Panasonic announced today the world's premier rugged notebook for the Defence industry can now be equipped with the Eclypt Core Encrypted Internal Solid State Drive from global communications company, Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), making the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK 40 unrivalled in its capabilities for the military, border control and emergency services. Available in May 2023, the TOUGHBOOK 40 notebook with solid state self-encrypting hard drive is certified for use in the UK for securing Top Secret information and all security levels below, as well as certified for use by NATO and other European countries.

"This is the next step in extending our partnership with Viasat to offer the highest-level security drives across the TOUGHBOOK range," said Jon Tucker, General Manager Engineering, Product & Mobility Solutions, at Panasonic Mobile Solutions Business Division. "With the current geopolitical tensions across Europe and beyond, the demand for this type of highly secure, rugged and modular flexible device is growing every day."

KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced the addition of the BG6 Series to its lineup of PCIe 4.0 solid state drives (SSDs) - the first product to feature the company's new, 6th generation BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory and almost 1.7 times the performance of its predecessor. Designed to unleash the increased speeds and affordability of PCIe 4.0 for PC users, the powerful and compact KIOXIA BG6 Series client SSDs offer a discrete M.2 2230 form factor with higher capacities and improved power efficiency. M.2 2280 single-sided form factor versions are also available.

The KIOXIA BG6 Series unlocks back-end flash performance while maintaining affordability and increasing capacity, making it an especially attractive option for commercial and consumer notebooks and desktops. KIOXIA BG6 drives support the fully matured Host Memory Buffer (HMB) technology, which utilizes part of the host memory (DRAM) as if it were its own, to realize a DRAM-less, high-performance SSD.

DDN, the global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and multi-cloud data management solutions, today announced a major breakthrough for its all flash and hybrid storage solutions. DDN's parallel file system technology, combined with AI and data center specific data compression, delivers the highest performance efficiency straight into generative AI, machine learning and other enterprise high-performance applications.

Eliminating the need for complex networking and heavily bottlenecked performance found in other data storage solutions, DDN's new AI400X2 QLC and hybrid storage arrays combine DDN's parallel file system with novel client-side data compression, increasing performance by 10x, growing effective capacity by up to 15x and reducing data center footprint by 2x.

Be the first to experience the future of storage! As a passionate gamer, you know the importance of fast load times, seamless gameplay, and having ample space for your favorite games. Our team of experts has worked tirelessly to create an SSD that fits the Steam Deck and that not only meets but exceeds your expectations. The Rocket Q 2230 SSD is the perfect companion to maximize your gaming potential and unleash a whole new world of possibilities.

The next generation of small form factor SSD is here. The Rocket 2230 Q delivers big drive performance so that your Steam Deck, Microsoft Surface, and other devices can live up to their potential. It's compact, fast, cool-running, and reliable. 2 TB capacity available for preorder, others will be announced soon! We tested our new Rocket Q 2 TB SSD on our Steam Deck here in the lab and received excellent results when compared to stock SSDs that come pre-equipped on Steam Decks.

Global memory leader, Team Group, continues to develop and manufacture innovative, high-performance, and reliable industrial memory storage products, providing customers with convenient and flexible solutions. Today, it is releasing the brand new P845-M30 SSD, designed for the M.2 2230 form factor and PCIe Gen 4 interface. This compact, high-performance SSD is suitable for mini industrial PCs, handheld embedded applications, and AIoT-related tasks.

The P845-M30 comes with 112 layers of high-quality 3D NAND flash memory and uses page mapping technology to reduce its block P/E cycling frequency, extending its lifespan, and increasing its random access speeds. It is available in capacities ranging from 256 GB to 1 TB and measures only 30 mm in length. In addition, its support of the PCIe Gen 4 interface allows it to provide high-speed transfers with low power consumption. The P845-M30 can upgrade your device's performance without taking up space, making it the ideal SSD solution for mini industrial computers, which require a small form factor and large capacities.

VisionTek Products LLC, a leading provider of high-performance upgrades and accessories for PCs and Macs, today unveiled its new lineup of M.2 solid-state drives (SSDs) featuring exceptional speed, thermal management and durability. These next-generation form factor M.2 drives cater to demanding workloads and offer blazing fast read and write speeds up to 7,500 MB/s.

The DLX4 PCIe 4.0 SSDs feature a PCIe 4.0 interface for high-bandwidth, low-latency performance for the most demanding of workloads. The range includes 2230, 2242 and 2280 SSDs to support a variety of systems and devices. Capacities range from 500 GB to 4 TB, making the SSDs perfect for applications like 3D rendering, gaming and video editing.

