Greenliant has started sampling its DRAM-less NVMe M.2 2280 ArmourDrive solid state drive (SSD) modules to customers requiring data storage with fast access speeds, while using less power than other PCIe-interface SSDs. The new 88 PX Series NVMe M.2 2280 ArmourDrive SSDs use high-quality, industrial 3-bit-per-cell (TLC) 3D NAND flash memory and support a broad range of capacities from 128 GB to 2 TB. See NVMe M.2 ArmourDrive product information at http://bit.ly/NVMe-M2-SSD

Forward Insights predicts that the NVMe PCIe SSD market will grow from $10.5B in 2019 to $29.2B in 2024. To address this demand and diverse customer requirements, Greenliant has expanded its NVMe M.2 ArmourDrive portfolio to offer 2280 form factor SSDs both with and without on-board DRAM. The DRAM-less NVMe M.2 2280 ArmourDrive products support the PCIe Gen 3 x4 interface and can reach up to 2,500/2,100 MB/s sequential read/write performance. Available in commercial (0 to +70 degrees Celsius) or industrial (-40 to +85 degrees Celsius) temperature, DRAM-less NVMe M.2 2280 ArmourDrive SSDs provide high reliability and low latency to a wide variety of applications, including industrial automation, cloud computing, security, networking, broadcasting and transportation.

OWC, the premier zero-emissions Mac and PC technology company, and a respected provider of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions, and performance upgrade kits, announces the new OWC Envoy Pro Elektron USB-C Bus-Powered SSD. This new portable drive puts pro-grade speeds, dust and waterproof ruggedness, and universal compatibility in the palm of your hand.

The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is the fastest, toughest mini-sized SSD in the universe. Pocket-sized tiny, this USB-C bus-powered drive is crushproof, dustproof, and waterproof for editing/saving personal and work files anywhere at up to 1011 MB/s real-world speed. That's like transferring 91 high res photos per second or a 5 GB movie in less than five seconds. The sleek, cool running aircraft-grade aluminium storage solution with drive status LED operates silently without a power adapter. With the included USB-C cable and Type-A adapter, the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is plug and play compatible with Macs or PCs produced over the last decade, current models, and well into the future; as well as iPad Pro and Chromebook tablets.

PNY today announced the launch of XLR8 CS3040 M.2 NVMe Gen4 x4 Solid State Drive, the "CS3040", that will deliver the next generation speed and ultra-high performance demanded today. PNY's quest to develop the absolute ultra-fast internal storage to answer today's demands of 4K and 8K content creators, high-intensive applications and ever more demanding games, lead to the launch of the company's first PCIe 4.0 Solid State Drive.

With the ever-growing support from CPU and motherboard manufacturers to the latest NVMe Gen 4.0 protocol, it is eminent to have a supporting SSD that, when combined, will bring intensive users to a true Gen 4.0 level and deliver the performance and experience they ultimately demand. Delivering the future of ultra-high performance and next-generation speed today, the CS3040 offers sequential speeds of up to 5,600 MB/s Read and 4,300 MB/s Write that will accelerate productivity and elevate the gaming experience to a whole new level.

Phison was first to market with a PCI-Express gen 4.0 client-segment NVMe SSD controller, the E16 series, which let it bag design wins with several DIY gaming PC SSD manufacturers. Not to be left behind by PCIe gen 4.0 controllers by its competitors, such as SMI, Marvell, Samsung, etc., offering higher performance than the E16, the company is designing a newer generation controller for high-performance client-segment SSDs, under the E18 family. TweakTown has access to early performance figures of a drive in production with this controller. The CrystalDiskMark screenshot shows the drive's sequential transfer rates to be 7381.21 MB/s reads, and 7025.86 MB/s sequential writes, making the E18 among the fastest PCIe gen 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD controllers known.

Silicon Motion has recently launched three new PCIe 4.0 NVMe controllers for performance, mainstream, and value SSD applications. The new portfolio of controllers includes the SM2264 for performance, SM2267 for mainstream, and SM2267XT for value DRAM-less SSDs. The high-end SM2264 performance-optimized controller offers speeds of up to 7,400 MB/s sequential reads and 6,800 MB/s sequential writes which will compete with the Phison E18 controller and proprietary controllers from Samsung and Western Digital. The controller will be produced on TSMC's 12 nm node and supports 8 NAND channels along with LPDDR4/DDR4 DRAM.

