Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash, storage, and enthusiast computer products, today expanded their Pyro brand of SATA III solid-state drives with the launch of its new Pyro SE. Powered by SandForce's SF-2281 SSD processor, the Patriot Memory Pyro SE brings the added performance of synchronous NAND to the brand while offering a very aggressive price per performance ratio.

To ensure rock-solid performance, the Patriot Memory Pyro SE utilizes TRIM, DuraClass, and DuraWrite technologies. Offering read/write speeds of 500+ MB/s, the Pyro SE will chew through large file transfers and make even the most demanding applications a smooth experience. The Pyro SE series will feature a standard 2.5-inch form factor for flexible compatibility with both notebooks and desktops.

Plextor Japan introduced its latest generation of solid state drives (SSDs) in the 2.5-inch SATA form factor. The drives take advantage of the SATA 6 Gb/s interface. The lineup currently consists of two models, the 128 GB PX-128M2P, and the 256 GB PX-256M2P. Both drives make use of Marvell 88SS9174 controller, and Toshiba TH58TV68D2FDA88 Multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash built on the 34 nm process.

The 128 GB model features a 256 MB DDR3 cache, while the 256 GB model is backed by 512 MB DDR3 cache. Sequential speeds vary between the two models. The 256 GB drive can transfer data at 500 MB/s read and 440 MB/s write; while the 128 GB drive transfers at 500 MB/s read and 320 MB/s write. The drives feature SMART, NCQ, TRIM, Bad Block Management, Instant Restore, and Plextor TrueSpeed firmware. The 256 GB drive is priced at 46,800 JPY, an equivalent of US $610, while the 128 GB model is priced at 21,800 JPY, or $284.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today the industry's first 6G SSD upgrade for the 2011 Apple MacBook Air 11.1" and 13.3"models. The new OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSDs combine award-winning SandForce technologies and Tier 1/Grade A Toggle Synchronous NAND to deliver data rates that are more than 3x faster and capacities that are up to 4x greater than factory available SSD options. Currently available in two sizes--120GB and 240GB--the new 6Gb/s SATA 3.0 Revision models continue OWC's position as the only alternative to factory SSD options for the 2010-2011 MacBook Air. 3G speed models from OWC are also available in capacities of up to 480GB.

The OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G offers 2011 MacBook Air owners a cost-effective SSD upgrade path that delivers higher performance, functionality, and reliability over the factory installed SSD. Because the Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD is SATA Revision 3.0 (6Gb/s) compatible, it can take advantage of the 2011 MacBook Air's built-in 6Gb/s SATA data bus to deliver peak, sustained data rates over 500MB/s, versus the factory installed SSDs, which are limited by SATA Revision 2.0 (3Gb/s) capability.

Intel is in no mood to settle down its high-end client solid-state drive (SSD) lineup, the company is preparing a new line of SSDs in the 2.5-inch SATA 6 Gb/s form-factor that succeeds the SSD 510 Series. Called the SSD 520 Series, the new line consists of various size options that didn't exist with SSD 510 Series, improvements in performance and price per gigabyte, and a few new features. While the SSD 510 is available only in two sizes (capacities): 120 GB and 250 GB, SSD 520 Series comes in a lot more: 60 GB, 120 GB, 160 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB. It's as if Intel is taking SandForce SF-22xx SSDs head-on at each price-point.

