Crucial is ready with a high-performance SSD in the M.2 form-factor, which leverages 32 Gb/s PCI-Express, and the NVMe protocol to belt out four to five times the read/write performance of SATA 6 Gb/s SSDs. The new Crucial Ballistix TX3 line of M.2 SSDs features the Silicon Motion SMI2260H processor, mated to Crucial-made 3D (stacked) MLC NAND flash, cushioned by a large DRAM cache. A similar setup is found on the ADATA SX8000NP, and the sequential speeds of that drive are rated at up to 2,000 MB/s reads, with up to 800 MB/s writes.

ADATA showed off its flagship M.2 PCIe SSD lineup, the SX8000NP. These drives will target a price-performance sweetspot between the fastest SATA drives, and the enthusiast M.2 ones. They're driven by a Silicon Motion SMI2260H processor, wired to 3D (stacked) MLC NAND flash memory. This drive takes advantage of PCI-Express 3.0 x4, and the new NVMe protocol, to serve up sequential transfer rates of up to 2,000 MB/s reads, with up to 800 MB/s writes. ADATA put up its own CDM performance numbers for a 480 GB variant of this drive.

AMD made additions to its Radeon-branded SSD lineup, with the new R3 Series. Targeted at the entry-level segment, these drives come in capacities of 120 GB, 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB; and combine TLC NAND flash memory with Silicon Motion SM2256KX controllers. The 120 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB variants offer read speeds of up to 520 MB/s, the 960 GB variant up to 510 MB/s. The 120 GB variant writes at up to 360 MB/s, the 240 GB and 480 GB variants at 470 MB/s, and the 960 GB variant at up to 450 MB/s. The drives are built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, and feature the SATA 6 Gb/s interface. The 120 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB variants are priced at US $40.99, $69.99, and $136.99, respectively. Prices of the 960 GB variant are not known.

How to make headlines with a rather mainstream SSD controller like the Silicon Motion SM2246EN? Ask Mushkin - after unveiling a 2 TB variant of the Reactor SSD, which maxes out the NAND flash capacity limit for the SM2246EN controller, the company also showed off a prototype of its 4 TB variant, which overcomes the capacity limitation by doing a good old-fashioned multi-controller SSD subunit RAID, which is host-transparent. Your machine reads the drive as 4 TB, while internally, it's a JBOD of two 2 TB Reactor subunits.

The drive uses 3D MLC NAND flash to keep densities high. It features a standard SATA 6 Gb/s interface, and ships in a standard 7 mm-thick, 2.5-inch form-factor. The best part? Mushkin plans to sell the drive at $500, or $0.125/GB, making it an exciting game folder drive option. In addition to the Reactor duo, Mushkin unveiled a 1920 GB variant of the Striker, a performance-oriented drive based on the Phison PS3110-S10 controller, with faster MLC NAND flash chips. This drive could be pricier.

Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today announced the new Crucial BX200 solid state drive (SSD), which offers substantial yet affordable performance gains compared to a standard hard drive. The drive, designed for consumers and SMBs, allows users to load applications in seconds, boot up almost instantly, and accelerate every day applications.

The new BX200 provides sequential read and write speeds up to 540 MB/s and 490 MB/s respectively on all types of data, as well as random read and write speeds up to 66k and 78k IOPS respectively. Additionally, when compared to a typical hard drive, the new BX200 is more than 13 times faster and 40 times more energy efficient for almost instantaneous access to data, resulting in longer battery life and a cooler, quieter system. The new drive utilises a Silicon Motion SM2256 Controller and is coupled with Micron verified firmware, allowing users to upgrade their existing infrastructure at an affordable price, which is a great alternative to buying a whole new system.

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, a global leader in designing and marketing NAND flash controllers for solid-state storage devices, today announced it will be presenting at the upcoming Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, CA from August 11th to 13th and will be showcasing an array of SSD solutions at booth #313, including the award winning SM2246EN SATA 6Gb/s SSD solutions, the new products using SM2256, the world's first turnkey SSD controller supporting TLC NAND and the new SM2260 PCIe 3.0 SSD controller.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND flash products, today launched the Premier SP550 SSD, which uses triple-level cell (TLC) architecture to offer an affordable SSD without compromising performance. The Premier SP550 is the first ADATA drive to include the Silicon Motion (SMI) SM2256 controller, which uses NANDXtend technology to help ADATA implement SSD technologies such as data shaping, LDPC ECC, and a RAID engine for enhanced data protection, stability, and reliability. SLC caching technology has been implemented to boost performance.

