Plextor, a leading developer of high-performance digital storage technology, announces the launch of M6 Pro and PlexTurbo at Computex 2014. The show will also mark the debut of other new consumer SSDs from Plextor, who will showcase their IPC and enterprise ranges. Debuting at Computex is the high-performance Plextor M6 Pro SATA SSD. With hardware operating at the maximum 6 Gbps throughput limit of the SATA interface, the M6 Pro sets new standards for reliability, stability, and performance. With guaranteed stability, the Plextor M6 Pro is the first consumer SSD from Plextor to pass its new ultra-strict enterprise-grade Zero Error standard of 400 units surviving 1008 hours (up from 500 hours). The introduction of DEVSLP mode reduces power consumption.

PlexTurbo is intelligent SSD caching software, which uses a combination of system RAM, the SSD DRAM cache, and SSD storage. It delivers additional storage speed for real-world applications, intelligently extends flash life, and prevents data loss if power is interrupted. By taking a more intelligent approach to RAM caching, the PlexTurbo is able to outperform competing software whist minimizing RAM use. PlexTurbo will initially only be available with the Plextor M6 Pro. Live demos will show the stability and incredible performance of Plextor's latest M6 generation of products. Attendees will experience the performance and advantages of the brand new Plextor M6 Pro with PlexTurbo. They will also have the chance to see the power of the M6e in HHHL and M.2 form factors. This SSD has already won numerous awards by bypassing the limitations of SATA to deliver highly stable RAID-like performance using cutting-edge components and the PCIe interface.

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.

Ahead of its launch, pictures of ECS Liva mini-PC were posted by the Japanese media. Designed to take on the likes of Intel NUC (Atom) and Gigabyte Brix, the Liva runs Intel's "Bay Trail-M" SoC, which allows a great deal of cost-cutting, and lets it make the Liva fan-less. A big metal-ridge heatsink cools the SoC. The compact system board has a great deal of onboard connectivity, including D-Sub and HDMI display outputs; gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB 3.0, and stereo HD audio. The board comes with its own 2 GB of DDR3L onboard RAM, and 32 GB of eMMC storage. Measuring 118 mm x 70 mm x 56 mm, the Liva weighs in at 190 g. It's expected to be priced under $200.

Greenliant Systems, a leader in energy-efficient, highly secure and reliable solid state storage products, is now mass producing its eMMC NANDrive embedded solid state drives (SSDs). The GLS85VM devices operate at full industrial temperatures between -40 and +85 degrees Celsius, giving customers data storage in a small, ball grid array (BGA) form factor that can withstand the most severe conditions.

All eMMC NANDrive SSDs have the same footprint in a 14 mm x 18 mm, 100-ball package, with 1 mm ball pitch for increased long-term reliability. GLS85VM devices are compatible with JEDEC eMMC 4.4x and 4.3 standards. With a focus on meeting stringent customer requirements, Greenliant's fabless manufacturing operations are ISO 9001:2008 certified and eMMC NANDrive is manufactured in ISO/TS 16949:2009 facilities.

The S20 Slider 2, the ideal mobile work station and leisure companion, just hit the market. Its elegant streamlined exterior, all-in-one design, Intel's 4th generation Haswell Core i5 processor, and all-weather, long-life battery meet are designed to meet your work and leisure needs and make the S20 Slider 2 stand out from the crowd of other ultrabooks.

Another MSI ingenious design, the S20 Slider 2 not only offers all the audio, visual, multimedia, reading, and gaming enjoyment of a tablet, it also sports a keyboard, USB, and HDMI capabilities of a mobile office notebook. This chicly mobile machine satisfies the needs of both on-the-go business people and students and the extended battery power ensures that you have plenty of time to do what you're doing. Ideal for Internet browsing, social networking, and word processing, the S20 Slider 2 is the perfect choice for anybody on the go. The S20's design with keyboard and sliding cover eliminates the limitations most people feel when they use tablets. MSI's innovative, user-friendly design have you the user in mind.

