Panasonic today announced it is doubling the RAM and storage in the latest version of its popular Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 tablet and upgrading to the latest 7th generation Intel Core i5 processor. The addition of an optional high resolution thermal camera, combined with the powerful fully rugged Panasonic tablet and its versatile configurable set-up also makes it ideal for an even wider range of business sectors and applications.

The 5th generation of the fully rugged Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 delivers more performance for less power with an upgraded Intel Core i5-7300U vPro processor. It has also doubled the RAM to 8GB and storage to 256GB SSD.

Intel debuted its 3D QLC NAND flash memory on new SSD DC series 2.5-inch U.2 PCIe drives. Its technology partner Micron, too gave its 3D QLC an enterprise debut with the 5120 ION. The first client-segment debut from the IMFlash combine could be the Intel SSD 660p series of M.2 NVMe SSDs. Slotted between the 700p and the 600p, the new 660p implements homebrew 64-layer QLC NAND flash memory, and a new controller. It comes in sizes of 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB.

The best part about the 660p is its performance numbers. The drive takes advantage of PCI-Express 3.0 x4, and offers (at least on paper), performance numbers identical to those of the pricier 700p. The drives read at speeds of up to 1800 MB/s, with up to 1100 MB/s writes. The 600p, in comparison, capped out at 560 MB/s sequential writes, while the 700p is only slightly higher, at 1200 MB/s. Random access speeds are up to 150,000 IOPS (both reads and writes). QLC pays off rich dividends to consumers by way of price/GB. The 660p 512 GB is expected to be priced at 113.90€ (0.22€/GB), the 1 TB variant at 197.75€ (0.20€/GB), and the 2 TB variant at 391.43€ (0.20€/GB). Not bad for launch prices, considering these are PCIe NVMe drives priced competitively with SATA SSDs.

Western Digital Corporation, a data technology leader, today introduced the new Ultrastar DC SS530 SAS SSD, the company's highest-density drive and the fastest dual-port SAS SSD in the market¹, enabling server and storage array manufacturers to offer customers substantially lower data center TCO for Fast Data applications. By doubling maximum capacity of the previous generation to 15.36TB within the same 2.5-inch 15-mm form factor, drive storage density also doubles, giving IT managers the potential to reduce the number of drives deployed, consolidate servers and open up valuable rack space for improved CapEx and OpEx costs.

Developed in partnership with Intel , the Ultrastar DC SS530 is based on a trusted third-generation platform that has been previously qualified at most major OEMs worldwide. It offers consistent performance and reliability to meet the rigorous demands of today's toughest data center workloads. Designed with a 12Gb/s SAS interface, and available in capacities from 400GB to 15.36TB, the Ultrastar DC SS530 delivers up to 440,000 random read and 320,000 random write IOPS - providing rapid access to "hot" enterprise data for higher productivity and operational efficiency.

Toshiba today introduced the XG6 series SSDs. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface, the drives take advantage of the NVMe 1.3a protocol, and succeed the XG5 series from 2017. The drives implement Toshiba's new 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash dubbed BiCS Flash, which went into mass-production in Q1-2018. Available in 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB capacities, the drives offer sequential transfer rates of up to 3,180 MB/s reads, with up to 2,960 MB/s writes. Also on offer are 4K random access transfer rates of up to 355,000 IOPS reads, with up to 365,000 IOPS writes. The drives are expected to be backed by 5-year warranties, when they go on sale at prices competitive with the likes of Samsung's 970 EVO series.

Western Digital Corp. today announced successful development of its second-generation, four-bits-per-cell architecture for 3D NAND. Implemented for the company's 96-layer BiCS4 device, the QLC technology delivers the industry's highest 3D NAND storage capacity of 1.33 terabits (Tb) in a single chip. BiCS4 was developed at the joint venture flash manufacturing facility in Yokkaichi, Japan with our partner Toshiba Memory Corporation. It is sampling now and volume shipments are expected to commence this calendar year beginning with consumer products marketed under the SanDisk brand. The company expects to deploy BiCS4 in a wide variety of applications from retail to enterprise SSDs.

Intel announced that it started mass-production of PCI-Express SSDs for data-centers that implement the latest-generation 3D QLC NAND flash memory. The new QLC (4 bits per cell) NAND flash memory enables 33% increases in densities over TLC NAND flash, and with 3D (stacks), the density per chip is further multiplied. Built in the 15 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor with U.2 interface, the drive is built for the rigors of "warm storage" (data that isn't hot, but isn't cold/archival, either). Such drives can be slower than "hot data" drives based on faster MLC or even SLC NAND flash, but almost always up; and faster than HDDs. The first 3D QLC NAND-based SSD, which probably uses the same chips as this drive, is the Micron 5210 ION, which was launched in May.

