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| Editor:- May 7, 2008 - in a new article
published today on
STORAGEsearch.com called - "How Much Hay Has Your Car Been Eating
Lately?" - I bemoan the tired old comparisons of server SSD IOPS to HDDs.
SSDs have been around for
long enough
now to drop those worn out old comparisons from which we never learned anything
very useful in the first place. ...read
the article London - May 7, 2008 - CMS Peripherals today officially celebrates 20 years in business. Founded in 1988, CMS Peripherals is the largest independent value-added distributor of information storage products and solutions in the U with anual revenue of approx $250 million. ...CMS Peripherals profile, UK Storage VARs, Storage History San Jose, Calif - May 6, 2008 - Super Talent Technology today launched a new line of MasterDrive 2.5" SATA MLC flash SSDs. The 120GB model has R/W speeds upto 120/40 MB/sec and a price tag of $699. Proprietary wear-leveling algorithms extend the life of these SSDs to over 65 years @ 50GB write-erase/day. ...Super Talent Technology profile Editor's comments:- in less than 8 months the price of a 120GB SSD from Super Talent has reduced by a factor of more than 6x - down to $699 for the new models compared to $4,499 in September 2007. ALISO VIEJO, Calif - May 6, 2008 - SiliconSystems, Inc. today announced that it has expanded its Asia-Pacific operations by establishing an office in Shanghai, the company's first in the People's Republic of China. The new office will play a critical role in supporting the burgeoning demand for SiliconSystems' industry-leading SiliconDrive technology in China and Taiwan. Yu Yuan Tang, a 21-year industry veteran, will head the new office. "OEMs throughout the Asia-Pacific region have embraced the use of SiliconSystems' SiliconDrive technology, resulting in tremendous year-on-year revenue growth for the company throughout the entire region," said Michael Hajeck, CEO at SiliconSystems. "Opening an office in China will allow SiliconSystems to closely collaborate with its globally distributed, netcom, embedded system, industrial, military and medical, OEM customers throughout their entire product development and deployment cycle." ...SiliconSystems profile Newburyport, Mass - May 6, 2008 - Solid Access Technologies today announced higher capacity models in its 2U rackmount line of RAM SSDs. The 128GB model (price $75,000) is shipping now. The 256GB models will ship next month. Both models are part of the USSD 200 product line - which dramatically increases server efficiency by recovering CPU cycles formally lost in I/O wait cycles. They deliver random read/write performance of 95,000 IOPS using a single Fibre Channel link and over 70,000 IOPS using SAS. Access time is under 10 microseconds "For applications facing critical performance demands that can't be serviced by decades old spindle-based storage, ultra-fast SSD is emerging as a weapon of choice to improve lagging storage speed," said Solid Access Managing Partner, Tomas Havrda. ...Solid Access Technologies profile, rackmount SSDs Editor:- May 6, 2008 - STORAGEsearch.com today updated its monthly list of the top subjects viewed by storage searchers in April. The top 5 subjects were:- (1) - Disk to disk backup - no change (2) - Solid state disks - no change (3) - 2.5 inch SSDs - up 2 places (4) - Hard drives - no change (5) - NAS - down 2 places Overall pageviews grew 20% compared to the year ago period. More info about the top 20 subjects and articles can be viewed on the market research page May 5, 2008 - Intel, Samsung Electronics and TSMC today announced they have reached agreement on the need for industry-wide collaboration to target a transition to larger, 450mm-sized wafers starting in 2012. Historically, manufacturing with larger wafers eventually produces semiconductors at a lower cost. The total silicon surface area of a 450mm wafer and the number of printed die (individual computer chips, for example) is more than twice that of a 300mm wafer. Editor:- May 2, 2008 - Here's news about an upcoming IDEMA event - "Hard Disk and SSD Reliability - The Pursuit of Excellence" - May 15 in Sunnyvale, CA. This IDEMA Symposium will address HDD reliability; the physics, mathematics, and statistics of its assessment, HDD design for reliability, field performance experience of storage users and finally the HDD production environment and supporting metrology to maximize yields and minimize reliability detractors. Also included will be a similar discussion relative to SSD product reliability. Price is $455 for non members. ...IDEMA profile, Storage Events, Storage Reliability, Storage Industry Trade Associations FREMONT, CA - April 29, 2008 - SMART Modular Technologies, Inc. today announced the release of "true" industrial-grade 2.5" SSDs by its subsidiary, Adtron Corp. Based on the latest 8Gb Flash technology, these new PATA / SATA drives feature densities up to 128GB, the highest density available in the industry for SLC SSDs in a 2.5-inch (9.5mm-high) form factor. By leveraging the latest 50nm 8Gb flash technology, these new SSDs offer higher density, reduced height and lower price than before. Available in configurations of 32, 64, and 128GB, the new A25FB-3 and I25FB-3 drives offer sustained performance of up to 72MB/s read and 57MB/s write. The new SSDs are tested to meet a "true" industrial-grade standard, which includes 8 hours of comprehensive test while temperature is cycled through its rated range. In addition, the drives are certified to meet a wide range of environmental requirements, including temperature, shock, vibration, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), altitude, and current defense industry standards, making them