KINGMAX, a vertically integrated RAM/memory card module manufacturer, is happy to announce that it has developed a complete range of storage products catering specifically to the industrial PC sector. While the IPC and industrial control market is poised to grow further on the back of ever-expanding applications, KINGMAX will keep up its innovative R&D to meet the rapidly growing demand.

Leveraging more than 20 years of R&D and manufacturing expertise, KINGMAX now stands out as a premium one-stop supplier of industrial-grade FLASH storage products: SSDs, eMMC/eMCP/eSSDs, SD/CF cards and DRAMs. They not only come with state-of-the-art specifications but also have undergone the most stringent performance tests and safety verification.

Lenovo today announced several new touch-enabled Windows laptops, along with Lenovo Miix, a platform-bending multi-mode device that adapts to a user's every need. As a 10.1-inch tablet that converts instantly into a fully-functioning, Windows 8 laptop, the Lenovo Miix combines versatility and power in one touch-enabled device. The IdeaPad S400 Touch, S500 Touch, S210 Touch, U330 Touch and U430 Touch all hail from the company's S Series and U Series, which are notable for their thin and lightweight designs.

The new Lenovo Miix, S Series and U Series devices demonstrate Lenovo's commitment to "touch" as a defining trend in consumer computing. Research analyst firm IDC expects the penetration rate of touch laptops, which now sits at close to 15 percent, to double next year. Leading that trend, Lenovo is innovating across traditional technology segments - such as desktop and laptop PCs - with its new multi-mode, touch-enabled devices.

SK Hynix Inc. announced that it has developed the world's first 8 Gb(Gigabit) LPDDR3 (Low Power DDR3) using its advanced 20nm class process technology. This product is a top-performance mobile memory solution which features high density, ultrahigh speed and low power consumption.

The new products can be stacked up and realize a high density of maximum 4 GB(Gigabytes, 32 Gb) solution in a single package. In addition, the height of this package becomes dramatically thinner than the existing 4 Gb-based one. In terms of its high density and competitive package height, it is suitable for the newest trend of the mobile applications.

Innodisk, a designer and manufacturer of SSDs for commercial and industrial applications, announces a release of the industrial-embedded industry's first SATA device in accordance to SATA µSSD standards - nanoSSD.

Through the integration of a control chip, flash memory and peripheral power components into a single ball grid array (BGA) package, Innodisk has managed to reduce the size of the nanoSSD to approximately 1% the size of a 2.5" SSD. With dimensions of only 16 x 20 x 2 mm (WxLxH), a weight of only 1.5g, SATA III support, capacities ranging from 4 to 64 GB and both x86 and ARM compatibility, nanoSSD can be incorporated into a wide variety of applications where a small form-factor and high transfer rates are important, including industrial mobile devices, embedded systems, tablets, high-end smart phones and Ultrabooks.

Toshiba Corporation today announced that the company has developed second generation 19 nanometer process technology that it will apply to mass production of 2-bit-per-cell 64 gigabit NAND memory chips later this month.

Toshiba has used the new generation technology to develop the world's smallest 2-bit per-cell 64 gigabit NAND memory chips, with an area of only 94 square millimeters. Using a unique high speed writing method, the next generation chips can achieve a write speed of up to 25 megabytes a second - the world's fastest class* in 2-bit-per-cell chips.

Greenliant Systems, a leader in energy-efficient, highly secure and reliable solid state storage products, has begun volume production of its industrial temperature SATA and PATA interface NANDrive embedded solid state drives (SSDs) using 2-bits-per-cell (MLC) NAND flash memory. Overcoming the temperature sensitivity risk of MLC NAND, industrial temperature (I-temp) SATA and PATA NANDrive operate between -40 and +85 degrees Celsius.

