NGD Systems, Inc., the leader in computational storage, today announced the general availability (GA) of the 16 terabyte (TB) Catalina-2 U.2 NVMe solid state drive (SSD). The Catalina-2 is the first NVMe SSD with 16TB capacity that also makes available NGD's powerful "In-Situ Processing" capabilities. The Catalina-2 does this without impact to the reliability, quality of service (QoS) or power consumption, already available in the current shipping NGD Products.

The use of Arm multi-core processors in Catalina-2 provides users with a well-understood development environment and the combination of exceptional performance with low power consumption. The Arm-based In-Situ Processing platform allows NGD Systems to pack both high capacity and computational ability into the first 16TB 2.5-inch form factor package on the market. The NGD Catalina-2 U.2 NVMe SSD only consumes 12W (0.75W/TB) of power, compared to the 25W or more used by other NVMe solutions. This provides the highest energy efficiency in the industry.

QNAP Systems, Inc. has extended the lineup of QM2 PCIe expansion cards with new models that support up to four M.2 SSDs slots on a single card. QM2 cards support either M.2 SATA SSDs or M.2 PCIe NVMe SSDs to enable SSD caching for boosted IOPS performance or to form an auto-tiering volume for optimal storage performance. QM2 cards also allow QNAP NAS users to maximize both storage capacity and performance by installing M.2 SSDs without occupying any 3.5-inch drive bays.

"When faced with a performance bottleneck, the random read/write speed of the hard drives in a NAS is one of the decisive performance factors," said Joan Hsieh, Product Manager of QNAP, continuing "QM2 cards can greatly boost the performance of QNAP NAS with PCIe slots, while the flexible configuration of SSD caching and I/O-aware Qtier all helps multiply NAS performance."

Ahead of Computex 2018 CRYORIG announces new M.2 cooler Frostbit and RGB enhanced C7 RGB CPU Cooler. CRYORIG's Frostbit is not only the industry first aftermarket M.2 NVMe SSD cooler with dual heatpipes, it allows full adjustment of the Secondary Heatpipe and large volume Heatsink. The C7 RGB is based on CRYORIG's award winning ITX cooler C7, with a 12v RGB lighting enhanced 92 mm fan. Both products will be shown at CRYORIG's Computex booth at Nangang Exhibition Hall I0527.

Toshiba Memory Corporation (TMC) today announced that it decided to start construction of a new state-of-the-art fab for BiCS FLASH , its proprietary 3D flash memory, in Kitakami, Iwate prefecture in July this year.

TMC has selected Kitakami City as the next location to expand its operations in September last year, and has started preparations for construction of the new fab. Demand for 3D flash memory is increasing significantly on fast growing demand for enterprise SSD for datacenters and servers. TMC expects continued strong growth in the mid and long term, and the timing of its construction positions it to capture this growth and expand its business.

The new fab will be completed in 2019, and will have a quake absorbing structure and an environmentally friendly design that includes the latest energy saving manufacturing equipment. It will also introduce an advanced production system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to boost productivity. Decisions on the new fab's equipment investment, production capacity and production plan will reflect market trends. TMC expects to continue its joint venture investments based on discussion with Western Digital in the new facility.

Micron Technology, Inc. has commenced shipments of the industry's first SSD built on revolutionary quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology. Unveiled at Micron's 2018 Analyst and Investor Event, the Micron 5210 ION SSD provides 33 percent more bit density than triple-level cell (TLC) NAND, addressing segments previously serviced with hard disk drives (HDDs). The introduction of new QLC-based SSDs positions Micron as a leader in providing higher capacity at lower costs to address the read-intensive yet performance-sensitive cloud storage needs of AI, big data, business intelligence, content delivery and database systems.

As workloads evolve to meet the ever-increasing demands for real-time data insights and analytics, data centers increasingly need the capacity, speed, reliability and steady state performance that enterprise flash storage provides. Micron QLC NAND - reaching densities of 1 terabit with its next-generation 64-layer 3D NAND structure - is optimized to meet these demands and make SATA SSD performance and capacity more approachable than ever before.

COLORFUL Technology Company Limited, professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and high-performance storage solutions is proud to announce the expansion of its storage offering with the addition of its largest capacity solid-state drive to date. COLORFUL is announcing the availability of the SL500 960 GB SSD which will join the fast-growing line-up of COLORFUL high-performance, high-speed storage solutions.