Solidigm, a leading global provider of innovative NAND flash memory solutions, is expanding its D5 Product Series with the Solidigm D5-P5430, a new QLC solid-state storage drive (SSD) optimized for mainstream and read-intensive workloads. With most of today's enterprise applications read-dominant, the D5-P5430—a 4th gen PCIe QLC SSD—offers substantial storage density and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) opportunities while delivering read performance that is equivalent to the most widely-adopted TLC SSDs.

The D5-P5430 is optimized for mainstream workloads (e.g., email/unified communications, decision support systems, object storage, and virtual desktop infrastructure) and read-intensive workloads (e.g., content delivery networks, data lakes/pipelines, video-on-demand). These workloads are typically 80% reads or higher and need to move massive amounts of data at high throughput.

KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced that its lineup of CD7 Series Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) E3.S NVMe SSDs are first to ship on servers and storage from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). The industry's first EDSFF drives designed with PCIe 5.0 technology, KIOXIA CD7 E3.S SSDs increase flash storage density per drive for optimized power efficiency and rack consolidation. HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers, HPE Alletra 4000 data storage servers and the HPE Synergy 480 Gen11 Compute Module are enabled with the latest PCIe 5.0 interface, enabling up to twice the performance over PCIe 4.0, and come with optionally equipped EDSFF E3.S drive bays.

As a natural evolution of the 2.5-inch form factor, EDSFF E3.S is designed for the needs of high performance flash storage. E3.S enables more dense, efficient deployments in the same rack unit compared to 2.5-inch drives, while improving cooling and thermal characteristics and raising capacities by up to 1.5 - 2x.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the release of two SSDs, the Micron 6500 ION NVMe SSD and the Micron XTR NVMe SSD. Designed to keep pace with the accelerating growth of data, these drives provide a major advancement for data centers by lowering operating costs and improving storage efficiency. The Micron 6500 ION is a high-capacity SSD that offers a superior value over competitive QLC-based drives by providing best-in-class performance and enabling a more environmentally sustainable data center. The 6500 ION is able to deliver TLC performance and QLC-like cost due to Micron's 232-layer technology node leadership compared to the competition's use of sub-200-layer QLC technology. When paired with Micron 6500 ION drives or other SSDs, the Micron XTR SSD delivers extreme endurance that enhances system performance.

"Customers are looking for new capabilities to address the data growth and performance needs of artificial intelligence data lakes and other demanding workloads. As a result, we are seeing tremendous traction on the 6500 ION and XTR with customers who are deploying storage at scale due to their unrivaled combination of large capacity, superior performance, and amazing endurance," said Alvaro Toledo, vice president and general manager of Micron's Data Center Storage group. "The 6500 ION SSD offers QLC value with TLC performance and up to a 20% reduction in power consumption versus competing QLC SSDs, allowing our customers to reduce their carbon footprint. Together, these SSDs enable customers to leap ahead and harness the power of artificial intelligence without compromising performance."

SK Hynix seems to be getting into being a retail brand in the storage market space and its latest addition to its product range looks pretty interesting, in more ways than one. The compact 74 x 46 x 14.8 mm (WxDxH) SSD goes under the name of Beetle X31 and judging by the packaging, it's meant to look like a golden Egyptian scarab, although SK Hynix was clearly not bold enough to follow through with the housing design. Regardless, the small golden puck looks pretty nifty, but it also hides some rather interesting technology under its shell.

Fortunately for us, a Korean YouTuber has already disassembled the drive and based on the specs, it appears to have an ASMedia ASM2362 PCIe 3.0 x2 to USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) bridge chip, which allows the internal NVMe drive to interface with the USB Type-C port on the device. The internal NVMe SSD is also rather intriguing and it'll most likely be found in some other devices. It appears to follow the M.2 2242 form factor, but it's only equipped with a single chip, which is said to house not only the NAND flash, but also the SSD controller and some kind of DRAM, as this is not a DRAM-less SSD. The Beetle X31 will be available in 512 GB and 1 TB sizes, with the 1 TB model retailing for 138,000 Korean won, or around US$103. An optional protective case is also available as an accessory.

Patriot Memory, a leading manufacturer of high performance enthusiast memory modules, SSDs, flash storage and gaming peripherals, is excited to announce that their worldwide team and supporting brands, Viper Gaming and ACPI, will attend Computex 2023 in Taipei, Taiwan. With its supporting brands, Viper Gaming and ACPI, Patriot Memory will host an exhibition of a wide variety of new, upcoming and flagship products.

