Toshiba throughout 2017 made big moves in the flash storage industry, particularly its bitter falling out with WD/SanDisk. The company today is more innovative than ever. Its 2018 International CES booth had a mix of products by the original Toshiba digital storage products division, and its client-focused, US-based, former OCZ division. The star-attraction isn't some big PCIe add-on card SSD that can push a dozen terabytes per second; but the modest RC100 M.2 NVMe drive. Drives like it could make NVMe storage affordable for upper-mainstream gaming PC builders throughout 2018.

The RC100 has been exhaustively detailed in one of our older articles. It's an M.2-2242 drive with PCIe gen 3.0 x2 interface, and more than triple the transfer rates of the fastest SATA SSD you can find. This drive will be gulped down by both the DIY and OEM markets. Next up, is the TR200 entry-level SATA SSD launched last October, targeted at those still clinging onto HDDs or first-time builders. It features Toshiba's 64-layer TLC NAND flash to achieve some of the lowest price-per-gigabyte ratios.

IBASE Technology Inc., a world leader in the manufacture of industrial motherboard and embedded systems, today launches a new ET975 COM Express Computer-on-Module based on the ultra-low voltage 7th Generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3 processor (Kaby Lake-U) produced using a 14 nanometer manufacturing process technology. Characterized with product longevity, performance computing and low power consumption, the ET975 is suitable for applications found in factory automation, kiosk, communications, medical imaging and digital signage environments.

The ET975 comes with features that provide high performance and reliable operation across a wide range of industrial and embedded applications. The ET975 COM Express Type 6 compact module is equipped with two DDR4-2133 SO-DIMM sockets with a 32GB memory capacity, operating temperature range from 0°C to +60°C, and Intel Gen 9 HD low-power integrated graphics on the SoC providing 4K resolution via popular display interfaces such as DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort and LVDS. A rich set of standard I/Os available are one gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0 and eight USB 2.0 ports, two serial ports and two SATA III ports.

Greenliant Systems is now sampling its eMMC 5.1 NANDrive embedded solid state drive (SSD) product family with improved performance, enhanced features and a wide range of capacities (8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 GB). Ideal for automotive, industrial, medical, security, military and networking applications, the new GLS85VM NANDrive devices support the JEDEC eMMC 5.1 standard and operate at full industrial temperatures between -40 and +85 degrees Celsius.

The eMMC 5.1 NANDrive products are HS200/HS400 compliant and support command queuing for faster data throughput and better multitasking. These high-performance products also offer high-reliability features, such as advanced wear-leveling, bad block management and effective error correction code (ECC) capabilities to significantly extend the life of the product. eMMC 5.1 NANDrive SSDs are available in a 14mm x 18mm, 100-ball, 1.0mm pitch package (backward compatible with Greenliant's 100-ball eMMC 4.4 NANDrive SSDs) and will also be offered in a smaller 11.5mm x 13mm, 153-ball, 0.5mm pitch package.

Western Digital today introduced a new portfolio of advanced iNAND embedded flash drives (EFDs) to empower smartphone users to unlock the full potential of today's data-driven applications and experiences. Leveraging Western Digital's 64-layer 3D NAND technology and advanced UFS and e.MMC interface technologies, the intelligent, new iNAND 8521 and iNAND 7550 EFDs deliver outstanding data performance and high storage capacity.

When designed into smartphones and thin, lightweight computing devices, they accelerate the possibilities of a wide range of demanding data-centric applications, including augmented reality (AR), high resolution video capture and rich social media experiences, as well as emerging artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) experiences at the "edge." The volume, velocity, variety and value of data continues to exponentially grow and evolve across Big Data, Fast Data and personal data. Many consumers around the world will experience this confluence of data on their smartphone.

VIA Technologies, Inc., today announced the launch of the VIA ARTiGO A630, an ultra-slim fanless gateway system with flexible customization options for a broad spectrum of commercial M2M and IoT applications. Featuring a high-performance 1.0GHz VIA Cortex-A9 dual-core SoC, multiple network connectivity options, and a rich combination of I/O, the VIA ARTiGO A630 adds a cost-effective solution to the growing range of VIA Enterprise IoT gateway devices designed to manage the connection and control for a wide spectrum of connected HMI and automation applications.