With the introduction of the SL500 960 GB, gamers, power users and professionals seeking high-speed storage with plenty of capacity for various workloads including modern games, large multimedia files and expansive data can be served rapidly. The 960 GB capacity of the SL500 makes it an ideal choice for those individuals that don't want to compromise performance and capacity.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, presents its UD PRO series SATA Interface SSDs with built-in DDR3 RAM, adhering to GIGABYTE standards for high quality, ultra durable products and providing users with a superior product experience. Newly introduced GIGABYTE UD PRO series SSDs include both 256 GB and 512 GB capacity options and come with a clean, sleek design featuring a black and gray exterior with the product name engraved in white. Not only they do utilize high quality 3D NAND Flash memory, they also come with a high-speed, low power DDR3L buffer cache to accelerate the read/write speeds of the SSD, fulfilling the GIGABYTE standard for high quality products.

In comparison to standard SSDs without built-in buffer cache, GIGABYTE UD PRO series SSDs are twice as effective even when its flash memory is at full capacity. At the same time, the random write (IOPS) is up to 16 times faster than non buffer cache versions. Additionally, integrated DDR3L RAM allows users to make use of the entire flash memory capacity without sacrificing performance quality or storage capacity. It's important to note that GIGABYTE has thoroughly tested the UD PRO series SSDs by implementing them on a full range of motherboards with their respective chipsets to evaluate both the functionality as well as durability of the SSDs. Through stress tests under high temperatures and other extreme conditions, the UD PRO series SSDs not only passed the tests but performed flawlessly.

Mushkin launched the Pilot line of M.2 NVMe SSDs, which it debuted at the 2018 CES. The drives combine Silicon Motion SM2262 controller with 3D TLC NAND flash memory. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, the drives feature PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface, and take advantage of the NVMe 1.3 protocol. The drive comes in four capacities - 120 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB, and 1 TB, which differ in performance.

The 120 GB variant offers sequential transfer speeds of up to 1215 MB/s reads, with up to 515 MB/s writes, up to 91,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 133,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The 250 GB variant is almost twice as fast, with up to 2470 MB/s sequential reads, up to 1000 MB/s sequential writes, up to 179,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 257,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The 500 GB variant is faster still, with up to 2680 MB/s sequential reads, with up to 1755 MB/s writes, up to 335,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 277,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The 1 TB variant leads the pack, with up to 2710 MB/s sequential reads, with up to 1755 MB/s writes, up to 283,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 280,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The drives are backed by 3-year warranties.

TDK Corporation announces the sequential launch of the embedded SD ESRD4 series, the embedded SSD ESS1B series and the M.2 SSD Type 2280-D5-B-M SNS1B series. With the progress of IoT, the demand for micro storage for edge data is rapidly expanding. In particular, eMMC, which can be mounted on a surface, was expected to be potent, but the trend is shifting from eMMC to UFS, which is associated with the larger capacity of smartphones.

On the other hand, a reliable and appropriate storage capacity is required for I-IoT that usually uses a small capacity. TDK's embedded SD ESRD4 series is a SD card, equipped with a highly durable SLC/pSLC NAND flash that can be implemented on boards. It covers a wide range of capacities from 1GB to 32GB, suitable for storing a lightweight system such as Linux and RTOS.

Samsung continues to outpace all competition in the SSD market - which it has basically cornered, at least in enthusisasts' minds, when it comes to performance and reliability. In a bid to strengthen their grip, Samsung have decided to introduce their 970 EVO and 970 PRO SSDs with lower pricing than previously announced. This reduced pricing across the entire capacity catalog is sure to bring the heat to other, competing solutions in the market, and make Samsung's options - which now count with a 5 year warranty - all the more appealing.

The new pricing will see Samsung's 970 EVO, for example, going for $109.99 in its 250 GB form; $199 for 500 GB; $399 for its 1 TB capacity; and $799 in its ultimate, 2 TB form. These prices place it in an extremely competitive light with Intel's 760p, for example ($116.25, $215.45, $399.99 and $1730.01, respectively) and WD's in-house WD Black ($119.99, $234.24 and $449.99 for the 1 TB version). The 970 PRO, the best-performing SSD, will apparently be available from $249.99 (500 GB) and $499.99 (1 TB). Samsung essentially lowered pricing against its previous generation 960 EVO and 960 PRO, while delivering (virtually) across-the-board improvements.