Viper Gaming, Patriot Memory's gaming-oriented brand, will feature a variety of new and upcoming products, including the 2023 European Hardware Award nominated Viper Xtreme 5 DDR5 extreme performance memory and Viper Elite 5 DDR5 mainstream performance memory. Viper Gaming will also debut its upcoming PV553 Gen 5 x4 SSD. Patriot Memory will also feature updates to its PCIe Gen 4 lineup, its other flagship series, peripherals and its recently released Viper VXD M.2 SSD Enclosure.

Crucial T700, the company's flagship M.2 NVMe Gen 5 SSD, runs hot—like every other drive based on the Phison E26-series controller (such as the Corsair MP700). ComputerBase.de discovered what the drive does without some sort of cooling. The E26 controller has a Tjmax value of around 86°C, and what happens when it's reached depends on the drive in question. The Corsair MP700 can turn itself off to protect the controller—something that will definitely cause your machine to hang with a BSOD.

The Crucial T700, on the other hand, aggressively throttles down the controller in an attempt to lower temperatures. While the drive won't stop (and your machine won't hang), its performance drops to hard drive levels, with CrystalDiskMark (CDM) measurements pointing to around 101 MB/s (of course, with much lower access times than a HDD). Both Crucial and Corsair offer the drive with large heatsinks, and recommend users to use them. This should severely limit the adoption of Gen 5 NVMe SSDs among notebooks, where the notebook chassis has room for only bare drives. However, some OEMs specializing in larger high-end gaming notebooks and desktop-replacement workstations, can find ways to connect the drives to the notebook's main cooling system using flattened heatpipes. You can catch ComputerBase's review of the MP700 in the source link below.

MSI is announcing the launch of our flagship PCIe 4.0 lineup to its SSD product line - SPATIUM M480 PRO series. MSI SSDs refine our company's identity as a high-performance PC brand by expanding our ecosystem and covering the high-performance storage category. These SSDs are built with high-quality, high-density 3D NAND flash that deliver the ultimate PRO performance for PCIe 4.0 with up to 7400 MB/s sequential read and 7000 sequential write.

The SPATIUM M480 PRO boasts up to 60% faster random read/write speeds, enabling a supremely responsive experience and minimal latency in gameplay and productivity under heavy workloads for professionals, content creators, and gamers. Other performance-improving technologies include DRAM cache buffer and an SLC cache.

Leading global motherboard manufacturer ASRock proudly announces its new series of Alder Lake-N motherboards. The new motherboards will be featuring the latest N100 SoC processor, 4 E-cores with a turbo frequency up to 3.4 GHz and Intel UHD Graphics supporting 4K@60Hz resolution, this passively cooled motherboard provides adequate performance as well as outstanding heat management.

The N100M is a M-ATX sized motherboard designed for smart buyers who is looking for a simple yet capable solution, with onboard USB Type-C, M.2 for both SSD & WiFi, the N100M can be easily built into a system that suits your need, and thanks to the onboard XXL CPU heatsink and fan-less design, it is able to perform a low noise ultra-silent computing experience.

TrendForce's latest research indicates that, as production cuts to DRAM and NAND Flash have not kept pace with weakening demand, the ASP of some products is expected to decline further in 2Q23. DRAM prices are projected to fall 13~18%; NAND Flash is expected to fall between 8~13%.

TrendForce reports that the significant drop in DRAM prices was mostly attributed to high inventory levels of DDR4 and LPDDR5 as PC DRAM, server DRAM, and mobile DRAM collectively account for over 85% of DRAM consumption. Meanwhile, the market share for DDR5 remains relatively low.

Nextorage Japan is preparing its NE5N range of PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSDs for launch in early June - listings have emerged on Newegg for 2 TB and 1 TB models - with a product page appearing recently on the company's (Japanese language) website. These units boast read and write speeds rated for operation up to 10 GB/s, and are based on Phison's E26 PCIe Gen 5 controller. Nextorage started off as a provider of PlayStation 5-oriented PCIe Gen 4 SSD products, due to company ties to Sony Corporation, but its upcoming NE5N range indicates that it intends to target buyers within the enthusiast PC market.