Sequential and random access performance figures are known to vary between different models (capacities) with Intel SSDs, but there's one set of them that we have in hand, perhaps it's of the fastest model: up to 530 MB/s read, 490 MB/s write sequential performance; and 40,000 IOPS reads and 45,000 IOPS writes random performance. SSD 520 Series drives make use of 25 nm MLC NAND flash memory, and a complete feature-set for today's client SSDs: TRIM, SMART, NCQ, and ACS-2 compliance. The drives are rated with 1.2 million hours MTBF, can operate between 0 and 70°C, and withstand up to 2.7 G (RMS) vibration. Production of Intel SSD 520 Series SATA 6 Gb/s drives are expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Japanese company Green House launched two lines of SSDs for use in compact devices and embedded applications. These include the GH-SSD*S-H in the "half-slim" SATA form factor (where * stands for number of GB in capacity), and GH-SSD*S-M in mSATA form factor. The half-slim form factor is basically a half length SSD PCB with its case stripped out, which makes it a lot more compact. The two are further available in two variants based on NAND flash type used, SLC and MLC. The SLC variants come in capacities starting from 1 GB to 16 GB, including 2, 4, and 8 GB models along the way; while the MLC variant includes capacities starting from 4 GB to 128 GB, with 8, 16, 32, and 64 GB models along the way.

Transfer rates are different between each specific model. The the SLC variant, it's 29 MB/s (read) / 17 MB/s (write) for the 1 GB, 55 MB/s (read) / 34 MB/s (write) for 2 GB, 100 MB/s (read) / 65 MB/s (write) for 4 GB, and 120 MB/s (read) / 100 MB/s for the 8 and 16 GB models. Moving on to MLC, it's 34 MB/s (read) / 12 MB/s (write) for the 4 GB, 66 MB/s (read) / 24 MB/s (write) for 8 GB, 120 MB/s (read) / 45 MB/s (write) for 16 GB, 135 MB/s (read) / 90 MB/s (write) for 32 GB, 200 MB/s (read) / 170 MB/s (write) for 64 GB, and 200 MB/s (read) / 200 MB/s (write) for the 128 GB model. All drives make use of a Phison-made controller, with 64 MB DRAM cache. The drives are rated to have 1,000,000 hours of MTBF, and pack standard features such as TRIM command support and NCQ. They are backed by 1 year warranty.

Team Group Inc. officially announced the Xtreem SSD family's second SATA3 super high-speed solid state drive - Xtreem S2. In addition to the outstanding performance and energy-saving abilities, the Xtreem S2 SSD features customized product positioning and market strategy in accordance with the need of mainstream enthusiasts, allowing enthusiasts to enjoy the speedy pleasure of extreme performance at an economical price.

In consideration of the rapidly growing need for performance-oriented SSD on the mainstream market, Team Group roll out Team Xtreem S2, offering high quality at preferential price, based on on the mission of SSD promotion, and the core product concept of high cost-performance ratio. Team Xtreem S2 achieves max read speed of 550 MB/s and max write speed of 520 MB/s With high performance and a more competitive price which compared to other SSD products on the market, Team Group show their determination to introduce its high-speed SATA3 device to all power users.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the release of Z-Drive Revision 4 (R4) PCI Express (PCIe) storage solutions designed to dramatically accelerate enterprise applications and significantly reduce total cost of ownership in the data center. The Z-Drive R4 product line features OCZ's second generation proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture (VCA) 2.0, providing the utmost in performance, flexibility, durability and enhanced reliability features, allowing data centers, for the first time, to rely on a PCIe-based SSD as their primary tier one storage solution.

"Objective Analysis forecasts that the PCIe interface will become dominant in the enterprise SSD market in 2012, with unit shipments greater than the combined shipments of its SAS and Fibre Channel counterparts," said SSD analyst Jim Handy of Objective Analysis. "This is because the PCIe interface puts less drag on the NAND-to-processor communication channel than do standard HDD interfaces. By 2015, Objective Analysis expects well over two million PCIe SSDs to ship, a number larger than all of the SATA SSDs that shipped in 2010."

Leading memory storage brand, SP/Silicon Power today announces the launch of its first SATA III Solid State Drive (SSD), the Velox Series V30. Continuing the efficiency and stability of the V20, the V30 employs the highest spec SATA 6 Gbps interface on the market, while remaining backwards compatible with the SATA II Gbps interface. Running at over double the efficiency of the SATA 3 Gbps interface, the V30 is a top level product that can meet the needs of computer gamers and professional computer users alike.