"The launch of ADATA's Premier SP550 SSD with our SM2256 client controller represents a milestone in SSD adoption," said Nelson Duann, Silicon Motion's Vice President of Product Marketing. "TLC-based SSDs significantly improve the affordability of high performance, low power SSDs."

Plextor announced availability of its entry-level SATA 6 Gb/s SSD, the M6V series. The drives are offered in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch, M.2 (as M6GV series), and mSATA (as M6MV) form-factors; and in capacities of 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB. It combines a Silicon Motion SMI-2246 controller with Toshiba 16 nm Toggle NAND flash memory. The 2.5-inch variant offers PlexTurbo technology, which speeds up sequential transfer-rates.

The 128 GB variant features 128 MB of DRAM cache, with sequential speeds of up to 535 MB/s reads, with up to 170 MB/s writes. The 256 GB variant, which comes with a larger 256 MB DRAM cache, offers up to 535 MB/s reads, with up to 335 MB/s writes. The 512 GB variant leads the pack, with a 512 MB DRAM cache, up to 535 MB/s reads, and up to 455 MB/s writes. 4K random-access performance for the three are in the range of 83,000 IOPS reads, with up to 80,000 IOPS writes. The 128 GB variant is priced at 69€, the 256 GB variant 115€, and the 512 GB variant 245€ (all prices include VAT).

Plextor is expected to launch its value SATA SSD line, the M6V, on 17th July, 2015. The drive combines a Silicon Motion SMI-2246 controller, with Toshiba A19 TLC NAND flash chips. The drive comes in capacities of 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB, with DRAM cache sizes of 128 MB, 256 MB, and 512 MB, respectively. All three variants offer sequential read speeds of up to 535 MB/s, while their sequential write speeds are rated up to 170 MB/s, 335 MB/s, and 455 MB/s, respectively. Common features include NCQ, TRIM, and native 256-bit AES encryption. There's a likelihood of Plextor introducing a few new features, such as PlexVault, a software that encrypts and stores your data in hidden partitions, and PlexCompressor, which compresses the least accessed data on your drive.

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, a global leader in designing and marketing NAND flash controllers for solid state storage devices, today announced that its SM2256 SATA (6 Gb/s) client SSD controller now supports Micron's new 16 nm 128 gigabit (Gb) TLC NAND flash, enabling high-performance and unprecedented reliability for a new class of cost-effective TLC-based SSDs.

SM2256, the world's first SSD controller supporting Micron's 16nm TLC NAND, offers the best performance and cost-optimized four channel SATA 6 Gb/s client SSD controller in the market. Using Micron's 128 Gb 16 nm TLC NAND, the SM2256 delivers up to 540 MB/s sequential read performance and 460 MB/s sequential write, as well as up to 90,000 random read IOPS and 80,000 random write IOPS. Leveraging Silicon Motion's proprietary NANDXtend error-correcting code (ECC) technology, the SM2256 enhances the endurance and retention of TLC NAND, delivering more than three times better reliability for TLC SSD as compared to the existing BCH ECC schemes.

Mushkin Enhanced MFG, an industry leading designer and manufacturer of high performance and mission critical computer products, announced today its expansion of its popular REACTOR series SSD, on May 11th, 2015 enthusiast will now be able to purchase the REACTOR Series in 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB capacities, perfect for professionals and tech enthusiasts who want the best possible computing experience.

"At Mushkin we have always focused on not only helping enthusiasts push the limits of their PCs, but we've taken it to the next level, by providing quality solutions that deliver levels of performance that have earned Mushkin its place as one of the top SSD manufacturers," said Brian Flood, Director of Product Management at Mushkin Enhanced MFG.

ADATA showed off its upcoming mainstream SSD, which it plans to feed the growing market with, the Premier Pro SP320. These drives are based on Silicon Motion's SM2256 controller, wired to 3 bit MLC NAND flash. The drive comes in capacities of 120 GB, 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB, with the latter being exhibited at CES. Built in the 7 mm thick 2.5-inch form-factor, with SATA 6 Gb/s interface, the drive offers sequential transfer rates of up to 560 MB/s reads, with up to 510 MB/s writes. ADATA says these drives will be competitively priced.

Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today announced two new solid state drives (SSDs): the Crucial MX200, built to deliver leading speeds and features, and the Crucial BX100, designed to offer substantial yet affordable performance gains compared to a hard drive.

Crucial MX200 SSD: Available in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities with respective MSRPs of £107.99, £191.99, and £360.99, the new Crucial MX200 delivers sequential reads and write up to 555MB/s and 500MB/s, along with random reads and writes up to 100k and 87k IOPS on all file types. Additionally, with an endurance rating up to 320 TBW (total bytes written) on the 1TB model, the Crucial MX200 delivers up to five times more endurance than a typical client SSD.