well suited for applications requiring industrial-grade storage solutions. "Advances in Flash technology continue to drive new applications," explained Wade Campbell, Director, SSD Marketing and Product Management. "With their increased density and improved price/performance, these new drives enable us to deliver an even wider range of industrial-grade applications in the defense and industrial markets. They also provide a base platform for higher performance SSDs that we expect to release in the coming months." Early access A25FB-3 SATA SSD units are available now, with general availability expected by mid-summer. The I25FB-3 PATA SSDs are scheduled for general availability in calendar Q3 2008. ...Adtron profile, ...SMART Modular Technologies profile Editor:- April 28, 2008 - STORAGEsearch.com published a new article and directory related to 1.0" (and smaller) Storage Drives. Once the exclusive preserve of the military, spooks and space scientists this market is now dominated by the needs of shoppers for consumer lifestyle and entertainment gadgets - with market volume projections resembling international phone numbers. ...read the article LAKE FOREST, Calif - April 24, 2008 - Western Digital Corp. today reported that hard drive revenue grew by 43% for the quarter ending March 28 compared to the year ago period. Overall revenue was $2.1 billion comprised of $2.022 billion of hard drive revenue and $89 million of revenue from media and substrate sales. Net income was $280 million. "The hard drive market continued to demonstrate strong year-on-year unit growth of 16% in the March quarter, while exhibiting an expected seasonal decline of 8.6% from the exceptionally strong December quarter, as anticipated in our guidance issued in January" said John Coyne, WD president and CEO. "Our March quarter revenues demonstrate strong customer preference for the WD value proposition... We remain very enthusiastic about our opportunities in the fast-growing hard drive industry in the years ahead." ...WD profile Editor's comments:- these results confirm that Seagate, which announced lower revenue growth of 10% for the same quarter, is losing market share within the overall hard disk market. That's not a problem it can fix by hiring lawyers to sue SSD companies. Reading, UK - April 23, 2008 - BakBone Software is now certified with Data Domain. Working together they now offer the ability to use Data Domain systems as NAS or as a VTL within a NetVault environment, D2D2T (Disk to Disk to Tape backup) and reduced backup windows. ...BakBone profile, ...Data Domain profile SAN DIEGO - April 22, 2008 - Nirvanix today announced a 30-day free trial promotion for users who want to test its online storage service. Nirvanix also announced the availability of its 'Amazon S3 Migration Tool' which enables the easy migration of files from an Amazon Simple Storage Service account while preserving folder structures. "For a company with just 50 terabytes of archived data, for instance, this fee holiday can mean a setup savings of well over $9,000 to move to the world's fastest, most reliable cloud storage platform in the world" said Jonathan Buckley, Chief Marketing Officer with Nirvanix. ...Nirvanix profile, online backup and storage SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif - April 22, 2008 - Seagate Technology announced it is the first hard drive manufacturer to have shipped 1 billion hard drives. Seagate says that although it took 29 years to reach the 1 billion milestone, it will ship its next billion in less than 5 years. Also, by the time its nearest competitor reaches 1 billion drives shipped, Seagate will already be close to shipping its second billion. According to Gartner, in 2007 alone more than 500 million drives were shipped, compared to 1990, when slightly less than 30 million were shipped. ...Seagate profile Editor's comments:- I forgot to check if there's a footnote somewhere defining a "billion". You've got to be so careful nowadays to get the right meaning for once arcane big number adjectives (like Giga) when they seep into the public domain and get misunderstood. Editor:- April 22, 2008 - an article on InformationWeek discusses problems which led to a shutdown of HP's new online storage service called Upline, Rome, Italy - April 22, 2008 - today Memopal announced details of its online backup service for XP and Vista PCs. Memopal offers 250GB of space for archiving your files and many other services for $99 per year. Memopal works in real time. Whenever you save a file it is backed up online making it available immediately. Memopal has geographic RAID 5 technology, which provides triple-copy storage in 3 different continents so that files are even protected against natural disasters. ...Memopal profile LAKE FOREST, CALIF - April 21, 2008 - WD said it is now shipping the fastest SATA hard drives. At under $300 MSRP the 300GB 10,000 RPM VelociRaptor hard drive is built with enterprise-class mechanics encased in a heat sink that fits into a standard 3.5" system bay. ...WD profile Editor's comments:- "fast" claims like this have to be seen in an almost legalese PR copywriting context. 