The SP/Silicon Power V30 SSD uses a SandForce controller chip, enabling it to reach a top read speed of 550 MB/s, and top write speed of 500 MB/s. It also supports TRIM command and Garbage Collection technology, resolving the issue of decreased efficiency in SSDs used for long periods of time.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced their new SATA III SSD, the TeraDrive CT3. Right on the heals of the TeraDrive PT3, SuperTalent now unveils their TeraDrive CT3. Designed to fill the gap between their TeraDrive PT3 and CT2 offerings, the CT3 emerges as a price/performance leader. By combining the new SATA III interface with standard 25nm NAND flash, the TeraDrive CT3 enables traditional NAND flash to offer some very untraditional performance.

As with the PT3, the CT3 features the new SandForce SF-2200 SSD processor and the SATA III interface. You can think of the new TeraDrive CT3 as the PT3 with asynchronous Flash or the as the CT2 with a SATA III interface; either way the CT3 is a perfect combination for price and performance.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today launched the RevoDrive 3 and RevoDrive 3 X2 lineup of SSDs. Designed to deliver maximum throughput in multithreaded applications, the new RevoDrive 3 incorporates an advanced data management feature-set based on OCZ's proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture (VCA) technology, providing both the performance and features required by the intensive workloads common in high performance computing and workstation environments.

The RevoDrive 3 provides unique benefits to users by incorporating features from the VCA 2.0 flash virtualization software that allow certain direct memory access (DMA) and data management functions. Included in this feature-set are OCZ's exclusive command queuing and queue balancing algorithms, which can be handled by the onboard processing core for higher performance and reduced burden on the host resources. VCA 2.0 is also the only virtualization layer in the industry with TRIM and SCSI unmap support to enhance sustained performance and provide greater endurance by significantly reducing the overhead associated with garbage collection. Furthermore, VCA also offers consolidated SMART support and provides system administrators with advanced features for monitoring, analyzing, and reporting device attributes.

I-O Data released two new value SATA 3 Gb/s SSDs, the SSDN-SV128 and SSDN-SV64, which as the model number might suggest, are 128 GB and 64 GB in capacity, respectively. The drives offer random read speeds of 143 MB/s, and random write speeds of 206 MB/s. While not much is known about what is the NAND flash type or controller used, it is mentioned that the drives support the TRIM garbage collection feature. Backed by a one-year warranty, the SSDN-SV64 and SSDN-SV128 will be available in Japan for ¥12,800 (US $158) and ¥24,800 ($306), respectively.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc.,a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the release of the second generation of its proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture (VCA). Leveraged in OCZ's PCI-Express (PCIe) and SAS SSD solutions for workstation, enterprise, and OEM clients, VCA 2.0 supports a rich enterprise feature-set enabling unprecedented flexibility, increased performance, and the reliability required for high throughput storage systems.

"OCZ's proprietary VCA technology is the next step in the evolution of virtualization layers for solid state storage. VCA 2.0 enables industry-leading configurable performance aggregation along with a rich enterprise feature set not found on competitive products," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. "With its scalable performance, TRIM and SCSI unmap support, and enhanced management tools, VCA 2.0 provides superior reliability and superior performance, in a plethora of OCZ's easy-to-deploy storage solutions."

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash, storage and enthusiast computer products, today announced it is now shipping their new Wildfire series solid-state drives powered by a new SandForce SSD processor. The Patriot Wildfire series obliterates expectations of storage devices and delivers enterprise-like performance to consumer desktops and notebooks.

The Wildfire series utilizes the new SandForce SF-2200 processor enabling it to shatter previous SSD performance records with up to a blazingly-fast 555 MB/s sequential read and up to 520 MB/s sequential write speeds all backed by a SATA 6.0 Gb/s interface.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it has teamed up with SandForce Inc., a leader in high-performance SSD (Solid-State Drive) processors, to launch its first SATA Rev 3.0 (6Gb/s) based SSD targeted at enthusiasts, gamers, and performance users. The Kingston HyperX SSD feature the latest and most reliable SandForce controller to date, and is also available as a bundle with the HyperX Upgrade Kit for easy installation.