Compared to significantly more expensive 1-bit-per-cell (SLC) NAND-based SSDs, I-temp MLC NANDrive offers cost-effective, ball grid array (BGA) products that meet quality and reliability requirements-such as avoiding uncorrectable errors and data retention issues-when the MLC NAND is operating at extremely low and high temperatures. NANDrive combines Greenliant's internally developed NAND controller with NAND flash die for a fully integrated SSD in a multi-chip package.

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient computing platforms, today announced the VIA ARMOS-800, an ultra-compact, fanless system designed around the tiny VIA VAB-800 Pico-ITX board. The VIA ARMOS-800 provides embedded customers with a ruggedized system that delivers advanced multimedia features in an extremely power efficient design for a diversified range of embedded applications.

Featuring an 800MHz Freescale ARM Cortex-A8 SoC with two integrated GPUs for dual display support, the VIA ARMOS-800 is optimized for both performance and power to meet the high-end demands of advanced industrial and in-vehicle applications. Boasting a ruggedized, fanless system design with a wide operating temperature range from -40°C up to 80°C, the VIA ARMOS-800 delivers a typical power consumption of a mere 3.14W TDP.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced a next-generation 64 GB embedded multimedia card (eMMC) using 10 nanometer (nm)-class process technology. The new 64 Gb NAND memory went into production late last month.

Myungho Kim, vice president of Memory marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics noted, "The new high-speed, small form factor eMMC reinforces Samsung's technology leadership in storage memory solutions. We look forward to expanding our line-up of embedded memory solutions in conjunction with the new chip's design, in pursuing a system-level adoption of application processors and other key components that form the foundation for the most advanced mobile platforms. This will allow us to better attend to time-to-market demands enabling the design of more convenient features for next-generation mobile applications."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced revenues of 52.18 trillion Korean won on a consolidated basis for the third quarter ended September 30, 2012, a 26-percent increase year-on-year. For the quarter, the company's consolidated operating profit reached an all-time high of 8.12 trillion won, representing a 91-percent increase year-on-year. Consolidated net profit for the July-September period was 6.56 trillion won.

In its earnings guidance disclosed on October 5, Samsung estimated third quarter consolidated revenues would reach approximately 52 trillion won with consolidated operating profit of approximately 8.1 trillion won. Samsung's solid performance is mainly attributed to increased sales of handheld phones and stronger demand for display panels. The Mobile Communications Business posted 26.25 trillion won in revenue for the quarter, accounting for more than half of Samsung's total revenue. As for the display panel segment, increased shipments of Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) and Liquid Crystal Display panels used in tablets and smartphones, as well as TVs drove up profitability.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun volume production of 128-gigabyte (GB) embedded memory for next-generation smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Samsung started producing the new 128GB eMMC (embedded multimedia card) Pro Class 1500 in late August, which is only one month after it started delivering eMMC Pro products in 16-, 32- and 64-GB densities, rapidly completing the industry's widest line-up of eMMC products.

"By doubling the highest density of its previous eMMC products, Samsung expects to contribute significantly to a timely release of leading-edge mobile devices," said Wanhoon Hong, executive vice president, Memory Sales & Marketing, Samsung Electronics. "The higher data storage and faster data transmission will bring a range of benefits to users that compare to those of ultra-slim notebook PCs."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has now begun volume production of an ultra-fast embedded memory for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices in 16-, 32- and 64-gigabyte (GB) densities.

The new Samsung eMMC (embedded multimedia card) Pro Class 1500 delivers the industry's fastest speeds for an embedded memory device, reading data sequentially at up to 140 megabytes per second (MB/s) and writing it at up to 50 MB/s. For random reading and writing, it can process up to 3500/1500 IOPS (inputs and outputs per second), four times the speed of previous eMMC solutions.