With the advent of solid-state storage in pretty much every device you can think of, demand for mechanical HDDs has gone down, because users prefer fast and compact SSD storage over the mechanical dinosaurs. HDD manufacturers have been trying to stop the inevitable by coming out with new technologies to increase capacity - faster than SSD pricing can drop, but it seems they can't prevent the inevitable.

Now The Register UK reports that Western Digital will close its HDD factory near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is one of the company's first factories, operating since 1973. After the shutdown of the Malaysia plant, WD will be left with only two factories in Thailand, and is now trying to gain more share in the SSD market.

GIGABYTE is ready with two Aorus branded motherboards based on the upcoming AMD B450 mid-range socket AM4 chipset. These include the B450 Aorus Pro in the ATX form-factor, and the micro-ATX B450 Aorus M. The B450 Aorus Pro packs many of the features you'd expect from a more expensive board based on the pricier X470 chipset. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it for the AM4 SoC using a 11-phase VRM with high-current chokes. The AM4 SoC is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, and the board's sole reinforced PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. The second x16 slot is physically gen 3.0 x4 and shares its lanes with the top M.2-22110 slot; which is wired directly to the AM4 SoC. With an M.2 SSD installed, auto-switching gates the second x16 AIC slot. The third x16 slot is gen 2.0 x4, and wired to the chipset. The second M.2-2280 slot is gen 2.0 x4, too. A single PCIe x1 slot makes for the rest of the expansion.

Both M.2 slots on the B450 Aorus Pro feature heatsinks. Six SATA 6 Gbps ports, from which two come from the AM4 SoC, make for the rest of the storage connectivity. As part of the "gamer-grade" varnishing, this board gets rather high-end onboard audio, including a Realtek ALC1220 (120 dBA SNR) codec with EMI shielding, audio-grade WIMA and Muse capacitors, and ground layer isolation. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.1 type 2 ports (one each of type-A and type-C); and six USB 3.1 gen 1 (four on the rear panel, two by headers). Display outputs include DVI and HDMI. The sole networking connectivity is a 1 GbE interface. Its controller is unknown. You get RGB LED illumination and headers, and an integrated rear I/O shield.

Colorful Technology Company Limited, professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and high-performance storage solutions is proud to announce the availability of its latest limited edition seasonal release for its solid-state drive product line. The COLORFUL SL500 640G Summer LE SSD marks the celebration of summer with a brand new color model for its SL500 SSD. Coming in at a bright Glacier Blue color, this limited edition joins the previously released Spring LE back in March. The seasonal Limited Edition release from COLORFUL are a special way of bringing users different visual experiences from their products.

Based off the highly successful SL500 series from COLORFUL, this special release is a high-performance, high-capacity model intended for power-users and gamers that need both speed and storage. The Limited Edition Glacier Blue color adds a touch of vibrance especially for users looking to build around a theme.

Seagate, who are making strides in both storage density and performance of traditional HDDs with their HAMR and Multi-actuator technologies aren't going to let themselves be left dry in the SSD race. To that effect, the company, via a blog post, has just announced the introduction and availability of their barracuda SSDs, available in capacities up to 2 TB (in 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB additional tiers).

Like most recent SATA III SSDs, the Barracuda SSDs max out the data channel with maximum sequential read and write speeds reaching 540 and 520 MB/s respectively. There's a five-year warranty on these SSDs, which is in line with industry standards, and Seagate is asking $74.99 for the 250 GB SSD; $119.99 for the 500 GB one; and $229.99 for the 1 TB capacity. The 2 TB model will be available at a later date.

ADATA introduced the SR2000CP a new enterprise SSD for when you absolutely, positively, need to push data at 6 gigabytes per second. Built in the half-height add-on card form-factor with PCI-Express 3.0 x8 interface, the drive ships in capacities of 2 TB, 3.5 TB, 4 TB, 8 TB, and 11 TB. The drives use 3D "eTLC" NAND flash. This type of memory has the 3 bits per cell characteristics of TLC, but endurance (P/E cycles) comparable to MLC NAND flash, which lends it endurance of 1~3 DWPD under a 5-year warranty.

The 4 TB variant tested by ADATA, churns out some impressive performance numbers - up to 1 million IOPS 4K random reads, up to 150,000 IOPS 4K random writes; and sequential transfer speeds of up to 6 GB/s reads, with up to 3.8 GB/s writes. You also get enterprise essentials such as user-configurable overprovisioning, power-loss protection, native 256-bit AES encryption, and up to protection against 95% relative humidity and 55°C ambient temperature (Google's datacenters). The company didn't reveal pricing as the drives could be served up to enterprise customers.

Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it is being recognized for its environmental reliability by receiving the industry's first Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) certificate in Korea with its 512Gb 64-layer 3bit V-NAND and 860 EVO 4TB SSD.

The Environmental Product Declaration is a national certification system in Korea which recognizes a product's performance according to seven key environmental metrics including carbon footprint, resource footprint, ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication, photochemical smog, and water footprint.

Realtek, known more for its cheap Ethernet PHYs and audio CODECs, entered the SSD controller market in 2017, with mainstream SSD controllers. This year, the company plans to take on giants such as Silicon Motion, Phison, Intel, and Samsung, with its own high-performance controller, the RTS5762. The PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface provides 4,000 MB/s of raw bandwidth per direction, and while it's technically impossible for any device to transfer its payload data at that speed (on account of various protocol overheads), very few PCI-Express 3.0 x4 SSDs get within 80th percentile of it (3200 MB/s per direction transfers). It's only recently that 3400 MB/s became the gold-standard of high-end M.2 NVMe SSDs, but Realtek plans to change that.

The RTS5762 is capable of up to 3,500 MB/s reads, or 87.5% saturation of the PCI-Experss 3.0 x4 bus. It supports up to 8 NAND flash channels, 3D TLC and 3D QLC NAND flash memory, and takes advantage of the newer NVMe 1.3 protocol. The only other controller right now that's capable of 3,500 MB/s reads is Samsung "Phoenix," found exclusively on the 970 Pro series (and no other brand's products). Sequential write performance is where this Realtek chip edges past Samsung, with the company showing CDM performance of up to 3,000 MB/s writes, whereas the 970 Pro is only specified to write up to 2,700 MB/s. Realtek also beefed up its mainstream NVMe controller portfolio with the new RTS5763DL. If drives based on this chip are priced right, it could carve out a new market segment between cheaper PCIe 3.0 x2 drives, and "upper mainstream" x4 drives such as the Samsung 970 EVO. Armed with just 4 NAND flash channels and no DRAM to cushion it, the RTS5763DL reads at up to 2150 MB/s, and writes at up to 1475 MB/s (as tested on CDM), making it faster than PCIe 3.0 x2 drives, at least in the sequential reads test.

BIOSTAR unveils its newest solid-state drive featuring 3D TLC NAND flash - the M500 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD. The BIOSTAR M500 uses the compact M.2 2280 form factor that is compatible with latest-generation motherboards, laptops, and mini PCs. It supports the ultra-speed PCI-express Gen3x2 interface which offers builders greater compatibility. The BIOSTAR M500 SSD is NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) 1.2 compliant delivering high-performance speeds of up to 1700MB/s sequential read and 1100MB/s sequential write and random read/write IOPS of up to 200K/180K.

Smart Temperature Display
The BIOSTAR M500 Series SSD features visible smart LED indicators on its heatsink cover for temperature and data activity. The LED Smart Temperature display delivers real-time temperature status of the solid-state drive in three different levels: green for temperature below 50°C, yellow for temperature between 50°C to 65°C, and red for temperature above 65°C. The LED Data Transmission display data transmission status: blue light for access status and a green light for PCIe transmission mode (Gen 2 / Gen 3).

Transcend Information Inc. (Transcend ), a leading manufacturer of storage and multimedia products, is proud to announce the release of the JetDrive 855/850 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe solid-state drive (SSD) upgrade kit for Mac computers. The JetDrive 850 features read and write speeds of up to 1,600MB/s and 1,300MB/s, and is made of the latest 3D NAND flash. The JetDrive 855 includes a sleek aluminum Thunderbolt enclosure for a simple upgrade experience. Both models are the perfect upgrade for a MacBook Pro , MacBook Air , Mac mini , or Mac Pro .

PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe interface allows transfer speeds of up to 1,600MB/s
Transcend's JetDrive 850 features the PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe interface, meaning four lanes are used to transmit and receive data simultaneously. The result is compelling performance of up to 1,600MB/s read and 1,300MB/s write. Crafted of 3D NAND flash memory, the JetDrive 850 is reliable, highly compatible, and brings a whole new level of performance to Mac computers.

In their recent earnings call, Micron commented that they have 96-layer 3D NAND technology on track for volume shipments in the second half of 2018. Most of today's SSDs typically use 32-layer technology, with 64-layer flash chips used in some recent releases like the Crucial MX500. 96-layer is the third generation of 3D NAND and increases storage capacity per chip even further which allows smaller and more energy efficient mobile devices to be built. Of course it will be cheaper too, compared to current-generation 64 layer NAND, which should bring SSD pricing down even more, and of course generally help pricing of consumer products which use flash memory.