Shipping in 120GB and 240GB capacities, the HyperX SSD is based on SandForce SF-2281 controllers featuring SATA Rev 3.0 (6Gb/s). It allows for incredible sequential read/write throughputs of 525/480MB/s, IOPS of 40,000/60,000 (240GB), and SandForce DuraClass Technology to provide best in class endurance.

Buffalo Technology released a new line of SSDs in the 2.5-inch SATA form-factor, supporting the SATA 6 Gb/s interface. One of its first models is the 250 GB SSD-N256S/MC400. Making use of the bandwidth at its disposal, the drive manages read speeds of 405 MB/s, and write speeds of 223 MB/s. Its controller makes use of 256 MB cache. It supports market-standard features such as the TRIM garbage-collection feature, and NCQ. The Buffalo SSD-N256S/MC400 will reach markets in Japan for 72,200 JPY, about US $880.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today unveiled the Arowana Flash Translation Layer (FTL) from Indilinx. Supporting both existing and upcoming Indilinx controllers, this firmware subset dramatically improves performance and enterprise capabilities and enables SSD suppliers to deploy cost-effective 2xnm NAND flash memory.

"We are always driving to add more value for our clients, and the exciting new Arowana Flash Translation Layer delivers both major performance and feature-set enhancements," commented Daryl Lang, VP of Product Management at OCZ Technology Group. "Arowana not only boosts IOPS performance by up to 500%, but does so with the support of the industry's latest 2xnm flash technology, making Indilinx solutions now more competitive than ever."

Newcomer into the flash storage industry, MyDigitalSSD, announced its new line of SSDs in the mSATA form-factor, called "Bullet Proof". It is being offered as an upgrade option for a number of netbooks and tablets made by the likes of ASUS, Dell, Lenovo and Google (Chrome netbook). Offering capacities of 32 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB; Bullet Proof can provide read speeds of up to 270 MB/s, and 200 MB/s write speeds, with 4K random read throughput of 35,000 IOPS. CrystalDiskMark measured both read and write speeds to be around the 200 MB/s mark.

The SSD uses 50 nm MLC NAND flash memory, and supports TRIM, RAID, NCQ with command chain length of 32, power failure recovery, dynamic bad-block management, hardware monitoring, and SMART. With an MTBF of 2 million hours and backed by a 2-year replacement warranty, the 32, 64, and 128 gigabyte variants are priced at US $80, $140, and $280, respectively.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, announces the Talos series, a line of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) SSDs designed for enterprise applications that require ultra-fast, high capacity solutions equipped with multi-level cell (MLC) NAND. Talos brings new strength to the Company's storage lineup by expanding the availability of OCZ's proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture (VCA) technology to storage OEMs.

"We have experienced considerable demand for our high-capacity VCA-enabled SAS products, both with and without enhanced power fail protection," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. "The new OCZ Talos SSD series delivers the ultimate combination of performance, scalability, and reliability. Talos series drives are tailored to meet the needs of most enterprises in a non-customer specific format, including balanced compressed and incompressible data performance and balanced read/write IOPS, all in the highest capacity SAS 6Gbps drive available today."

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today unveiled the Agility 3 and Solid 3 SATA III SSD product lines. The Agility 3 and Solid 3 are designed to cater to speed-seeking enthusiasts in search of the best value for performance. Using the latest technology, these new series deliver nearly double the performance of the previous generation and offer a more cost-effective alternative to current SATA 6Gbps SSDs on the market.