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient computing platforms, today announced the VIA VAB-800 Pico-ITX embedded ARM board. Featuring a choice of an 800MHz or a 1GHz Freescale ARM Cortex-A8 processor, the VIA VAB-800 combines a wide operating temperature range with extremely low power consumption to meet the demands of high-end industrial and in-vehicle fanless embedded applications.

Based on the industry standard 10 cm x 7.2 cm Pico-ITX form factor created by VIA, the VIA VAB-800 Pico-ITX board combines a rich I/O set with superb multimedia performance, supporting playback of the most demanding video formats in resolutions up to 1080p. Leveraging VIA's hardware design expertise, the VIA VAB-800 delivers the highest I/O integration on the Pico-ITX form factor for an ultra compact yet highly flexible platform for the latest embedded devices.

You could soon have NVIDIA Tegra 3 processors running entry-level PCs. COM (computer-on-module) and IPC (industrial PC) designer Kontron developed an NVIDIA Tegra 3 system board in the slim mini-ITX form-factor (170 mm x 170 mm), which is compatible with most ITX/ATX cases. The board has most common PC peripheral interfaces, and is fit to drive an entry-level PC. The KTT30/mITX from Kontron features an NVIDIA Tegra 3 SoC, with 4+1 ARM Cortex-A9 cores clocked at 900 MHz and GeForce ULP graphics. The GPU is fit to drive 1080p displays with H264 MPEG-4 encoding/decoding acceleration. Display outputs include HDMI 1.4a (up to 1920x1080 pixels), and LVDS 24-bit (up to 2048x1536 pixel @ 18bpp).

The Kontron KTT30/mITX packs 2 GB of DDR3L memory. For storage, it has an mSATA 3 Gb/s port, two SD card slots, and a bootable eMMC slot. Two mPCIe slots and a SIM card slot (for 3G HSDPA) handle on-board expansion. System interfaces include two RS232 (serial/COM), three USB 2.0. Apart from 3G HSDPA, the board supports gigabit Ethernet. For audio, there's 2-channel analog and multi-channel digital (S/PDIF) audio outputs. The board draws power from a 2-pin DC input. The board should be able to run most distributions of Linux for ARM (including Android and Chrome OS), and technically should also be able to run the upcoming Microsoft Windows 8 RT operating system.

Greenliant Systems, a leader in energy-efficient, highly secure and reliable solid state storage products, is now sampling its e.MMC NANDrive GLS85VM embedded solid state drive (SSD) product family to select customers. The new NANDrive devices support the JEDEC e.MMC 4.4 standard and are backward compatible with 4.3. While the JEDEC operating temperature range specification is -25 to +85 degrees Celsius, e.MMC NANDrive operates at full industrial temperatures between -40 and +85 degrees Celsius, giving customers data storage that can withstand the most severe conditions.

e.MMC NANDrive combines Greenliant's internally developed NAND controller with NAND flash die for a fully integrated SSD in a multi-chip package. It is available with 2-bits-per-cell (MLC) or 1-bit-per-cell (SLC) NAND to meet varying customer requirements for lifespan, endurance and performance. Measuring 14mm x 18mm, e.MMC NANDrive is offered in a 100 ball grid array (BGA) package, with 1mm ball pitch for increased long-term reliability.

Embedded System Expo (ESEC) Japan 2012 will hold during May 9th to May 11th in Tokyo, and KINGMAX will demonstrate its series of industrial grade of FLASH storage products - SSD (Solid Sate Drive), memory cards, DRAM and embedded memory - on the booth WEST11-65. Leveraging more than 20 years of DRAM and FLASH expertise in R&D and manufacturing, KINGMAX will present a complete series of industrial solution which is not only at latest specification but also has been undergone strict reliability test and verification to ensure the most stable quality.