The more value-focused SM2267 and SM2267XT controllers will offer strong performance rivaling high-end PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSDs. The two controllers both offer sequential read speeds of 3,900 MB/s and sequential write speeds of 3,500 MB/s with support for 4 NAND channels. They will both be manufactured on a 28 nm node for cost reductions and have entered mass production with the main difference between the two controllers being the exclusion of DRAM support on the SM2267XT. Consumer products featuring the new controllers should be available in the coming months.

SK hynix and Intel today announced that they have signed an agreement on Oct. 20, KST, under which SK hynix would acquire Intel's NAND memory and storage business for US $9 billion. The transaction includes the NAND SSD business, the NAND component and wafer business, and the Dalian NAND memory manufacturing facility in China. Intel will retain its distinct Intel Optane business.

SK hynix and Intel will endeavor to obtain required governmental approvals expected in late 2021. Following receipt of these approvals, SK hynix will acquire from Intel the NAND SSD business (including NAND SSD-associated IP and employees), as well as the Dalian facility, with the first payment of US $7 billion. SK hynix will acquire from Intel the remaining assets, including IP related to the manufacture and design of NAND flash wafers, R&D employees, and the Dalian fab workforce, upon a final closing, expected to occur in March 2025 with the remaining payment of US $2 billion. Per the agreement, Intel will continue to manufacture NAND wafers at the Dalian Memory Manufacturing Facility and retain all IP related to the manufacture and design of NAND flash wafers until the final closing.

The memory market is expected to remain in a state of oversupply during Q4 2020 for both DRAM and NAND flash according to a new report from TrendForce. This oversupply will mean ~10% lower prices for memory in Q4 2020 with further price drops in 2021, this will result in falling SSD prices of 10-15%. These price drops in the consumer market will likely result in the lowest SSD pricing seen to date. These reductions were mainly driven by Huawei losing access to foreign DRAM and NAND memory which wasn't fully taken up by other smartphone manufacturers leading to an access of supply. These lower SSD prices will help accelerate the decline of HDDs in consumer devices as price parity gets closer.

Plextor late last week unveiled the M8V Plus line of mainstream SATA SSDs in the 2.5-inch and M.2-2280 form-factors. The M8V Plus is an incremental update of the original M8V series from 2018. What's new is the implementation of KIOXIA-sourced 96-layer TLC NAND flash replacing 64-layer chips from Toshiba. The M8V Plus series comes in 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB variants, while the original M8V came in 128-thru-512 GB variants.

The Silicon Motion SM2258 controller under the hood of the M8V Plus, has been updated to its latest revision, and supports Plextor-innovated Plex Compress technology. This feature uses the controller's idle time to compress files that haven't been accessed for over 30 days. The Plex Turbo feature, which is essentially variable-size SLC cache, has also been improved to be larger in size. On-paper performance hasn't changed, with the company claiming up to 560 MB/s sequential reads, up to 520 MB/s sequential writes, up to 90,000 IOPS 4K random access for the 256 GB and 512 GB variants; and up to 88,000 IOPS random access for the 1 TB variant. The company rates write endurance for the 256 GB variant at 140 TBW, 512 GB variant at 280 TBW, and 560 TBW for the 1 TB variant. All three variants are backed by 3-year warranties. The company didn't reveal pricing.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, is pleased to announce the ADATA IM2P3014 M.2 2242 PCIe Gen3x2 M.2 solid state drive (SSD). Equipped with 3D TLC flash and high-quality chips, this industrial-grade SSD offers the performance needed to handle large data volumes, all the while being incredibly energy efficient. Along with other capabilities and features, the IM2P3014 is an SSD well-suited for applications relating to IoT, edge computing, and 5G.

The IM2P3014 is a robust and compact industrial-grade SSD made for the era of IoT, edge computing, and 5G. This PCIe Gen3x2 SSD supports NVMe 1.3 for excellent transmission performance with read/write speed up to 1600/1300 MB per second while being energy efficient and effective at dissipating heat. These capabilities make the IM2P3014 perfectly suited for space-constrained IPCs and server boot-up applications. What is more, the SSD sports a 3,000 P/E cycle rating for excellent longevity and is designed to operate optimally in a wide range of temperatures (-40°C to 85°C) for incredible endurance, reliability, and stability.

