SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced that the company is providing the solid state drive (SSD) for the new ASUS TAICHI Ultrabook, introduced today by ASUS. Running on the Windows 8 operating system, the unique ASUS TAICHI is an ultrabook that features a tablet on the outside of the laptop lid, allowing users to quickly and easily transition from a tablet to notebook functionality, or operate both simultaneously, for superior mobile computing versatility.

With fast, reliable storage provided by a customized SanDisk X100 SSD, a high-performance stand-alone SSD model, the sleek and powerful ASUS TAICHI features a full notebook experience for consumers or business users, as well as the convenience of a tablet with stylus support, all in one device. The SanDisk X100 SSD used in the ASUS TAICHI (available in both 256GB and 128GB1 capacities) enables the ultrabook to boot up quickly and provides incredibly responsive, small form factor storage. With the ASUS TAICHI, both the tablet and notebook screens can be used at the same time, each featuring different content and applications. This enables the device to be easily shared by family, friends or co-workers simultaneously. While offering both notebook and tablet capability, the ASUS TAICHI is surprisingly thin and lightweight, due in large part to the compact form factor of the SanDisk X100. The customized SanDisk SSD also enhances application performance in the ASUS TAICHI and includes thermal control features to help protect the device from overheating, even when both the tablet and notebook capabilities are being operated at once.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced it has appointed Thomas Rampone as senior vice president of the company's solid state drive (SSD) business, which includes SanDisk's Enterprise Storage Solutions (ESS) and Client Storage Solutions (CSS) organizations. He will report to Sanjay Mehrotra, SanDisk's president and CEO.

Rampone joined SanDisk from Intel where he served for over 27 years in various engineering and executive roles. Most recently, Rampone was vice president and general manager of Intel's Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group where he was responsible for all of Intel's flash memory business including technology and product development, operations and marketing. Previously, Rampone served as vice president and general manager for Intel's Channel Platforms Group and the Desktop Boards Business.

SanDisk rolled out a firmware update for its Extreme Series high-performance client SSD. The new R211 firmware corrects outstanding bugs related to TRIM and garbage collection, speeds up drive initialization time at boot, and other minor errors. To begin with, the new firmware improves TRIM delay (delay between the SSD receiving TRIM command, and finding a convenient time to "take out the trash"), as a result TRIM and its related garbage disposal performance is greatly increased. The firmware also improves error handling and power management. Next, the new firmware reduces boot-time normalization of SMART attributes, reducing POST initialization time of the drives. Lastly, a minor bug related to temperature-reading is fixed. The update is recommended for users facing issues with SanDisk's fastest client SSDs. The firmware can be updated using SanDisk SSD Toolkit, its latest version is linked below.DOWNLOAD: SanDisk SSD Toolkit 1.0.0.1

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, announced today results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2012. Total third quarter revenue of $1.27 billion declined 10% on a year-over-year basis and increased 23% on a sequential basis.

On a GAAP basis, third quarter net income was $77 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, compared to net income of $233 million, or $0.96 per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2011 and $13 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, in the second quarter of fiscal 2012.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced that it is developing flash memory cards based on the new CFast2.0 specification introduced today by the CompactFlash Association (CFA). The new specification enables next-generation photo and video applications by delivering up to four times faster performance than the CompactFlash memory cards currently used in DSLR cameras and other imaging devices.

"CFast2.0 memory cards will help drive the future of professional photography and video-recording applications," said Shuki Nir, senior vice president and general manager, Retail, SanDisk. "With the CFast2.0 specification's unparalleled performance, flash memory can now enter new markets such as high-definition TV and even cinema production."

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced an affordable, easy-to-install SSD caching solution that lets consumers significantly improve their desktop computer's performance. The SanDisk ReadyCache solution can boost a desktop computer's boot, shutdown and application launch times, allowing consumers to enjoy a more responsive computing experience, while utilizing their existing hard drive's storage.