The second important note from the presentation is that Micron expects 1X nm (18 nm) DRAM production to exceed that of previous generations before the end of this year. Their next-generation 1Y nm (15/16 nm) DRAM is on track to begin production shipments in the second half of 2018, too. As they noted in a previous event, their product and process roadmap for DRAM 1z looks solid and 1-alpha development programs already under way.

Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has launched the industry's highest capacity NVMe solid state drive (SSD) based on the incredibly small Next-generation Small Form Factor (NGSFF) - an eight-terabyte (TB) NF1 SSD. The new 8TB NVMe NF1 SSD has been optimized for data-intensive analytics and virtualization applications in next-generation data centers and enterprise server systems.

"By introducing the first NF1 NVMe SSD, Samsung is taking the investment efficiency in data centers to new heights," said Sewon Chun, senior vice president of Memory Marketing at Samsung Electronics. "We will continue to lead the trend toward enabling ultra-high density data centers and enterprise systems by delivering storage solutions with unparalleled performance and density levels."

Today Toshiba Memory America, Inc., the U.S.-based subsidiary of Toshiba Memory Corporation, unveiled a new, game-changing category of SAS SSDs expected to replace SATA SSDs in server applications. The RM5 12Gbit/s value SAS (vSAS) series features capacity, performance, reliability, manageability and data security advantages - at a price that obsoletes SATA SSDs.

A homogeneous SAS environment has long been the gold standard for enterprise server and storage systems. With vertical integration expertise in flash technology, firmware and controller design, Toshiba leveraged its leading position as the world's leading SAS SSD line optimizing RM5 to close the cost gap with SATA - and usher in a new class of SSD. SATA simply cannot compete with SAS, falling well short in terms of performance, robustness and encryption options.

Seagate Technology plc, a world leader in data storage solutions, today announced the new Game Drive for Xbox SSD - a flash-speed SSD storage drive designed exclusively for Xbox One - delivering fast gaming performance and convenient portability. Available in 2TB, 1TB, and 500GB capacities, the pro-level flash SSD upgrade delivers fast game loading performance to get you into the game. The officially licensed Xbox drive offers branding elements that match the Xbox One X consoles and increases the console's storage capacity to make room for all of your games and downloadable add-ons.

"The quality of production and in-game environment for today's game titles is off the charts," said Jeff Fochtman, vice president of marketing for Seagate Technology. "Seagate's Game Drive for Xbox SSD offers gamers the extra capacity for their entire library and flash-speed performance so they can jump into their games without waiting on slow menus and load times."

PLEXTOR, a leading developer of award-winning solid-state drives (SSDs) and other high-performance digital storage devices, showcased the new M9Pe Extreme at COMPUTEX 2018, Taipei, Taiwan. Breaking consumer SSD speed barriers, the new M9Pe Extreme delivers astonishing sequential read/write speeds of up to 6,500 / 5,000 MB/s. The next-generation M9Pe Extreme combines technologically advanced components and the Marvell 88NR2241 intelligent NVMe switch along with PLEXTOR exclusive technologies to deliver high level performance required by prosumers, professional PC gamers and other application-intensive users such as animation editors, audio-visual drafting personnel, and film-making companies. Not only does M9Pe Extreme provide greatly enhanced data transmission performance, it also offers RAID functionalities for data redundancy and performance improvements making it a great choice for office or workspace environments.

Fay Ho, Senior Director for Brand Division, LITE-ON Technology Corporation, said, "Continuing Plextor's outstanding capability in the high-speed storage devices, the M9Pe Extreme, as the name states, delivers unprecedented extreme high-speed performance, making a new record in consumer SSD read/write speeds. With high quality components and excellent performance boosting technologies, PC gaming experience, for one, will never be the same."

Toshiba Memory America, Inc. (TMA), the U.S.-based subsidiary of Toshiba Memory Corporation, today announced that its RC100 Series of NVMe (NVM Express ) M.2 solid state drives (SSDs) is now available. First introduced earlier this year at CES 2018, the new RC100 Series is geared toward the retail DIY market and features a powerful yet cost-effective design to make the benefits of NVMe storage accessible to more users than ever before. The Toshiba RC100 Series is well-suited to the entire spectrum of mainstream computing - from gaming desktops and notebooks to mini-PCs (NUCs) and everything in between. The new drives are available in capacities of 120, 240 and 480 gigabytes.