OWC , a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, has announced that effective immediately, it is lowering the price of the bus-powered 1.0TB Envoy Pro EX Thunderbolt 3. OWC will be the first technology manufacturer to offer a 1.0TB Thunderbolt 3 SSD for under $500.

The Envoy Pro EX is the Mac and Windows PC solution that is built with a take anywhere design - be it importing images on a location shoot, performing live on-stage, editing in-studio, transferring data between workflows, or transporting music files or family photos for sharing. The powerful and portable drive pushes the envelope on performance, pairing Thunderbolt 3 with an M.2 (NVMe) SSD to provide transfer speeds up to 1,800MB/s, up to 3x faster than USB 3.0 SSDs.

Apacer introduced the AS2280P2, a mid-range M.2 NVMe SSD. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, the drive features PCI-Express gen 3.0 x2 interface, taking advantage of the NVMe protocol. It features 3D TLC NAND flash memory, and comes in capacities of 120 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB. The 120 GB variant offers sequential transfer rates of up to 1550 MB/s reads, with up to 530 MB/s writes; both the 240 GB and 480 GB read at speeds of up to 1650 MB/s, and differ with write speeds. The 240 GB variant writes at speeds of up to 950 MB/s, and the 480 GB up to 1000 MB/s. All variants offer 4K random access performance of up to 92,160 IOPS. Backed by 3-year warranties, the 120 GB variant is priced at 45.90€, the 240 GB variant 77.90€, and the 480 GB variant 156.90€.

AKITIO, in a partnership with Intel will be releasing a special edition of the popular Node Lite PCIe box, bundled with the recently announced Intel Optane 905P, 960GB SSD as well as other higher capacity drives as they become available.

The Intel Optane 905P SSD is a new technology that is different from NAND flash memory. The Optane is a hybrid between DRAM and typical storage memory. By connecting the Intel Optane drive inside the Akitio Node Lite via Thunderbolt 3, we are able to fully utilize the Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth to achieve incredibly fast performance of up to 2200MB/s in both read and write. Unlike NAND flash based SSD's that provide fast performance in only large sized random read/write operations, the Optane drive provides the same phenomenal speeds in both large and small file transfers.

SMART Modular Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of SMART Global Holdings, Inc., (NASDAQ: SGH), and a leader in specialty memory, storage and hybrid solutions including memory modules, Flash memory cards and other solid state storage products, today announced that it has begun shipping its nvNITRO Accelerator Card featuring MRAM technology. SMART has partnered with Everspin Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRAM), the world's leading developer and manufacturer of discrete and embedded magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), to launch the new Spin-transfer Torque MRAM (STT-MRAM)-based nvNITRO Accelerator Card. The nvNITRO is ideally suited for the most demanding transaction logging applications and, along with enhanced performance features, is designed with plug-and-play capability requiring no changes to system hardware, memory reference, bios or file systems.

MRAM technology is byte-addressable and persistent with very low latency, enabling dramatically improved system performance for many applications. The nvNITRO Accelerator Card fully exploits these unique attributes to provide a disruptive solution for industries where transaction processing and data recording performance are critical. For example, nvNITRO can reduce financial application wait times by reducing latency up to 90% over enterprise SSDs. Based on this performance data, SMART and Everspin will jointly target customers in the financial sector including joint demonstrations of nvNITRO performance at The Trading Show in Chicago, May 9-10.

Ahead of its launch, Intel's upcoming Optane 905P SSD surfaced on Newegg, with 960 GB capacity, and an insane $1,600 price (pre-launch price), and a glowing shroud. The retailer put out close to no technical details of the drive, but leaked documents from Intel website do that job for us. Apparently, the Optane 905P comes in both PCI-Express 3.0 x4 add-on card (up to 960 GB) and 15 mm-thick 2.5-inch 32 Gbps U.2 (up to 480 GB) form-factors.

