Dynamic SLC Cache. So whether users are looking to vanquish foes in their gaming battles or conquer their latest creative pursuits, the NM790 SSD is ready to take on the challenge.

Western Digital Corp. (Nasdaq: WDC) today reported fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023 financial results. "Throughout the fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year, Western Digital continued to optimize our operations and successfully execute our innovative product roadmap, priming ourselves for greater profitability when demand rebounds across hard drives and flash. As a result of these efforts, we delivered revenue above our expectation and delivered a range of industry-leading products to our customers," said David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO.

"We are encouraged by several indicators signaling improving Flash market dynamics. Our two largest end markets, Client and Consumer, are returning to growth, inventories are normalizing, content per unit is increasing and price declines have been moderating. Western Digital is well-positioned to capitalize on improving market conditions and capture long-term growth opportunities in data storage, spanning from client to edge to cloud," continued David Goeckeler.

With each PlayStation 5 system software release, we've introduced new features designed to enhance the many ways you can access your favorite content, navigate your console, or create new gaming memories with friends. Today, we're thrilled to roll out a new PS5 system software beta that introduces new accessibility features as well as audio options that allow 3D Audio powered by Tempest 3D AudioTech to be enjoyed on compatible Dolby Atmos-enabled HDMI devices such as sound bars, TVs, or home theater systems. The beta also includes more options to quickly find games and console tips, new ways to connect with other players and customize your multiplayer sessions, and support for larger-capacity M.2 SSDs (up to 8 TB).

While beta access will be limited to invited participants in select countries*, we plan to release the update globally later this year. If you're selected to participate in the beta, you'll receive an email invitation today when it's available to download. Some features available during the beta phase may not make it into the final version or may see significant changes. Without further ado, here are some of the highlights from the beta release...

Earlier today, Samsung released its Q2 results, which were a mixed bag with many business units underperforming. However, none were doing as poorly as Samsung's memory business which made a loss of 4.36 trillion Won or around US$3.4 billion. Although not mentioned in the financial report, Reuters are reporting that Samsung is looking to cut production of NAND and DRAM further, as the publication is pointing out that Samsung's chipset business as a whole lost a staggering 8.9 trillion Won or US$7 billion. That said, the loss wasn't quite as bad as in the first quarter of the year and Samsung is expected to cut the loss in half for Q3.

In a statement to Reuters, Samsung said "Production cuts across the industry are likely to continue in the second half, and demand is expected to gradually recover as clients continue to destock their (chip) inventory." This suggests that the expected recovery isn't going to happen as soon as the DRAM and NAND manufacturers expected, as there simply isn't enough demand for either product. SK Hynix has already announced that it's cutting production a further five to 10 percent for NAND, but the company doesn't appear to have had quite as big losses as Samsung. For the time being, this is good news for consumers, as RAM and SSD pricing is about as low as it has ever been. However, with production cuts from all the three major manufacturers of DRAM and NAND, prices will most likely start going up soon, especially as Samsung is said to have depleted most of its inventories.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the Crucial X9 Pro Portable SSD and Crucial X10 Pro Portable SSD, two new performance offerings in the Crucial Pro Series product portfolio, designed for content creators such as photographers, videographers, designers, or any performance-seeking consumer. Both drives utilize Micron TLC NAND and leverage a revolutionary single-ASIC portable storage architecture to enable a breakthrough, ultra-compact, lightweight form factor and allows Micron to ship the most capacity per square millimeter in the industry. With either the Crucial X9 Pro and X10 Pro, users can safely store, transport and backup important videos, photos, files and more on the go, without cloud or internet access at lightning-fast speeds.

"We recognize that fast, efficient workflow processes are essential to the success of videographers, photographers and other content creators," said Jonathan Weech, senior director of product marketing for Micron's Commercial Products Group. "We designed and built our two new portable SSDs, the Crucial X9 Pro and the Crucial X10 Pro, to specifically address these demanding workloads. With more photos and videos being taken than ever before, consumers are looking for ways to save, preserve and protect their digital lives reliably and quickly. These two new Crucial Pro Portable SSDs are a great choice for anyone who needs dependable, fast, high-capacity storage."