"The VIA ARTiGO A630 bolsters our already diverse range of ARTiGO Series M2M and IoT gateway systems," said Richard Brown, VP International Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "Providing a rich mix of connectivity and performance in an ultra-compact design that can be rapidly customized, will help customers speed time-to-market and unlock the full potential of their IoT deployments."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it is introducing the industry's first embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) solution for use in next-generation automotive applications. Consisting of 128-gigabyte (GB) and 64GB versions, the new eUFS solution has been designed for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), next-generation dashboards and infotainment systems that provide comprehensive connected features for drivers and passengers worldwide.

"We are taking a major step in accelerating the introduction of next-generation ADAS and automotive infotainment systems by offering the industry's first eUFS solution for the market much earlier than expected," said Jinman Han, senior vice president of Memory Product Planning & Application Engineering at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung is taking the lead in the growth of the memory market for sophisticated automotive applications, while continuing to deliver leading-edge UFS solutions with higher performance, density and reliability."

After announcing their intention to begin mass production of their latest 72-Layer 3D NAND Flash back in April, SK Hynix has now confirmed that it has entered mass production of the high density NAND modules. Apparently, SK Hynix has already achieved the much sought-after "golden yield" ratios, where the semiconductor yield is now at such a level that it is advantageous to finally enter mass production. Apparently, SK Hynix's leadership was fearful of not being able to achieve the golden yield in a timely manner after their announcement of the technology only three months ago; however, after its "management team and engineers repeatedly spent nights doing research, yield went up vertically and has become comparable to Samsung Electronics'" own yield - and as you know, Samsung is kind of the golden standard when it comes to NAND technology.

According to industry sources, SK Hynix is already mass-producing SSDs (Solid State Drives) with the company's own controllers and firmware which leverage this new 72-layer 256Gb NAND flash memory. This is a welcome change for the company which should allow it to increase revenue, since this is the first time controllers are developed in-house. The company is also said to be already producing eMMC (embedded Multimedia Card) for mobile devices based on this technology, with supply already arriving to its customers.

Microsoft Sunday dropped its mic with the most powerful game console on paper, the Xbox One X, formerly codenamed "Project Scorpio." The bottom-line of this console is that it enables 4K Ultra HD gaming at 60 Hz. Something like this requires you to spend at least $1,200 on a gaming desktop right now. Unlike a Windows 10 PC that's been put together by various pieces of hardware, the Xbox One X is built on a closed ecosystem that's tightly controlled by Microsoft, with heavily optimized software, and a lot of secret sauce the company won't talk about. The console still puts up some mighty impressive hardware specs on paper.

To begin with, at the heart of the Xbox One X is a semi-custom SoC Microsoft co-developed with AMD, built on TSMC's 16 nm FinFET node (the same one NVIDIA builds its "Pascal" GPUs on). This chip features a GPU with almost quadruple the single-precision floating point compute power as the one which drives the Xbox One. It features 40 Graphics CoreNext (GCN) compute units (2,560 stream processors) based on one of the later versions of GCN (likely "Polaris"). The GPU is clocked at 1172 MHz. The other big component of the SoC is an eight-core CPU based on an unnamed micro-architecture evolved from "Jaguar" rather than "Bulldozer" or even "Zen." The eight cores are arranged in two quad-core units of four cores, each; with 4 MB of L2 cache. The CPU is clocked at 2.30 GHz.

NVIDIA today unveiled the NVIDIA Jetson TX2, a credit card-sized platform that delivers AI computing at the edge -- opening the door to powerfully intelligent factory robots, commercial drones and smart cameras for AI cities. Jetson TX2 offers twice the performance of its predecessor, or it can run at more than twice the power efficiency, while drawing less than 7.5 watts of power. This allows Jetson TX2 to run larger, deeper neural networks on edge devices. The result: smarter devices with higher accuracy and faster response times for tasks like image classification, navigation and speech recognition.

"Jetson TX2 brings powerful AI capabilities at the edge, making possible a new class of intelligent machines," said Deepu Talla, vice president and general manager of the Tegra business at NVIDIA. "These devices will enable intelligent video analytics that keep our cities smarter and safer, new kinds of robots that optimize manufacturing, and new collaboration that makes long-distance work more efficient."

The woes for the trusty old HDD continue, as Seagate, one of the world's biggest players on the HDD manufacturing field, has confirmed they are closing up one of their largest plants. The factory, located in Suzhou, China, is one of the company's largest HDD production epicenters, and its closure will significantly reduce the company's HDD output - a step in the company's purported "optimizations" towards reducing their HDD production capabilities from 55-60 million HDDs per quarter to around 35-40 million. Production and demand's age-old feud are once again taking their toll, as demand for spindle-drive technology subsides on the wake of SSDs increased performance and consecutive price declines, with most laptops now shipping with either SSD-based storage or cheaper, yet less power-hungry, eMMC solutions.