"With increased availability of SATA III platforms, the demand for the latest generation SSDs has grown rapidly," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ technology Group. "We are addressing this demand with new products that offer both the best performance and value for consumers. The new Agility 3 and Solid 3 SSDs make it easier than ever for consumers take advantage of the new SATA III interface. When coupled with the speed and reliability benefits that our SSDs offer over traditional hard drives, it makes the two new series the ideal choices for mobile and desktop applications."

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, today announced its OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express Solid State Drive is now shipping in an industry largest 480GB capacity for all 2010 Apple MacBook Air models. First announced at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show this past January, the OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express line now offers up to 4X greater capacity and up to 68% faster real-world performance than factory available options. This new 480GB model introduction continues OWC's position as the only aftermarket SSD manufacturer for the 2010 MacBook Air and the most comprehensive U.S. manufacturer of industry leading SandForce processor based SSDs available today with OWC Mercury Pro brand SSD models available for nearly every Mac and PC produced over the past decade.

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash, storage and enthusiast computer products, today announces the new high-performance Torqx 2 - a new SSD that delivers the perfect balance of price and performance. The Patriot Torqx 2 series enables users to boost performance of existing desktops and notebooks to achieve maximum performance with SATA II 3.0 Gb/s interfaces.

By combining a cutting-edge newSSD controller with high-performance 3x-nm NAND flash memory, the Patriot Torqx 2 SSDs achieve up to read speeds up to 270MB/s for a noticeable performance boost with daily computing tasks. Write speeds up to 230MB/s ensure the Patriot Torqx 2 series can write virtually as fast as it reads for lightning-fast software installations and large-file creation.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today unveiled a new addition to the highly-awarded Vertex 3 SATA III Series. The Vertex 3 Max IOPS edition drives extend the company's industry-leading Vertex 3 SSD product line to support users that require greater transactional throughput.

"Following the successful launch of our Vertex 3 SATA III 6Gbps solid state drives we are pleased to introduce the new Max IOPS edition," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. "Vertex 3 Max IOPS drives increase random write performance, and are the ideal storage solution for applications that require high aggregate workloads and increased IO throughput."

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today unveiled its next generation Vertex 3 SATA III SSD product family, a lineup that caters to both client and enterprise applications. Harnessing the 6Gbps speed of the SATA III interface, the new series delivers double the performance of the previous generation.

The Vertex 3 is the first solution to feature the new SandForce SF-2200 SSD processor, and raises the bar in performance with up to 550MB/s read and 500 MB/s write transfer rates and up to 60,000 IOPS (4k random write). This maximized speed significantly improves gaming, multimedia, and the overall computing experience over traditional mechanical hard drives, as well as other competing SSDs.

Flash memory expert PhotoFast expanded its line of ultra-high performance SSDs with the GMonster3 XV2 series, which are based on the 2.5-inch SATA form-factor, making use of SATA 6 Gb/s interface. The drives use a Marvell-made controller, which combined with MLC NAND flash chips, churns out transfer rates of up to 500 MB/s read and 450 MB/s write. The drive supports the TRIM garbage-collection feature that keeps write performance up to the mark at all times. Available in capacities of 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB; the GMonster3 XV2 drives will be priced at $110, $200, $400 and $800, respectively, when initially released in Japan, later this year in April.

World leading flash memory manufacturer Silicon Power today announces the new 2.5" SATA Velox V20 series Solid State Drive (SSD). Instantly boosting PC performances, it uses the latest SandForce controller, featuring a maximum read-speed of 285MB/s and write-speed of 275MB/s so enthusiasts can sit back and enjoy the speedy transfer rates!

Silicon Power's V20 SSD uses the latest SandForce controller, it boasts a continuous read / write speed up to 285MB/ 275MB per second, respectively. An actual test using a 40GB V20 required only 13 seconds to boot into Windows and open up a program. It is the perfect enterprise office PC storage solution or the ideal boot-up disk in any PC! In addition, V20 SSD also supports TRIM Command and Garbage Collection technology to counter performance drop issues due to long period of use and continuous write actions.