The drive offers sequential transfer rates of up to 2600 MB/s reads, with up to 2200 MB/s writes. The 4K random access numbers are stellar - up to 575,000 IOPS random reads, and up to 550,000 IOPS random writes, with under 10 µs (micro-seconds) latencies. Drives from both form-factors have a rated endurance of 10 DWPD (drive writes per day). These make the 905P slightly faster than the 900P, which clocks in at 2500/2000 MB/s sequential reads/writes, and 550,000/500,000 IOPS 4K random access.

The sky is the limit for TEAMGROUP's T-FORCE gaming product series. After releasing the award-winning T-FORCE RGB luminous memory module, today TEAMGROUP launches the new generation of 2.5" RGB solid state drive - DELTA RGB SSD is breathing colorful new life into the solid state drive. It is the first internal SSD that has the largest RGB luminous area on the market. The ratio of non-luminous area to luminous area is 5:3 which makes your computer and storage device more colorful and brighter than ever.

The 16.8 million color LED is making the boring SSD full of changes, and the light color effect can also synchronize with the motherboard, making player's computer more colorful. Two industry exclusive versions are released at once: DELTA S(Simple version) and DELTA(Magnificent version). Moreover, there are black and white two colors available for consumers to choose from, meeting different usage requirements and lighting up consumers' storage devices.

Ahead of its launch, a curious-looking Optane 905P PCI-Express add-in card (AIC) SSD, bearing model number SSDPED1D960GAX1, showed up on Newegg, confirming its imminent launch. The model listed offers 960 GB of storage based on 3D XPoint memory, and unless we're mistaken, an illuminated shroud, unlike its predecessor, the Optane 900P.

The capacity here is the star-attraction, as the Optane 900P only comes in capacities up to 480 GB (that's 280 GB and 480 GB), which had been the biggest complaint of its target audience, PC enthusiasts. The added capacity should also increase the drive's endurance numbers, although the Newegg listing puts out no performance numbers from the manufacturer. The Optane 905P 960 GB commands a US $1,602 price, for now.

Samsung Electronics, today introduced the Samsung 970 PRO and EVO, the third generation of its industry-leading consumer solid state drive (SSD) lineup. Having led the market with the first consumer-focused NVMe SSD in 2015, Samsung continues to push the performance barriers with this latest generation of SSDs that are built for tech enthusiasts and professionals so that they can enjoy higher bandwidth for intensive workloads on PCs and workstations.

"Samsung has led the NVMe SSD industry since its inception, and the company continues to define the latest standards of consumer storage with unprecedented performance of the 970 PRO and EVO SSDs," said Un-Soo Kim, senior vice president of Brand Product Marketing, Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. "The 970 series sets a new bar in all aspects for the NVMe SSD market with groundbreaking performance, superior reliability and best-in-class capacity."

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced it is shipping the UV500 family line of SSD products. Available in multiple form factors, UV500 will be Kingston's first 3D NAND-enabled SSD featuring full-disk encryption. UV500 is powered by the Marvell 88SS1074 controller, and combined with 3D NAND Flash, delivers incredible read/write speeds of up to 520 MB/s and 500 MB/s, making it 10x faster than a 7200 RPM hard drive.

UV500 dramatically improves a system's overall responsiveness with incredible boot, loading and transfer times; and, with no moving parts is far less likely to fail compared to mechanical hard drives. UV500 protects sensitive data with 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption and supports TCG Opal 2.0. It is available in three different form factors (2.5", M.2 2280, mSATA) to accommodate any client system. UV500 is perfect as a boot drive or for primary storage as it is available in 120 GB, 240 GB, 480 GB, 960 GB and 1920 GB capacities.

If there's one green, DIY upgrade path available for users far and wide right now is acquiring an SSD. With prices on RAM being crazy enough as they are (even if slightly better now compared to some months ago), and the finally cooling prices on graphics cards (due, in no small part, to this), the latest times have been hard for users looking for a straight upgrade. SSDs, however, provide one of the most impactful system upgrades for any kind of user's workload - and pricing on these has been as merry as merry can be, with a chance of improving even more in the future.

Western Digital Corporation is meeting the escalating fast-transfer and high-capacity demands of professional content creators by enabling real-time 4K and 8K workflows with three new professional-grade ultra-fast solutions in its powerful G-Technology G-DRIVE and G-SPEED Shuttle product families.