An OEM for notable SSD brands such as Plextor, LiteOn kicked off its own consumer SSD line, with ZETA. Built in the 7 mm thick, 2.5-inch form-factor, with SATA 6 Gb/s interface, these drives come in three capacities, 128 GB (LCH-128V2S), 256 GB (LCH-256V2S), and 512 GB (LCH-512V2S), featuring LPDDR3 controller cache of 128 MB, 256 MB, and 512 MB, respectively. The drive is based on Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller, with 16 nm MLC NAND flash, made by SK Hynix.

All three capacities offer sequential read speeds of up to 520 MB/s, differing with sequential write speeds. The 128 GB variant offers up to 150 MB/s writes, the 256 GB variant offers up to 260 MB/s, and the 512 GB variant up to 430 MB/s. Their 4K random-access read speeds are up to 67,500 IOPS, up to 82,500 IOPS, and up to 83,500 IOPS, respectively; and random-access write speeds are up to 37,500 IOPS, up to 72,500 IOPS, and up to 80,000 IOPS, respectively. Most common client SSD features, such as TRIM, NCQ, and 256-bit AES native encryption, are part of the package. LiteOn didn't announce pricing information for markets outside the Greater China region, where the drives will make their debut.

Mushkin Enhanced Mfg., an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance and mission-critical digital storage products, unveils the new REACTOR series of solid-state drives that offer cutting-edge 1TB capacity. The REACTOR SSD provides the extreme performance benefits of a solid-state drive, while enabling the big data capacity of mechanical hard drives.

"Solid-state drive technology is growing in leaps and bounds. Mushkin has been a leader in unleashing performance-maximizing products for a wide array of consumers, and we are pleased to be able to - once again - offer an SSD solution that can quench the growing need for large-scale data capacity at incredible speeds," said Nicolas Villalobos, Director of Global Marketing at Mushkin.

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, a global leader in designing and marketing NAND flash controllers for solid-state storage devices, today introduced the SM2704, the world's fastest single-channel UHS-II SD card controller solution. The SM2704 supports the highest-level SD card standards: UHS-II bus interface & UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) featuring a maximum data read speed of up to 280 MB/s along with a maximum data write speed of up to 260 MB/s. By supporting the new U3 Speed Class, the SM2704 delivers ample performance to handle the needs of professional photography, high-definition video recording and compressed 4K video capture and playback.

"Silicon Motion is the number one merchant supplier of UHS-I/II card controllers, which are the majority of our overall SD card controller sales. The SM2704 extends the company's leadership with the highest performance UHS-II controller while utilizing a cost-effective, single-channel design," said Wallace Kou, President and CEO of Silicon Motion. "We are pleased to partner with Micron in enabling the world's fastest UHS-II SD cards in the market today."

Angelbird Technologies, Austria's premium manufacturer of SSD storage media, today launched the SSD2go pocket, expanding on the success of its SSD2go series. 

The SSD2go pocket is small only in terms of physical size. In every other respect the newest member of the Angelbird family delivers everything you would expect from a premium brand like Angelbird, including: first-class components, superb craftsmanship, breathtaking read/write-speeds over USB 3.0 and an extremely robust, handcrafted aluminium body - this leaves nothing to be desired, mechanically or aesthetically. Weighing only 90 grams, the SSD2go pocket measures 89.0mm x 69.9mm x 10.4mm - making it the perfect companion, wherever you go.

Angelbird, Austria's premium SSD manufacturer, presents its new SSD wrk, a robust and highly efficient entry level Solid State Drive (SSD). It is ideal for upgrading your computer or laptop to faster SSD technology.

Angelbird does not compromise in terms of quality in its new SSD wrk, using an ultra-fast SATA 3.1 6Gb/s interface, which is fully compatible with older computer set-ups and operating systems. The SSD wrk uses the SMI 2246EN controller and the case is made of high quality, matt black anodized aluminum, housing custom packed Multi-Level-Cell NANDs from Micron. Durability is guaranteed by the MTBF of at least 2 million hours. High reliability is also provided by the integrated EDC and ECC error correction capabilities. With a thickness of only 7 Millimeter, the SSD wrk fits even into the tightest notebook or desktop case.

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, a global leader in designing and marketing NAND flash controllers for solid state storage devices, today introduced SM2256, the world's first complete merchant ASIC/firmware SATA 6 Gb/s SSD controller solution supporting 1x/1y/1z nm triple-level cell (TLC) NAND from all major NAND suppliers.