The initial batch of cutting edge SSDs are unlikely to end up in any PS5 consoles, thanks to a sizable dual formation heatsink - the Japanese company has filed a patent for the bulky two-level structure and heatpipe combination design. Gen 5 SSDs are said to be difficult to tame in terms of heat output, and manufacturers are going to great lengths (and sizes) to provide adequate cooling solutions in advance. Future versions of Nextorage Japan's NE5N NVMe M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 5 SSDs are being refined for compact PCs and laptops, so it will be interesting to find out about the intended thermal tempering for more cramped environments.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced its new DC600M Enterprise SSD. DC600M is optimized for mixed-use workloads with excellent Quality of Service (QoS)1 to ensure latency and IOPS consistency to hit Service-level agreements.

DC600M is 6 Gbps SATA 3.0 storage with 3D TLC NAND, suited for use in high-volume rack-mount servers. The drive includes hardware based on-board power loss protection via power loss capacitors to protect data against unexpected power failure reducing the risk of data loss, and ensures the drive successfully re-initializes on the next system power-up. With predictable low latencies over a wide range of read and write workloads DC600M is designed for system integrators, hyperscale data centers, and cloud service providers.

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation ("Silicon Motion", the "Company" or "we") today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. For the first quarter of 2023, net sales (GAAP) decreased sequentially to $124.1 million from $200.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Net income (GAAP) decreased to $10.2 million, or $0.30 per diluted American Depositary Share ("ADS") (GAAP), from net income (GAAP) of $23.5 million, or $0.71 per diluted ADS (GAAP), in the fourth quarter of 2022.

For the first quarter of 2023, net income (non-GAAP) decreased to $11.2 million, or $0.33 per diluted ADS (non-GAAP), from net income (non-GAAP) of $41.1 million, or $1.22 per diluted ADS (non-GAAP), in the fourth quarter of 2022.

CORSAIR, a world leader in enthusiast components for gamers, creators, and PC builders, today announced the launch of the MP700, its first PCIe Gen 5 M.2 SSD. Available in capacities up to 2 TB, the MP700 sets a new standard for next-generation storage, with sequential read and write performance topping out an incredible 10,000 MB/sec and 10,000 MB/sec respectively—up to 40% faster than even the best PCIe 4.0 SSDs available today (see cooling requirements below).

On top of the impressive sequential throughput, the random read and write performance of up to 1.5 million read and 1.7 million write input/output operations per second (IOPS) put the MP700 way ahead of the best PCIe Gen 4 drives. The MP700 is backward compatible with PCIe 4.0 motherboards, making this an upgrade that will last you for years to come. Native support for Microsoft DirectStorage ensures that you'll get the most from the latest games, while copying files in Windows and loading applications has never felt so fast.

Don't forget to check out the TechPowerUp Review of the CORSAIR MP700 2 TB SSD

The Newegg PC Building Contest finals were held in Taipei, on April 22nd. This isn't a typical e-sports event, or even an overclocking/benchmarking contest, but one with a very simple premise—build an operable PC using the parts of your choice, within a time-limit. The finals saw the top-5 contestants from a pool of 50 make their way to Taipei, and for the final event, the time set was just 1 hour. That seems like an eternity for someone used to building PCs, but this isn't a mom-and-pop Dell you're building—a fully fledged high-end gaming desktop with certain mandatory components to have (although the choice of make of the components is up to you). You're supposed to assemble the desktop and bring it up to an operable state.

Neo Forza became the DDR5 memory and SSD manufacturer of choice for most of the finalists. Three out of five finalists chose Neo Forza Trinity DDR5-7200 memory, and all five of them chose Neo Forza NFP455 NVMe Gen 4 SSD. While the winner put together the build in 37 minutes, the slowest of the five made it in just under the hour. They stated that the build was "stressful" and they never thought it could get so nerve-racking to put together a simple PC. Meanwhile, Neo Forza celebrated its unexpected claim to fame for being the memory vendor of choice among the finalists. "We were humbly overwhelmed as the event, inadvertently, showed Neo Forza as a preferred choice by experienced pro-users for DRAM and SSD in PC builds suitable for gaming, content-creation, streaming and 3D rendering," the company commented.

ASUS today announced ExpertCenter PN53, a mini PC that harnesses the power of the latest AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors and AMD Radeon 600M series graphics. ExpertCenter PN53 features a triple-storage design that can accommodate a variety of storage combinations. Two PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs and DDR5 memory ensure fast boot-up and app loading times. In addition, ExpertCenter PN53 includes cleverly designed cooling features, AI-powered noise-cancelation technology for improved voice communications, and can support a single 8K monitor or up to four 4K monitors.