Easy Upgrade Breathes New Life Into Desktop Computers

The SanDisk ReadyCache product is a performance enhancing caching solution that combines a 32 gigabyte (GB) 2.5-inch SSD that resides alongside a desktop computer's hard drive with ExpressCache software by Condusiv Technologies. The software, sold exclusively by SanDisk, is easily downloaded from the SanDisk website and can be installed on any desktop PC running Windows 7 operating system. After installing the SSD and software, the SanDisk ReadyCache solution's advanced caching algorithms automatically manage data by caching frequently used files to improve overall performance.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced it is providing Lenovo with the solid state drive (SSD) used in the new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, the world's lightest 14-inch Ultrabook computer.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon weighs in at less than three pounds, has an exterior made of extremely lightweight carbon fiber material, boasts optional embedded 3G connectivity for anywhere, anytime Internet access, and relies on a 256GB2 SanDisk X100 SSD for incredibly responsive, small form factor storage. The version of the SanDisk X100 SSD being used by Lenovo relies on a custom design that is smaller than the typical SSD, helping to reduce both the size and weight of the Lenovo X1 Carbon, as well as reducing power consumption. SanDisk offers the X100 SSD in both 256GB and 128GB capacities.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today marked the 25-year anniversary of flash memory, the transformational technology used by billions of consumers and countless businesses in smartphones, tablets, ultra-thin laptops, data centers and other electronic devices.

Companies such as SanDisk have increased the capacity of flash memory by 30,000 times while decreasing its cost by 50,000 times over the past two decades. SanDisk's first product, a 20 megabyte solid state drive (SSD), sold for $1,000 in 1991 but would cost only two cents today. This efficiency has driven the wide adoption of flash memory and enabled the smart digital lifestyle of anywhere, anytime access to digital content. Flash memory fuels the three forces behind this trend - mobile computing, pervasive connectivity and the proliferation of digital content.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, announced today results for the second quarter ended July 1, 2012. Total second quarter revenue of $1.03 billion declined 25% on a year-over-year basis and declined 14% on a sequential basis.

On a GAAP(1) basis, second quarter net income was $13 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to net income of $248 million, or $1.02 per diluted share, in the second quarter of fiscal 2011 and $114 million, or $0.46 per diluted share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2012.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced the acquisition of Schooner Information Technology, Inc., an enterprise software company located in Silicon Valley that develops flash-optimized database and data store solutions. Schooner's products complement SanDisk's growing portfolio of enterprise solid state disk (SSD) and flash-optimized software offerings that enable customers to accelerate the performance of data-intensive applications and reduce overall cost of ownership. Schooner's team of database and flash optimization experts have joined SanDisk's Enterprise Storage Solutions (ESS) team. Schooner's products will be optimized for SanDisk's enterprise SSD portfolio as well as for enterprise SSDs from third parties.

Schooner's products are currently deployed by U.S. and international customers, including several Fortune 500 companies. Designed to fill the gap between stock do-it-yourself open source solutions and expensive high-end database deployments, Schooner's products deliver enterprise-grade performance, powering data center consolidation at a lower cost. Engineered for flash acceleration and enhanced with enterprise features, Schooner's products deliver up to five times the throughput of competing configurations. In addition, they deliver near in-memory response times to mission critical applications along with enterprise-grade replication and failover capabilities. In-memory database solutions are enabling breakthroughs in database and Business Intelligence applications that are only possible with solid state memories. Schooner's ability to combine DRAM and flash memory seamlessly in a single solution offers near DRAM performance at a lower cost.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced the world's fastest mobile memory card. The SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDHC UHS-I card is ideal for smartphone and tablet users who want to boost their device's storage capacity while enjoying the fastest mobile experience.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced a suite of USB flash drives that includes SanDisk's fastest, thinnest and highest-capacity USB products ever. The drives offer consumers the storage they need to carry libraries of digital content with them wherever they go, transfer their files quickly and do so with style.

"Whether consumers are seeking super-fast transfer speeds, maximum storage capacity or a stylish fashion statement, we offer a drive to meet their needs," said Bob O'Keefe, vice president, retail marketing, SanDisk. "SanDisk pioneered the USB drive and now offers one of the broadest lineups in the industry, with a wide range of form factors and reliability that consumers can count on to store their important files."