Leveraging Silicon Motion's proprietary NANDXtend error-correcting code (ECC) technology, the SM2256 provides comprehensive data protection and enhances the endurance and retention of TLC NAND, delivering more than three times better durability for TLC SSD. The SM2256 and Silicon Motion's other products will be showcased at booth #615 and # 617 at the upcoming Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, CA from August 5 to 7.

Corsair, a worldwide designer of high-performance components to the PC hardware market, today announced the addition of a 512 GB model to the recently announced Force Series LX line of solid-state drives (SSD). The new Force Series LX 512 GB SSD brings the amazing performance benefits of high-capacity SSDs to a lower price point.

The faster performance and silent operation of solid-state drives have long attracted PC enthusiasts, but high prices may have put off some users from making the switch to this faster storage technology. In response to this, Corsair is bringing these SSD advantages to more budget-friendly price points. The Force Series LX are available in three capacities and price points-128 GB for $79.99, 256 GB for $129.99, and the 512 GB at $259.99.

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, a global leader in designing and marketing NAND flash controllers for solid state storage devices, today announced that its SM2246EN SATA (6 Gb/s) client SSD controller now supports Micron's 16 nm 128 gigabit (Gb) MLC NAND flash, ideal for high performance, high capacity SSD solutions up to 1 Terabyte.

SM2246EN offers the best performance and power combination of four channel SATA 6 Gb/s client SSD controller in the market, delivering even better performance than most 8-channel SSD controllers with substantially lower power consumption. Using Micron's 128 Gb 16 nm MLC NAND, the SM2246EN delivers up to 538 MB/s sequential read performance and 450 MB/s sequential write, as well as up to 67,000 random read IOPS and 65,000* random write IOPS. In addition, with Micron 128 Gb 16 nm MLC NAND, the SM2246EN delivers ultra-low power consumption, equating to about 30% lower than the average power consumption of other SSD controllers.

Corsair, a worldwide designer of high-performance components to the PC hardware market, today announced the release of the Force Series LX solid-state drives (SSD). Available in either 256 GB or 128 GB capacities, Force Series LX SSDs bring the amazing performance benefits of an SSD to new lower price point - making it easier than ever to move your PC into the SSD fast lane.

The speedy benefits of solid-state drives have long attracted PC enthusiasts, but high prices may have put off some users from making the switch to this faster storage technology. In response to this dilemma, Corsair is bringing all the perks of an SSD to a new, even more budget-friendly price point so everyone can feel the rush. With the Force LX 256 GB costing $129.99 and the 128 GB just $74.99, there's never been a better time to upgrade to faster SSD technology.

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, a global leader in designing and marketing NAND flash controllers for solid state storage devices, today introduces new additions to its Ferri portfolio with single-package Ferri-eMMC and ultra-high performance SATA 6 Gb/s FerriSSD embedded memory solutions supporting industrial and commercial grade temperatures. Silicon Motion will be showcasing and demonstrating these new products at the upcoming EE Live! Conference and Expo in San Jose, CA from April 1 to 3.

Ferri-eMMC is designed for a wide range of embedded applications and is fully compliant with JEDEC-standard eMMC 4.5 protocol. With a 100-ball 1.0 mm pitch BGA package, Ferri-eMMC provides for more flexible PCB design and low-cost manufacturing. Ferri-eMMC delivers market leading data integrity and protection capabilities featuring Silicon Motion's advanced NAND management technologies including error correction, bad block management and NAND health monitoring.

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, a global leader in designing and marketing NAND flash controllers for solid state storage devices, today announced that it has begun sampling its new, single-channel, ultra high performance and cost-effective controller solution for USB 3.0 flash drives, the SM3267. By integrating an embedded crystal oscillator and all power ICs, SM3267 reduces the customers' overall system cost. In addition, SM3267 delivers an industry-leading data transfer rate of up to 160 MB/s read, a 30% to 50% improvement from most single-channel USB 3.0 flash drive controllers in the market today.

"We are very excited to introduce SM3267, our first crystal-less USB 3.0 solution with integrated power ICs," said Wallace Kou, President and CEO of Silicon Motion. "SM3267 offers superior performance with competitive cost when compared to other USB 3.0 controllers in the market, and we believe our solution will help accelerate the market in transitioning from legacy USB 2.0 flash drives to the latest generation USB 3.0 drives. This is another example of Silicon Motion leading the market in bringing new, advanced technology to the mainstream market. We are pleased to announce that SM3267 has received design-ins from most of our current USB controller customers, including many top-tier OEMs, and we expect SM3267-based USB 3.0 flash drives will be commercially available starting in the fourth quarter of 2013."