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the launch of the new CORSAIR MP400 Gen3 PCIe x4 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive, taking advantage of 3D QLC NAND technology to store massive amounts of data with lightning-fast transfer speeds of up to 3,400 MB/sec sequential read and 3,000 MB/sec sequential write. The MP400 is available now in 1 TB, 2 TB, or 4 TB capacities, with an 8 TB model coming soon.

Conveniently slotting directly into a motherboard thanks to its M.2 2280 industry-standard NVMe form-factor, the MP400 boasts wide-ranging compatibility and high-bandwidth performance, while its high-density 3D QLC NAND memory ensures better value than previous generation TLC NAND, able to store more data in the same amount of physical space.

Western Digital Corp. is helping gamers enhance their setups and adapt to the evolving gaming landscape heralded by the next generation of games with today's introduction of three new and upcoming products for its WD_BLACK portfolio of storage solutions. These include its first NVMe solid-state drive (SSD) with next-gen PCIe Gen 4 technology, a fully bootable Gen3 x8 add-in-card and a Thunderbolt 3-powered NVMe SSD gaming dock, each offering eye-catching RGB lighting options.

"As game developers move towards creating immersive titles that require higher performance, consumers need to equip themselves with the best tools to stay up-to-speed," said Jim Welsh, senior vice president, Consumer Solutions, Western Digital. "Innovative, high-performance storage solutions are essential to keep up with this ever-changing landscape. Our latest WD_BLACK products have been purpose-built to allow gamers to meet the increasingly high standards of future games and gaming platforms. We've optimized these products to not only provide more storage for gamers but to elevate the gaming experience as a whole."

Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) today introduced the industry's first native NVMe RAID 1 accelerator, a state-of-the-art technology for virtualized, multi-tenant cloud and enterprise data center environments which demand optimized reliability, efficiency, and performance. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is the first of Marvell's partners to support the new accelerator in the HPE NS204i-p NVMe OS Boot Device offered on select HPE ProLiant servers and HPE Apollo systems.

As the industry transitions from legacy SAS and SATA to NVMe SSDs, Marvell's offering helps data centers fast-track the move to higher performance flash storage. The innovative accelerator lowers data center total cost of ownership (TCO) by offloading RAID 1 processing from costly and precious server CPU resources, maximizing application processing performance. IT organizations can now deploy a "plug-and-play," NVMe-based OS boot solution, like the HPE NS204i-p NVMe OS Boot Device, that protects the integrity of flash data storage while delivering an optimized, application-level user experience.

TerraMaster, a professional brand that specializes in providing innovative storage products including network-attached storage (NAS) devices, launches the D8 Thunderbolt 3 8-bay professional-grade RAID storage. Designed for professional creators, the TerraMaster D8 Thunderbolt 3 offers large storage capacity support of up to 128 TB along with fast read and write speeds delivered by Thunderbolt 3 technology.

The TerraMaster D8 Thunderbolt 3 via its 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 interface can deliver speeds of up to 1600 MB/s. It is the perfect storage solution for non-linear editing applications such as 4K video editing, allowing professional creators to enjoy rapid video workflows. The D8 Thunderbolt 3 also offers high scalability allowing creators to daisy-chain more than five devices in a single Thunderbolt 3 connection. Creators can daisy-chain up to two 4K monitors to create a smart working space with large displays for professional video editing and productivity.

Addlink announced N10/N50 addNAS SSD product line. Aim at home, Soho, or small and medium business (SMB) NAS applications. addNAS N10 & N50 SSD, high-end SATA III & M.2 PCIE Gen 3 x4 SSD, are designed to meet 24/7 workload and requirements of NAS device as caching, tiered storage, or all-SSD array.
Today's NAS often comes with 2.5 GbE/10 GbE (10 Gigabit Ethernet) and higher connectivity interface which allows greater performance from system. In addition, with SSD prices continuing to become more affordable, there is never been a better time to replace traditional hard drivers with using SSDs.

addNAS SSD operates at higher speeds and with significantly better response times and lower latency compared to traditional hard drive. It consumes less power, causes nearly no noise and heat. No moving parts for shock/drop resistant. Addlink addNAS SSD use the controller that support the advanced error-correcting code (ECC) technology combines LDPC with RAID protection, wear leveling, and bad block management. Together, with these technologies extend the P/E cycle endurance of the SSD Drive.