ECS is giving final touches to a the new Liva Z mini-PC featuring Intel "Apollo Lake" Pentium and Celeron SoCs. The desktop could come with Pentium J4205, Celeron J3455, and Celeron J3355 options. The J4205 and J3455 feature quad-core "Goldmont" CPUs running at 1.50 GHz, but differ with integrated GPUs and Turbo Boost frequencies. The J4205 features 18 execution units (EUs), maximum iGPU clocks of 800 MHz, and 2.60 GHz maximum CPU Turbo Boost; while the J3455 features 12 EUs, 750 MHz maximum iGPU clock, and 2.30 GHz maximum CPU Turbo Boost frequency. The J3355 features a dual-core "Goldmont" CPU running at 2.00 GHz with 2.50 GHz Turbo Boost, and an iGPU with 12 EUs, with 700 MHz maximum clocks.

The upcoming ECS Liva Z "Apollo Lake" also comes with two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 8 GB of memory, integrated eMMC storage options of 32 GB and 64 GB (for the OS), and an M.2-2280 slot for internal storage expansion. Display outputs include mini-DisplayPort and HDMI. Network connectivity includes two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, and a WLAN controller with 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 support. The rest of its connectivity includes three USB 3.1 type-A ports, and one USB 3.1 type-C port. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) has enhanced its lineup of managed NAND devices with the addition of new Embedded Multimedia Card (e-MMC) and Universal Flash Storage (UFS) embedded memory solutions. Featuring enhanced integrated controller technologies, the new 'Supreme+' e-MMC (JEDEC ver. 5.1) and UFS (JEDEC ver. 2.1) offerings deliver significant read and write speed improvements to demanding applications.

In contrast to raw NAND flash memory solutions, e-MMC and UFS devices integrate NAND flash memory and a controller chip in a single package. This saves space and relieves host processors of the burden of key memory management functions including bad block management, error correction, wear leveling, and garbage collection. As a result, e-MMC and UFS devices simplify design when compared to standalone memory ICs with a standard NAND flash interface.

GIGABYTE Technology, a leading creator of high performance products for IT professionals and an associate member of the Intel Internet of Things Solutions Alliance, showcases today its new embedded computer solution, the EL-20 series, for the opening of the Embedded World trade show in Nuremberg, Germany (booth no.2-453, Hall 2).

Designed in partnership with Intel for the Intel IoT Gateway program, the EL-20 series comes in 3 variants based on different models of the new Intel SoC processors based on the Airmont architecture and the tri-gate 14nm process. These System on a Chip multi-core processors are designed to drive both computing and graphics performance in embedded scenarios that are particularly sensitive to cost and energy consumption. With a maximum power envelope of just 6W, these processors are an ideal solution to drive processing and graphics performance in industrial computing environments.

Today at Mobile World Congress, Lenovo introduced two new consumer Windows 10 PCs: YOGA 710 and 5101 convertible laptops and the ideapad MIIX 310 2-in-1 detachable tablet. We recognize consumers' need to work on multiple devices for different tasks. For example, they may text on a smartphone, work on a laptop, and read on a tablet. That's why we designed each of our new devices to either convert or detach into tablet mode, so users can do more with the comfort of typing on a keyboard and the power of the latest generation of Intel processors, while giving them long battery life2 to leave the power cord at home.

We created the new 11-inch YOGA 710 for travelers and mobile workers who are productive on the road. Powered by a 6th Gen Intel Core i7 processor on the 14-inch model and up to Core m5 processor on the smaller 11-inch model, the YOGA 710 comes with Windows 10 and is one of the most powerful and portable convertible laptops available. Users can multitask seamlessly between videoconferencing, emailing and editing photos on the go. Weighing only 1.04kg, its compact size and ability to convert into a tablet make it ideal for people looking to save space in their bags.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, is pleased to confirm participation in SPS IPC Drives 2015, Europe's leading industrial PC and automation trade show from Nov. 24 to 26 in Nuremberg, Germany. ADATA is ready to display a wide selection of industrial products that help customers create smart manufacturing with a high degree of connectivity, automation, and control. Smart industry depends on reliable memory and storage to drive it forward, and ADATA is at the forefront of providing these.