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced it is using the world's most advanced semiconductor manufacturing process to produce SanDisk's highest performing embedded memory products.

iNAND Extreme is now being built on SanDisk's 19 nanometer (nm)* process technology to enable the large-capacity, high-performance embedded NAND flash memory products that are ideally suited for high-end tablets and smartphones. Products running the Android operating system as well as the upcoming Microsoft Windows RT version of the Windows 8 operating system can benefit from iNAND Extreme capacity, performance and small size.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today introduced Lightning PCI Express (PCIe) Solid State Accelerator (SSA) cards designed to boost the performance of workstations and servers used in data centers, server farms and cloud computing environments.

The new SanDisk Lightning PCIe SSA products can be added to workstations and servers to provide balanced, predictable performance for enterprise applications, delivering the ideal combination of speed, reliability and cost-savings. The cards provide rapid access to the most frequently used data and applications in order to more effectively manage heavy workloads. They are part of SanDisk's growing portfolio of solid state drive (SSD) solutions for the enterprise.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, announced today results for the first quarter ended April 1, 2012. Total first quarter revenue of $1.21 billion declined 7% on a year-over-year basis and declined 24% on a sequential basis.

On a GAAP basis, first quarter net income was $114 million, or $0.46 per diluted share, compared to net income of $224 million, or $0.92, per diluted share in the first quarter of fiscal 2011 and $281 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011.

MSI released pictures and performance numbers of its in-house SuperRAID storage design that's implemented in its GT70 gaming notebook. The GT70 has two drive bays, one of which holds a 500 GB WD Scorpio Black hard drive, and the other, the SuperRAID module. The hard drive is tasked with just storage and a system recovery partition, while the SuperRAID module is where the action is.

Simply put, the SuperRAID module is a PCB with a RAID controller, and two mSATA 6 Gb/s slots. Each of these slots holds a SanDisk U100 64 GB mSATA SSD. Each of these SSDs come with rated sequential transfer rates as high as 440 MB/s (reads) with 220 MB/s (writes), but striped in RAID 0, the volume churns out tested transfer rates as high as 964 MB/s (max. read), 928 MB/s (avg. read), and 843 MB/s (min. read), when tested by HDTune Pro 5.00. The SuperRAID module is bootable, and holds the operating system and programs. MSI claims with transfer speeds well over 900 MB/s, it has the fastest storage solution among gaming notebooks.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, SanDisk, and Western Digital today revealed "Project Phenix" (working title), an initiative that will give consumers an easier and faster way to organize, store and move their high definition digital movies and TV shows - including new releases in up to full 1080p quality - across multiple devices. In addition to local storage, the content will also be backed up via the UltraViolet industry standard as well as other cloud-based services.

The project is being developed by the newly formed Secure Content Storage Association (SCSA). Established as an LLC, this coalition will create and license solutions that secure high definition and other premium copyright-protected content on local and portable hard drives, and flash memory products such as USB flash drives, SD cards and solid state disk drives (SSDs). Once content is downloaded to a hard drive or flash memory product, it could then be accessed, online or offline, on any SCSA-enabled device such as a connected TV, laptop, Blu-ray player, tablet, mobile phone or game console. The optimized content will be made easily available for purchase via digital download, digital files bundled with physical media, kiosks in retail stores, or other means of secure digital delivery.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today highlighted its efforts to enhance the mobile user experience through its close collaboration with key industry partners. Here at the world's largest mobile industry gathering, SanDisk will be describing its close working relationships with Freescale, Intel Corporation, Marvell Semiconductor, MediaTek Inc., Microsoft Corp., NVIDIA, Qualcomm Incorporated, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI), among others.

"SanDisk works to ensure its NAND flash memory products are tightly integrated with products from all major chipset vendors and mobile operating system developers to ensure the best possible mobile user experience," said Yoram Zylberberg, senior director, Embedded Memory Business. "Focusing on tight integration with the mobile community and standards bodies helps produce an optimized mobile solution. As a result, iNAND embedded flash memory is included on a majority of leading mobile chipset reference designs and is the reason why we have such great support from our industry partners here at Mobile World Congress."