ExpertCenter PN53 offers up to 34% better single-thread performance and up to a 29% boost in multithread performance, compared to the previous PN51 model. In PCMark 10 Essentials group tests, ExpertCenter PN53 showed a 10% improvement in web browsing, videoconferencing, and app start-up times. It also performed 10% better than ExpertCenter PN51 in the Productivity test group that measures system performance with everyday office applications, including spreadsheets and writing workloads.

Solidigm, a leading global provider of innovative NAND flash memory solutions, has announced the launch of Solidigm Synergy 2.0 software. The Solidigm Synergy software suite improves overall system performance and delivers a better user experience than hardware alone can provide. This free download includes two elements, both optional, but highly recommended: the Solidigm Synergy Driver, which automatically improves the performance of Solidigm SSDs, and the Solidigm Synergy Toolkit, which offers useful SSD health reporting and tools for SSDs from any manufacturer.

Solidigm is the only company today that is investing in a solution with software built on top of the SSD that understands system behavior and adapts based on the user's needs. The latest Solidigm Synergy software improves the PC user experience for all SSD users. It increases performance where it matters most on Solidigm SSDs, and offers a host of useful drive management features for all SSDs, regardless of manufacturer. Solidigm is combining breakthrough SSD products with revolutionary software solutions and plans to introduce further innovations to deliver additional improvements to end-users.

Crucial's T700 PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSD series has been previewed a couple of times, showing some impressive sequential read and write performance, and now, Crucial has announced that it is available for pre-order, directly from Crucial's own store. The release date is set for May 30th.

In case you missed it earlier, the Crucial T700 PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSD offers sequential performance of up to 12,400 MB/s for read and up to 11,800 MB/s for write (11,700 MB/s and 9,500 MB/s for the 1 TB version). Available in 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB capacities, and with or without the heatsink, the Crucial T700 uses Micron 232-layer TLC NAND paired up with Phison's E26 controller. The endurance rating (TBW) for the Crucial T700 SSD series is set at 600 TB for the 1 TB version, 1200 TB for the 2 TB version, and 2400 TB for the 4 TB version, and it is backed by a 5-year limited warranty.

Giga Computing, a subsidiary of GIGABYTE and an industry leader in high-performance servers, server motherboards, and workstations, today announced continued collaboration with GRAID Technology, and the creation of GIGABYTE R Series servers to overcome NVMe bottlenecks in storage applications. Online shopping, financial trading, editing high-resolution images, and AI-generated content have all become parts of everyday life. Enterprise companies are now developing better server solutions with faster compute speeds, greater energy efficiency, and more secure data protection. Giga Computing focuses on the design of computing hardware for GIGABYTE servers and works with GRAID Technology to develop integration solutions that disrupt the storage market. Together they have created next-generation servers and NVMe controllers that will become the new standards for RAID across NVMe SSDs.

Traditional RAID technologies have become a bottleneck for NVMe SSD performance, so GRAID developed the SupremeRAID high-speed RAID card which Giga Computing used to develop a comprehensive solution. The GIGABYTE R283-S92 server became the first server to support the SupremeRAID SR-1010 RAID card. In addition, all future GIGABYTE R283 and R183 servers will incorporate this optimization and become servers with the highest compatibility for GRAID's next-generation technologies. After installing SupremeRAID SR-1010, the user simply installs the corresponding driver and software on the operating system to activate the virtual controllers on the NVMe SSD, process storage and computing functions, and satisfy the ultra-high-performance requirements for all types of workloads.

Cooler Master introduces Oracle Air, the inaugural product of its innovative storage enclosure line, designed to complement the modern digital experience. Leveraging state-of-the-art NVMe M.2 technology, this elegant aluminium SSD enclosure, delivers blazing-fast, effortlessly scalable, and portable storage solutions tailored for gaming enthusiasts and digital nomads alike. When one's daily routine entails traversing various locations while igniting innovative concepts and crafting artistic creations on the fly, reliable data storage becomes essential for safeguarding those invaluable moments.

Offering sturdy protection for creative assets during transit, Oracle Air also ensures swift data transmission to make the most of every moment in a busy lifestyle. Designed for effortless integration, users can easily switch between multiple SSDs or expand storage capacity without dealing with screws or tools. With built-in MOLLE compatibility, Oracle Air can be smoothly attached to backpacks and other carrying options, ensuring one's progress stays close at hand while exploring the world.