KINGMAX Group is the world first memory module manufacturer owning IC packaging and testing facilities, and has long been committed to the innovation of the best memory module solutions. Leveraging years of R&D and manufacturing competency, KINGMAX first-launched Industrial products include three categories: Industrial Storage, Industrial Memory and Embedded Memory. First, KINGMAX will exhibit a series of industrial SSD, including SATA III and SATA II SSD-both withstand wide operation temperature(-40℃~ 85 ℃. KINGMAX will also release mSATA SSD and Half-Slim SSD for Ultrabook and small form factor embedded systems.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, announced today that it started producing embedded multi-chip package (eMCP) memory for use in the rapidly expanding market segment for entry- to mid-level smartphones. Samsung's new eMCP solutions come in a wide range of densities, utilizing LPDDR2 (low power double-data-rate 2) DRAM made with 30 nanometer (nm) class process technology and NAND flash memory using 20 nm-class technology.

VR-Zone have been having a little chat with Intel 'sources', who have leaked some juicy tidbits for us to enjoy in the form performance and power news. The upcoming next generation Medfield platform is Intel's first true System on a Chip (SoC) and is designed to compete with various low power ARM offerings in the tablet space. To help achieve this, they've gone through an internal restructure, merging four business units into just one: Ultra-Mobility, Mobile Wireless, Mobile Communications and Netbook & Tablet PC. The business unit is now simply known as Mobile and Communications. It's being run by Mike Bell and Hermann Eul and the first product to emerge from it will be is the 32 nm Medfield SoC solution.

VR-Zone explained that the competition will be "Apple's A-Series, NVIDIA Tegra, Qualcomm Snapdragon, Samsung Exynos, Texas Instruments OMAP and the likes. Out of all the chips mentioned above, only Samsung's Exynos is currently manufactured in 32nm process, just like Medfield."

ASUS today launched the ASUS Eee Pad Slider, a tablet that builds on the great success of the Eee Pad Transformer. Prior to its launch, the Eee Pad Slider has already made its mark with its winning design at the International Design Excellence Awards 2011. The Eee Pad Slider, which comes in either pearl white or metallic brown, features a slide-out keyboard, the new Google Android 3.1 operating system (Android 3.2 upgradable), as well as a plethora of powerful multimedia features. In pad mode, users can experience rich visuals on the 178° wide viewing angle IPS display. Connectivity is a breeze too, with the built-in USB port, Micro SD card reader, and mini-HDMI port. In slide-out mode, users can take advantage of the keyboard to compose emails and blog posts faster than ever.

This Friday, ASUS will launch what it is touting to be a revolutionary new ultra-portable computing device, the Eee Pad Transformer (EP101), at a high-profile launch event in Taipei. The EP101 is a slate-type 10.1-inch tablet that can attach to a bottom-half that includes a keyboard and trackpad, and transform into a netbook. Two of its biggest features include NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor that make it both fast and its UI visually intensive; and Google's Android Honeycomb operating system largely customized by ASUS, that is optimized for larger touch devices such as tablets.

Notable components include Tegra 2 processor, 1 GB LPDDR2 memory, 16/32/64 GB eMMC storage with unlimited cloud storage, IPS display with capacitive touch and resolution of 1280 x 800, 1.2 MP front and 5 MP rear cameras, Tegra 2 graphics that can play back 1080p video, and a load of connectivity feature including WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, 3G (optional). Other human interface devices include g-sensor, compass, gyro, light sensor, and GPS. The Eee Pad Transformer is expected to be priced in Taiwan at 19,596 NTD (around US $663).More pictures follow.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Indilinx Co., Ltd, a privately held fabless provider of flash controller silicon and software for SSDs.

Indilinx is headquartered in South Korea and currently sells its line of flash controllers to SSD manufacturers and Tier One OEMs for use in a broad array of products addressing multiple markets, including embedded and industrial as well as laptops and PCs. Indilinx controllers have been deployed within OCZ's SSD products since December 2008, and are currently featured in the Z-Drive series of PCIe-based SSDs. Indilinx's technology is expected to enable OCZ to expand its presence into the embedded, hybrid storage, and industrial markets.