To fulfill the latest market demand, ADATA implements large capacities and high performance specifications, with PCIe Gen 3x4 and up to 2TB density for big data process across industrial sectors. In addition, the support of PLP (Power-Loss Protection), advanced LDPC ECC and wide temperature tolerance ensure great reliability, stability, as well as data security. As for those applications requires ultra-fast computing and high power efficiency, ADATA's DDR4 DRAM modules can offer lower energy draw and faster performance compared to DDR3 while adding robust durability.

Giada Technology, an industry leader in Mini PCs, embedded systems and servers for small & medium enterprises, is proud to unveil a compact fan-less mini pc system - the F210. With an efficient Intel Cherry Trail Processor and lower power consumption, the F210 is a compact-sized and cost effective Intel Platform thin client Mini PC. It provides 2G onboard memory and 8G of eMMC storage. To support diversified video output, the F210 is equipped with both VGA and HDMI interfaces. OS compatibility with the latest Windows 10 and Android ensures wide OS options. The space-saving size of the F210 and its uncompromising performance enables its wide range of applications in thin-client and desktop virtualization terminals.

The all-metal chassis provides better protection for the internal parts from damage as well as EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference). Its rugged design allows for 24/7 stable operation over long periods of time. In addition, the all-metal design can improve the heat dissipation efficiency and lowers the working temperature of the parts, thus prolonging the form factor's lifetime.

With its 6th generation Core "Skylake" processors, Intel is throwing in everything it's got, into increasing performance of the integrated graphics. This is necessitated not by some newfound urge to compete with entry-discrete GPUs from NVIDIA or AMD, but a rather sudden increase in display resolutions, after nearly a decade of stagnation. Notebook and tablet designers are wanting to cram in higher resolution displays, such as WQHD (2560 x 1440), 4K (3840 x 2160), and beyond, and are finding it impossible to achieve them without discrete graphics. This is what Intel is likely after. The aftereffect of this effort would be that the iGPU will be finally capable of playing some games at 720p or 900p resolutions, with moderate eye-candy. Games such as League of Legends should be fairly playable, even at 1080p. Intel claims that its 9th generation integrated graphics will over a 50% performance increment over the previous generation.

Moving on to CPU, and the performance-increase is a predictable 10-20% single/multi-thread CPU performance, over "Broadwell." This is roughly similar to how "Haswell" bettered "Ivy Bridge," and how "Sandy Bridge" bettered "Lynnfield." Intel will provide platform support on some of its "Skylake-U" ultraportable variants, for much of the modern I/O used by today's tablets and notebooks, which required third-party controllers, and which competing semi-custom SoCs natively offer, such as eMMC 5.0, SDIO 3.0, SATA 6 Gb/s, PCIe gen 3.0, and USB 3.0. Communications are also improved, with 2x 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 4.1, and WiDi 6.0.

SK Hynix Inc. announced it has developed UFS (Universal Flash Storage) 2.0 64 GB (Gigabytes) solution based on its own 16 nm NAND Flash and in-house firmware and controller. This UFS 2.0 represents a groundbreaking leap in performance by enabling High-Speed Gear 3 interface with dual data lanes.

UFS 2.0 is the next generation of embedded flash memory to eMMC for mobile IT gadgets which drives a remarkable boost in reading/writing speed at low power and supports high density. The Company's UFS 2.0 operates at 780 MB/s(Megabytes per second) and 160 MB/s of sequential read/write speed and runs random read/write speed at 32,000 IOPS and 17,000 IOPS. As a result, it works three times faster in read speed than eMMC 5.1.

In addition, this UFS 2.0 utilizes 'Command Queue' technology used in SSD solutions to handle read and write commands simultaneously to achieve data operation efficiency by preventing buffering load in multi-tasking and ordering priorities of data works. To maximize prioritized command processing feature of UFS standard, the device employs 'Multi-Thread' read processing internally to ensure that high priority command is serviced first irrespective of other outstanding tasks, delivering fast response to time-critical host requests for best user experience. In consequence, it realizes even better performance in speed and power consumption over eMMC.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today introduced a high-performance mobile memory storage based on Embedded MultiMediaCard (eMMC) 5.0 technology. The new 128-gigabyte (GB), 3-bit NAND-based eMMC 5.0 storage is targeted at the smartphone and tablet mass markets.