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced it is working with key industry chipset vendors to help ensure a best-in-class user experience for mobile devices based on Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming Windows 8 operating system.

Companies such as Intel Corporation, Qualcomm Incorporated and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) are using SanDisk iNAND Extreme embedded flash memory with some of their top Windows 8 hardware development platforms. SanDisk is working with these companies to optimize its iNAND Extreme flash memory products with Windows 8-based tablet and mobile designs.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced it has developed the world's smallest 128 gigabit (Gb) NAND flash memory chip currently in production. The semiconductor device can store 128 billion individual bits of information on a single silicon die 170 mm2 in size - a little more than a quarter of an inch squared, or smaller than the area covered by a U.S. penny.

The use of NAND flash memory in high tech equipment like smartphones, tablets and solid state drives (SSDs) allows advances in the full function, small form factor devices that are highly valued by consumers. Shrinking the size of NAND flash memory allows smaller, more powerful computing, communications and consumer electronics devices to be built while keeping costs low.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today extended its enterprise solid state disk drive (SSD) solutions portfolio with the acquisition of FlashSoft, a provider of innovative caching software products. SanDisk intends to sell FlashSoft's products as standalone software, as well as offer these software products in combination with SanDisk's growing portfolio of SAS, PCIe and SATA enterprise solutions.

FlashSoft's software is targeted for Windows, Linux and VMWare platforms, and will form the basis of a growing ecosystem of SSD-optimized software solutions from SanDisk and third party partners, enabling the configuration of complete solutions optimized for the specialized needs of enterprise and cloud customers.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced it has entered into a worldwide, exclusive agreement with Diskeeper Corp. to license its industry leading caching software solutions for solid state disk drives (SSDs).

Under the terms of the agreement, SanDisk will provide these solutions both as standalone software products as well as bundled with SanDisk's SSD products for client computing applications. The resulting hardware/software bundled solution from SanDisk will help its consumer OEM customers build optimized computing devices, such as Ultrabooks and other ultra-thin form factor products, that provide greater responsiveness, higher performance and an overall better user experience to consumers worldwide.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced a high-performance solid state drive (SSD) for the retail channel. The SanDisk Extreme SSD is up to 10 times faster than a 7,200 RPM hard disk drive, enabling computer users to quickly boot and shut down their systems, launch applications faster and reduce wait times. The drive is also more durable and power efficient, delivering a reliable computing experience while maximizing battery life.

Extreme Performance

The SanDisk Extreme SSD can boot a PC in less than 16 seconds and quickly shut down the system, delivering a significantly improved user experience to desktop and notebook users. For gamers, the SanDisk Extreme SSD can launch applications in a fraction of the time and reduce in-game delays by generating environments faster during sequence transitions. This is particularly important during massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced the SanDisk X100 solid state drive (SSD) for client computing markets. The SanDisk X100 SSD is available in capacities up to 512 GB and utilizes multi-level cell (MLC) technology, a SATA 6 Gb/s high-performance interface, advanced multi-streaming features and tiered caching technology.

The drive offers up to 500/420 megabyte per second (MB/sec) sequential read/write speeds, and enables a user to copy a 4 GB high-definition movie in less than 10 seconds. In addition to the standard 2.5 inch form factor, the X100 SSD also comes in mSATA and customized thin form factors to address the emerging ultra-thin laptop market. SanDisk offers a wide variety of configuration options, including standalone and dual drive caching solutions.

Following reports that Kingston is reducing prices of its NAND flash-based products by up to 15%, SanDisk too is reportedly preparing price-cuts of its own. Unlike Kingston, SanDisk's entire product portfolio is connected with NAND flash memory, it is the world's largest vendor of memory cards, and also has a vast lineup of USB flash drives. SanDisk will lower its prices just enough to maintain competitiveness with Kingston's products. The company maintains that initiating a price-cutting strategy is intended to boost sales volume and maintain the company's leading market share. According to DRAMeXchange, major NAND flash vendors are initiating price cuts to clear inventories, to make way for flash memory built on newer fabrication technologies.