Working with large 4K and 8K RAW video means massive file sizes and is undoubtedly one of the largest pain points for content editors. With new cameras capable of capturing over 400 MB/s of RAW data, there is an opportunity for content professionals to create incredibly high-resolution footage and ever-more immersive viewer experiences. It is not uncommon for a production crew to be on-location for two or three months recording three to four terabytes per day of footage from multiple cameras. With this expansion of data capture, comes a potential bottleneck in maintaining a real-time workflow on location - until now.

The unique and attractive Bolt B75 Portable SSD has joined Silicon Power's (SP) lineup of noteworthy memory storage devices. In an effort to design a well-rounded portable SSD with combined design and performance prowess, SP blended the award-winning design of a previous device with the functionality of an in-demand SSD.

Inspiration for the Bolt B75 SSD came from a German transport plane born nearly a century ago with corrugated metal skin. It inspired the Silicon Power design team to add strong, prominent, fortifying ridges to the Bolt B75 SSD. For SP diehards, the Bolt B75 will appear nearly identical to the Armor Series A75 Portable Hard Drive, a popular storage device released in 2017. The A75 Portable Hard Drive received the Taiwan Excellence Award for 2018 and the Golden Pin Design Award for 2017. Rabi Tsai, SP's designer, who designed the A75 and B75, added: "Inspiration came from an old airplane-the Junkers f.13. I'm happy with the design and winning the two awards. But, I know everyone at SP, including me, would be extremely proud of a Red Dot or iF Design Award for the B75 or one of our upcoming products."

PC gaming is increasingly immersive, with richer and more intense visual content than ever before, and gamers are faced with making technology choices to maximize their experience. To push leading-edge performance, lower power consumption and extended durability for PC gaming systems, Western Digital Corporation today introduced a high-performance Western Digital Black 3D NVMe SSD featuring the company's own SSD architecture and controller. The drive accelerates data for PC applications to enable users to quickly, access, engage and capture today's high-resolution video, audio and gaming content.

With growing demand for rich content, PCs must have the capability to run intensive applications and enable the 4K/Ultra HD graphics and video content experiences. To move this immense amount of data quickly and seamlessly, Western Digital developed a new breed of SSDs to help remove the traditional storage bottleneck. This M.2 drive features a new NVMe architecture and controller, which optimally integrates with Western Digital 3D NAND. Western Digital's new vertically integrated SSD platform was engineered from the ground up, specifically architected to help maximize performance for NVMe SSDs, with advanced power management, durability and endurance for the growing range of applications benefiting from NVMe technology.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced A1000 PCIe NVMe SSD. The M.2 drive is Kingston's first entry-level consumer-grade PCIe NVMe SSD utilizing 3D NAND. The A1000 delivers twice the performance of SATA at near SATA pricing.

The single-sided M.2 2280 (22mm x 80mm) form factor makes A1000 ideal for notebooks and systems with limited space. The PCIe NVMe drive features a Gen 3.0 x2 interface, 4-channel Phison 5008 controller, and 3D NAND Flash. It delivers 2x the performance of SATA SSDs with read/write speed up to 1500MB/s and 1000MB/s giving it exceptional responsiveness and ultra-low latency.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today launched the XPG GAMMIX S11 (S11), its fastest gaming SSD to date. It arrives in a compact M.2 2280 form factor, is equipped with a unique heatsink to maintain optimal temperatures and sports the ultra-fast PCIe3x4 interface to deliver up to 3200MB/s read and 1700MB/s write - which is ideal for performance seekers, including gamers, PC DIY enthusiasts and graphics professionals. S11 employs the latest 2ndgeneration 64-layer 3D NAND Flash for improved reliability and ships in capacities of 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB.

Leveraging the ultra-fast PCIe Gen3x4 interface and the NVMe 1.3 protocol, the S11 offers a tremendous improvement in read/write performance. It implements a 32bit DRAM data bus, Intelligent SLC Caching, and a DRAM cache buffer, accelerating sequential and 4K random read/write speeds. It can reach speeds of up to 3200MB/s for reads and 1700MB/s for writes and 310K/280K IOPS random 4K read/writes for faster boot, shorter game loads, and system response time. In addition, XPG's custom-designed heatsink ensures temperatures are at least 10 degrees*(1) Celsius lower than non-shielded M.2 SSDs, providing enhanced stability and longevity.