While the performance advantages of first-generation NVMe drives are well known, this high performance has come at an equally high cost - until now. By leveraging its state-of-the-art 64-layer, 3-bit-per-cell TLC (triple-level cell) BiCS FLASH technology and an in-house-developed controller, Toshiba Memory Corporation was able to fit an entire SSD within a single BGA package. The RC100 Series balances cost and performance and bridges the gap between SATA and enthusiast-grade NVMe SSDs. A compact design also enables the RC100 to fit onto an M.2 2242 (22x42mm) PCB, making it one of the smallest SSDs commercially available.

It's not just fast memory, but also fast storage from GALAX this Computex. The company unveiled three new SSD products, beginning with the Hall of Fame (HOF) E12 AIC PCIe SSD. This drive features signature HOF styling, complete with the white PCB, and a silvery shroud. There's also a dash of RGB LED lighting elements along the top and front of the shroud. The drive comes in 1 TB capacity, and combines 3D TLC NAND flash with new Phison PS5012-E12 controller. The drive takes advantage of PCI-Express 3.1 x4 and the NVMe 1.3 protocol. The drive is capable of sequential speeds of up to 3400 MB/s reads, with up to 3000 MB/s writes, and 4K random access speeds of up to 600,000 IOPS.

Next up, is the GALAX One 2.5-inch SATA drive. The model shown has 240 GB capacity, and combines MLC NAND flash with Phison PS3111-S11 controller, to serve up sequential transfer rates of up to 520 MB/s reads, and up to 460 MB/s writes, and 4K random access speeds of up to 90,000 IOPS reads, with up to 80,000 IOPS writes. Lastly, there's the GamerRGB, a 2.5-inch SATA drive with 256 GB capacity, the same PS3111-S11 controller, but RGB LED lighting. The company didn't reveal performance numbers for this drive.

Corsair today launched a new series of SSDs under their brand. The MP300 carry a more budget affiliation, offering a high-speed NVMe solution (which Corsair says is up to three times faster than SATA) for relatively low prices. Like other budget NVMe solutions, the Corsair MP300 runs on a PCIe 2x bus, instead of the higher performance 4x (which carries higher cost for the controllers, hence, the price savings).

With that bus, Corsair is quoting up to 1600 MB/s read speeds, and up to 1040 MB/s writes, which are still more than enough for mainstream workloads. The usage of 3D TLC NAND also helps in the cost savings, naturally - and doesn't carry the same performance and longevity issues as it may have had in its inception. Corsair is selling these drives at 120, 240, 480 and 960 GB capacities, at €59.99, €94.99, €154.99, and €314.99 respectively.

Marvell, a leader in storage, networking and connectivity semiconductor solutions, today announced its latest NVM Express (NVMe ) solid-state drive (SSD) controller family for mainstream and high-performance PC client and edge computing SSDs. The Gen 3x4 PCIe SSD controllers, the 4-channel 88SS1084 and 8-channel 88SS1100, bring leading performance, endurance and reliability to the industry and will help broaden the adoption of NVMe SSDs across emerging client and edge computing applications. The controllers integrate Marvell's fourth generation of NANDEdge technology, offering the advanced error correction capabilities to address the increasing demands required to enable future SSD solutions with emerging 96-layer triple level-cell (TLC) and quad level-cell(QLC) NAND architectures.

As gaming, video-on-demand, CAD, imaging, photography and video surveillance proliferate and scale, NVMe SSDs can meet the increasing storage performance and capacity requirements that these end use applications seek. The new Marvell client NVMe SSD controller family can provide up to 3.6GB/s of bandwidth and up to 700,000 input output per second (IOPS). The 88SS1084 and 88SS1100 devices can save system power consumption by supporting lower voltage NAND devices and LPDDR4 DRAM components. These features enable PCs and edge computing devices to process and store increasingly data-intensive workloads more quickly and reliably.

Kingston's UV500 family of SSDs debuted last April with capacities ranging from 120 GB all the way up to 960 GB. However, Kingston has decided to add a 2 TB model to the existing lineup due to increasing demands for higher capacity drives. Like its siblings, the 2 TB model also employs the Marvell 88SS1074 controller and 3D TLC NAND. It will also carry the same features like support for 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption and TCG Opal 2.0. While the 120 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB models are available in 2.5-inch, M.2, and mSATA formats, the 2 TB model only comes in the 2.5-inch form factor. In terms of performance, the 2 TB variant delivers sequential read and write speeds up to 520 MB/s and 500MB/s, respectively. It also offers 4 KB random read performance up to 79,000 IOPS and 4 KB write performance up to 50,000 IOPS. Backed by a 5-year warranty, the UV500 2 TB SSD is priced at $695.50 according to Kingston's website.