KIOXIA is readying its next-generation flagship client-segment SSD, the XG7. Some details of the drive surfaced on the UNH NVMe Integrator's List and dug out by Komachi Ensaka. We know the drive's form-factor from the fact that the company's XG6 is a client-segment drive in the M.2-2280 form-factor, which leverages PCIe Gen 3. The XG7 is described as utilizing PCIe Gen 4 and the NVMe 1.4 protocol. No other details were revealed. The drive could utilize the company's latest generation BiCS Flash memory. There's no word on date of announcement of the drive by the company.

Western Digital announced a media event dated October 8, 2020, in which it's expected to announce the next generation of WD_Black line of gaming-grade storage products. Over the years, the WD_Black brand evolved from representing the company's fastest client-segment hard drives to gaming-grade client-segment products, including the company's fastest internal NVMe SSDs, external SSDs for game consoles, and fast external HDDs. Western Digital is expected to unveil its next-generation WD_Black NVMe SSD succeeding the SN750, which could possibly leverage PCI-Express Gen 4. We know this from the three motifs in the teaser image, which denote a desktop PC, notebook, and a console. The media event will be livestreamed on Twitch.

For years, MacBooks have been the de facto standard for digital DJ setups. Apple's recent product iterations, however, have left much to be desired in terms of professional connectivity - using industry standard DJ equipment with a MacBook requires the purchase of expensive and impractical adapters or hubs. XMG responds to the DJ community's growing demand for a functional, reliable alternative by releasing the DJ 15 - the first ever laptop designed, optimised and tested specifically to meet the needs of professional DJs. Weighing in at a mere 1.6 kg, this machine features a 15" non-glare Full HD IPS display and a wide array of standard ports. An entirely bloatware-free Windows 10 Pro installation, perfectly tuned to the DJ 15's hardware components, ensures ultra-low, stable DPC latency out of the box, even running off battery with WiFi and Bluetooth activated. On top of that, XMG offers unique and highly specialised support - by DJs, for DJs.

Western Digital Corp. today released two new SanDisk portable SSDs that offer nearly 2x the speed over previous generations. The SanDisk Extreme and SanDisk Extreme PRO portable SSDs are purpose-built to keep up with today's high-quality content demands. Professional photographers, videographers and enthusiasts capture and keep life's best moments every day and they need reliable solutions that perform on the move at astonishing speeds.

With capacities up to 2 TB, the new NVMe drives are perfect for creating amazing content or capturing and moving incredible 4K and 8K footage with ease. The flagship SanDisk Extreme PRO portable SSD features a forged aluminium chassis made to stay cool under the pressure of a heavy workload and a durable silicone design to withstand the rigors of production. The drives also help keep content safe with password protection and an upgrade to 256-bit AES hardware encryption.

Synology Inc. launched the 3.84 terabyte SAT5200 2.5" solid state drive. Designed for Synology users requiring high capacity and reliable storage arrays, all the while sustaining high performance low-latency operations for mission critical work. With the increasingly demanding environment in storage, the SSD is created with enterprise grade endurance and reliability to help businesses and users tackle intensive workloads with robust data protection.

"Part of designing a reliable storage system requires that companion drives that can consistently sustain heavy read and write operations without any performance degradation. Our SAT5200 SSDs are built specifically to tackle low-latency and consistent performance requirements demanded by our SMB and enterprise customers," said Julien Chen, Product Manager for Synology solid state drives.

Direct-attached performance from network-attached devices is no longer a thing of storage architects' dreams. KIOXIA America, Inc. (formerly Toshiba Memory America, Inc.), is now sampling Ethernet SSDs to select partners and customers interested in validating the benefits of Ethernet attached storage to their existing Ethernet (RoCEv2) networks. KIOXIA has been working in collaboration with key industry players Marvell, Foxconn-Ingrasys and Accton to bring groundbreaking Ethernet Bunch of Flash (EBOF) technology solutions to market - and this announcement is pivotal to that endeavor.