15,000 RPM HDDs are faster - although they don't have a SATA interface. Many 3.5" SSDs are faster, and do have a SATA interface, but cost more. Editor:- April 21, 2008 - do you want to buy a RAM maker? Qimonda is up for sale according to its owner Infineon . The company generated net sales of Euro 3.6 billion in its financial year 2007 and had approximately 13,500 employees worldwide. Back in March 2006 - when the new name Qimonda was first announced - I wrote a short article Siemens Semiconductors? Infineon Technologies? Qimonda? the names change but the problems remain the same. Boise, Idaho - April 21, 2008 - Micron Technology, Inc. and Nanya Technology Corp announced today that the 2 companies have signed an agreement to create MeiYa Technology Corp a new DRAM joint venture. The partnership will leverage both Micron and Nanya's manufacturing technology, strengths and experience. As part of the joint venture, a 200mm Nanya manufacturing facility in Taiwan will be upgraded to 300mm technology starting this year, with the facility coming online for production in 2009. In addition to MeiYa, the parties will jointly develop and share future technology. Both parent companies will own 50% of the joint venture initially, and each will contribute $550 million in cash by the end of 2009. ...Micron profile, ...Nanya profile Editor:- April 21, 2008 - STORAGEsearch.com published a new article and directory of PCIe SSDs. It lists all oems who make these products, includes related news and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of bus connected SSDs. ...read the article SANTA ANA, Calif - April 21, 2008 - STEC, Inc. announced the MACH4 - a 1" SATA / PATA SSD. The MACH4 is fast:- with sustained sequential reads upto 90MB/s and writes upto 55MB/s. It's expected to be in mass production at the end of April in capacities up to 32GB. Projected OEM pricing for the 8GB capacity point is $45. "For the numerous applications which were historically challenged by the severe limitations of 1 inch HDDs, STEC is now offering a much more cost-effective, higher capacity and higher reliability alternative..." said STEC's Patrick Wilkison. ...STEC profile SAN DIEGO - April 17, 2008 - Iomega Corp today announced availability of the new Iomega Media Xporter Drive, a $119.95 160GB game-oriented portable hard drive. The USB powered drive connects to ports on an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 to give gaming enthusiasts a convenient new way to enjoy music, digital movies, and photos through the family game console, without the need of a PC or digital media adapter. It also includes software for converting file formats not natively supported by the game consoles. ...Iomega profile Editor:- April 17, 2008 - STORAGEsearch.com published a new article today called - the Flash SSD Performance Roadmap. A few weeks ago a reader asked a very good question. "Is there an industry roadmap for future flash SSD performance?" That prompted other questions like... How fast are flash SSDs going to be in 2009? or 2012? What are the technology factors which relate to throughput and IOPS? And how much faster will they be than today. There wasn't a simple answer I could give at the time. Clues lay scattered all across this web site and in my many discussions about the market... But I agreed there should be a single place on the web where these answers could be found. Forget Moore's Law. That gives you the wrong answer, and this article explains why. ...read the article SAN JOSE, Calif - April 16, 2008 - Hitachi today said it will be shipping the highest capacity 15K RPM hard drives later this quarter. The Ultrastar 15K450 with 450GB of storage capacity will ship with either 3Gb/s SAS or 4Gb/s Fibre Channel interfaces. ...Hitachi profile Editor's notes:- later this week - a Reuters news story commented on Hitachi's future strategy for its HDD business unit. Editor:- April 15, 2008 - Seagate Technology has filed a patent suit against STEC according to a report in the New York Times. Seagate is claiming that SSDs made by STEC may infringe Seagate patents related to disk interfaces and flash technology. In an article published earlier this year Why Seagate will Fail the SSD Challenge I explored the business options available for Seagate in the flash SSD market. This move against STEC is in line with that analysis (and conclusion). It's not unusual for Seagate to sue companies which it sees threatening its hard disk business. Earlier in this decade the business development of hard disk startup Cornice was first slowed down in the courts by suits from Seagate and WD before it was killed off by flash memory. You can see what some other SSD analysts have to say on this subject in these article links. Gregory Wong, at Forward Insights says "It's hard to see the financial motivation behind such a move..." Jim Handy, at Objective Analysis looks at the weight of the patent arsenal but says that SSD Purchasers shouldn't worry. "In such dealings the plaintiff (Seagate in this case) usually will try to collect somewhat equivalent royalties from all players.." Don Clark reminds us of an earlier patent dispute in the HDD market "that Rodime began in 1992, which ended after Seagate agreed to pay the Scottish company $45 million in 2000..." ...Later:- STEC dismissed the claims in these terms. STEC is one of the first companies to build (flash) SSDs, having designed, manufactured and shipped SSDs as early as 1994, long before any of the suggested patents were issued to Seagate. Given the effect SSDs are having on the HDD market, STEC believes that Seagate's lawsuit is completely without merit and primarily motivated by competitive concerns rather than a desire to protect its intellectual property. STEC believes that Seagate's action is a desperate move to disrupt how aggressively customers are embracing STEC's Zeus-IOPS technology and changing the balance of power in enterprise storage. Seagate is sending a clear signal that it recognizes STEC as the leader in the SSD business and is attempting to slow down part of the growth that STEC is gaining through its SSD offering, particularly in the enterprise segment. STEC will aggressively pursue its defense to this infringement action. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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