"With the introduction of our value-focused, 3-bit NAND-based eMMC 5.0 line-up, we expect to take the lead in the expansion of high-density mobile storage," said Dr. Jung-Bae Lee, Senior Vice President of Memory Product Planning and Application Engineering Team, Samsung Electronics. "We are continuing to enhance our next-generation embedded mobile memory offerings with improved performance and higher densities to meet increasing customer demand across the mobile industry."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced today that it is now mass producing the industry's first 128-gigabyte (GB) ultra-fast embedded memory based on the much-anticipated Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard for next-generation flagship smartphones. The new embedded memory's UFS 2.0 interface is the most advanced JEDEC-compliant, next-generation flash memory storage specification in the world.

"With our mass production of ultra-fast UFS memory of the industry's highest capacity, we are making a significant contribution to enable a more advanced mobile experience for consumers," said Jee-ho Baek, Senior Vice President of Memory Marketing, Samsung Electronics. "In the future, we will increase the proportion of high-capacity memory solutions, in leading the continued growth of the premium memory market."

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in standards development for the microelectronics industry, today announced the publication of JESD84-B51: Embedded MultiMediaCard (e.MMC), Electrical Standard (5.1). e.MMC v5.1 defines new features and updates for this embedded mass-storage flash memory that is widely used in smartphones and other mobile devices. Intended to facilitate an enhanced end user experience, the new version of e.MMC offers command queueing for the first time, and also defines important security updates. JESD84-B51 is available for free download from the JEDEC website.

The new revision of the standard defines e.MMC Command Queueing, which supports the optimized execution of commands within the device, versus the single thread protocol defined in prior versions of the standard. Command Queueing will enable the device to analyze commands before executing them, thereby maximizing effectiveness of the e.MMC memory storage. This will result in a positive effect on random read performance and read latency, thereby improving the end user experience.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced today that it is now mass producing the industry's first ePoP (embedded package on package) memory - a single memory package consisting of 3GB LPDDR3 DRAM, 32GB eMMC (embedded multi-media card) and a controller. For use in high-end smartphones, the extremely thin ePoP combines all essential memory components into a single package that can be stacked directly on top of the mobile processor, without taking any additional space - a distinct improvement over existing two-package eMCP memory solutions.

"By offering our new high-density ePoP memory for flagship smartphones, Samsung expects to provide its customers with significant design benefits, while enabling faster and longer operation of multi-tasking features," Jeeho Baek, Senior Vice President of Memory Marketing at Samsung Electronics. "We plan to expand our line-up of ePoP memory with packages involving enhancements in performance and density over the next few years, to further add to the growth of premium mobile market."

Micron Technology, Inc., expands its automotive storage solutions portfolio with the introduction of their M500IT solid-state drive (SSD) in densities ranging from 60GB to 240GB and embedded multimedia card (eMMC) 5.0 memory. Both solutions are specifically designed to enhance automotive applications.

Micron's M500IT solid state drive (SSD) is the industry's first automotive-grade SSD with AEC-Q100-compliant NAND flash memory components and system-level qualification in select automotive applications and conditions. The M500IT is dramatically faster than hard disk drive (HDD) technologies, enabling nearly instantaneous system response times and fast application loads that are critical to the increasingly media-rich automotive experience. The M500IT SSD also includes hardware-based encryption, data-at-rest protection against unexpected power loss and an adaptive thermal monitoring system to secure user data at extended temperatures. The M500IT SSD uses AEC-Q100-compliant NAND flash memory technology and customized firmware to provide high quality and high performance for demanding automotive applications.

HP today expanded the innovative HP Stream line-up of thin and light Windows products that leverage the cloud and make it easy to work and play from more places with the addition of two new notebook PCs and two new tablets.

"Today's consumers demand mobile products that fit their personal style and allow them to work and play wherever they are," said Mike Nash, vice president, Product Management, Consumer Personal Systems, HP. "The HP Stream products announced today hit the mark with sleek design, portability, access to free cloud storage, and the familiarity of Windows and Office 365."

Since this product was introduced in April, LIVA Mini PC Kit by Elitegroup Computer Systems, ECS, has received all the positive feedback from users as well as many awards from media globally. In order to fulfill more applications and expectations, ECS proudly introduces LIVA Mini PC Kit White Edition / eMMC 64 GB which will be available in August, 2014. With the simplicity of the color of white and the upgrade of storage, the new member of family, LIVA White Edition 64 GB, will be the focus in the market of mini PC.