In an ongoing quest to contain explosive amounts of data, storage capacity and bandwidth must continue to grow while processing time must decrease. An EBOF system addresses these challenges through an Ethernet fabric that can scale flash and optimally disaggregate storage from compute. The EBOF storage solution bypasses the cost, complexity, and system limitations inherent with standard JBOF storage systems, which typically include a CPU, DRAM, HBA, and switch. This accelerates applications and workloads where disaggregated low-latency, high bandwidth, highly available storage is needed - bringing greatly improved performance and lower total cost of ownership to edge, enterprise and cloud data centers.

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

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

Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today unveiled the company's first consumer PCIe 4.0 NVMe solid state drive (SSD) - the Samsung SSD 980 PRO. The new 980 PRO is designed for professionals and consumers who want cutting-edge performance in their high-end PCs, workstations and game consoles.

"Over the years, Samsung has continuously challenged the limits of high-speed flash memory storage solutions," said Dr. Mike Mang, vice president of Memory Brand Product Biz at Samsung Electronics. "The new 980 PRO SSD reflects our continuing commitment to delivering exceptional products consumers have come to expect from Samsung."

ADATA XPG, a provider of systems, components, and peripherals for gamers, esports pros, and tech enthusiasts, today announces the XPG GAMMIX S70 PCIe Gen4x4 M.2 2280 solid state drive (SSD). With the launch of the S70, XPG now offers a comprehensive lineup of Gen4 SSDs, which includes the GAMMIX S50 and S50 Lite, to meet a range of budgets and needs. With the adoption of next-gen PCIe 4.0, the GAMMIX S70 delivers unmatched read and write performance and has the distinction of being the world's fastest M.2 SSD.

With the advent of 5G networks and the ever-growing volume of data being processed, PCIe Gen4 is a critical upgrade that will bring storage devices to the next level. The GAMMIX S70 expands XPG's Gen4 SSD series with a new option for discerning users seeking to harness the best that PCIe 4.0 can offer. Sporting blazing-fast read/write speeds of up to 7400/6400 MB per second. Users will have no doubt they have reached the pinnacle of SSD performance. In combination with NVMe 1.4 compatible, Dynamic SLC Caching, the S70 offers performance far superior to that of SATA and PCIe 3.0 SSDs. For added ease of use and convenience, the S70 is backward compatible with PCIe 3.0.

ADATA XPG, a provider of systems, components, and peripherals for gamers, esports pros, and tech enthusiasts, today announces the XPG GAMMIX S50 Lite PCIe Gen 4x4 M.2 2280 solid state drive (SSD). With the advent of 5G networks and the ever-growing volume of data being processed, the PCIe Gen4 interface is a critical upgrade that will bring storage devices to the next level. The S50 Lite expands the GAMMIX S50 series with a new option for mainstream users wanting to harness the capabilities of PCIe 4.0.

"With the launch of the S50 Lite, we have now extended our PCIe 4.0 SSD offering to meet not only the demands of early adopters but also mainstream users, whether for work or play," said Ibsen Chen, Director of Product Marketing at ADATA. "With support from our strategic partners at Silicon Motion, we have invested in developing a next-generation SSD that is accessible and offers exceptional performance."

Yangtze Memory Technology Company (YMTC), China's ambitious new memory manufacturer specializing in NAND flash, launched the first client-segment SSDs under its own brand, the PC005 Active series and the SC001 Active series. Rumors of YMTC developing its own brand SSDs surfaced first in June. Prior to that in May, it was reported that Phison could add support for YMTC NAND flash chips to variants of its existing SSD controllers, and so it's highly likely that the new YMTC SSDs use Phison-sourced controllers. Interestingly, the company deployed its first-generation Xtracking 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash chips instead of its 2nd generation 128-layer QLC chips.

The PC005 Active comes in the M.2-2280 form-factor with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface, leveraging the NVMe 1.3 protocol. The drive is available in 1 TB. 512 GB, and 256 GB capacities. All three variants read sequentially at speeds of up to 3,500 MB/s, wiring at up to 2,900 MB/s, up to 2,500 MB/s, and up to 1,200 MB/s, respectively. Their endurance is rated at 640 TBW for the 1 TB version, 320 TBW for the 512 GB, and 200 TBW for the 256 GB variant. All three are backed by 5-year warranties.