 |
| . |
|
|
New SSD is a Zillion Times
Faster than a Hard Drive
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
8 Months Later 2.5" Flash SSD Price is 6x Lower
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.
New Models from Solid Access Technologies
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
SiliconSystems Opens Office in People's Republic of China
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, SiliconSystems' CEO.
...SiliconSystems
profile
HDD & SSD Reliability Event
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
Adtron Samples True Industrial Grade 2.5" 128GB SLC SSDs
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
New 1.0" SSD Directory
Editor:- April 28, 2008 -
STORAGEsearch.com published a new article and directory related to 1.0"
(and smaller) SSDs and HDDs.
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
New Directory - PCIe SSDs
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
STEC Announces Fast 1" SSD
SANTA
ANA, Calif - April 21, 2008 - STEC, Inc. announced the MACH4 - a 1"
SATA / PATA SSD.
For a small drive - 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
STORAGEsearch.com Unveils Flash SSD Performance Roadmap
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
Seagate Steps Towards Failing the SSD Market Challenge
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.
Firewire SSD aims at Camera Market
NAB,
LAS VEGAS- April 14, 2008 - Shining Technology, Inc. launched the
CitiDISK SSD aimed at the digital video camera market.
The 32GB
unit (140 minutes recording time) has a
FireWire interface,
weighs 6 ounces and can run for 3 hours using its internal battery. MSRP is
$1,800. ...Shining
Technology profile
Panasonic Previews 64GB Camcorder SSD
NAB, LAS VEGAS, NV - April 13,
2008 - Panasonic introduced a 64GB P2 solid-state memory card, model
AJ-P2C064, for its line of P2 HD/P2 solid-state camcorders.
The 64GB P2 card (available fall 2008) can hold more than 4 hours of
DVCPRO footage. Packaged in a rugged, die-cast frame, the P2 card is
resistant to impact, vibration, shock, dust and environmental extremes including
temperature changes. Panasonic has delivered more than 80,000 P2 HD/P2 units
worldwide with over 840 television networks and stations having adopted the
solid-state recording format.
...Panasonic profile
SSD Controller Company Gets $22 million Funding
Santa Clara, Calif. - April 9,
2008 - Link_A_Media Devices Corp secured $22 million in Series
B financing.
The funding round, led by
AIG SunAmerica Ventures,
was secured from 4 additional financial and corporate investors -
KeyNote Ventures,
NEC Electronics,
Micron and
Seagate.
Link_A_Media Devices is developing a new class of
chip controller resident
data recovery solutions for
HDDs and
SSDs. These are
designed to exceed the performance of conventional methods deployed in
peripheral storage devices, as well as provide adaptive features that can be
used during manufacturing to improve drive yields and product margins.
...Link_A_Media
Devices profile
Editor's comments:- MLC flash SSDs have
high internal
error rates and are currently unrecoverable. It looks like Link_A_Media's
technology could improve the odds of
data recovery in
failed devices which incorporate its technology (as well as reducing data errors
while the SSD is still operational.)
Another side effect of their
technology may be better
performance in
flash SSDs.
Link_A_Media
says their IOP
Buster architecture enables scalability within the controller to address
various segments of SSD applications seamlessly. It enables faster Read and
Write transfers.
Ultra Small Form Factor SSD Gets Socket
ALISO VIEJO, Calif -
April 8, 2008 - SiliconSystems, Inc. today announced that a robust
locking socket for its ultra-small form factor USB SiliconDrive SSD has been
designed by Samtec, Inc.
That provides OEM designers
more flexibility when using these postage stamp size SSDs in new products.
...SiliconSystems
profile
STEC Ships 4Gbps ZeusIOPS Flash SSDs
ORLANDO, FL - April 7, 2008 - STEC,
Inc. announced the volume availability of its first 4Gbps Fibre Cannel
compatible ZeusIOPS flash SSDs - which are being shown this week at Storage
Networking World.
The
Zeus-IOPS range of
2.5" and
3.5"
flash SSDs are
available in capacities from 18GB up to 512GB. ...STEC profile,
SAN
Editor's
comments:- it's 2 years since the first shipments of
4Gbps
FC storage products. Originally conceived as an interface for hard disk
arrays - this kind of throughput (and more) will soon be needed to get the most
performance out of the fastest 3.5" SSDs.
I expect flash SSD
throughput and IOPs to more than double every year in the period from 2007 to
2012. Consistent with that view (which is based on looking at what happens when
new architectures are combined with process improvements)
gigabyte per
second 3.5" SSDs are only 2-3 years away.
Texas Memory Systems Celebrates 30 Years Making SSDs
HOUSTON, TEXAS - April 2, 2008 -
Texas Memory Systems today announced that it is celebrating its 30th
year in business.
The company was founded in 1978 to supply high
performance computer memory products to the energy industry. 30 years later,
Texas Memory Systems is the leading manufacturer of
rackmount SSDs
for business enterprises.
"Many companies have come and gone in the
SSD business
over the last 30 years, so it's not surprising that enterprises take a
supplier's longevity into account when considering technology partners.
Companies need strategic relationships with vendors that are in it for the long
haul," said Mike Karp, senior analyst and storage practice leader at
Enterprise Management Associates.
Since 1978, the cost of a gigabyte
of RAM SSD has
dropped from $1 million down to $500 and the past 30 years have seen marked
changes in price, performance, and usage of
SSDs.
In 1978,
Texas Memory Systems introduced a 16 kilobyte RAM-based solid state disk system
designed to accelerate field seismic data acquisition for oil companies. Oil
prices dropped to $8 a barrel in the 1980s resulting in a steep drop in industry
spending encouraging TMS to expand its reach into Government sectors with
digital signal processors that incorporated solid state disk to boost
performance.
Advances in computing power, and the expansion of the digital economy
have driven increased demand by enterprise applications for high performance
storage. Because of this shift,
in
2000, TMS introduced the RamSan line of solid state disk systems to
accelerate commercial applications for the Enterprise.
Today, RamSan systems
are the dominant enterprise solid state disk used by major financial exchanges,
banks, e-commerce and telecommunications firms across the world. The company's
solid state disk business has averaged over 40% growth per year for each of the
last 3 years. ...Texas
Memory Systems profile
the Top 10 SSD OEMs in Q1 2008
Editor:- April 2, 2008 -
STORAGEsearch.com today published the 4th edition of - "the Top
10 Solid State Disk OEMs."
Covering the quarter ending
March 31, 2008 - the article also looks at market milestones and comments on
changes since the earlier quarters.
Inevitably - over 60
SSD oems couldn't make it
into the top 10 SSD list (and that includes
enterprise rackmount
SSD wannabe EMC which
lay just outside at #11.)
If you're choosing
SSD suppliers or strategic
partners - this is the must-see predictive list of the top companies that
matter - based on hundreds of thousands of readers searching for SSD content
on the site rated most highly by SSD companies themselves. ...read the article
Nimbus Makes SSD Acceleration a Breeze
San Francisco, CA -
April 2, 2008 - Nimbus Data Systems today unveiled its Breeze Hybrid
series of multi-protocol 10GbE IP storage systems.
Nimbus claims
this offers 2.5x the throughput and 75% lower cost than a 4Gbps
Fibre Channel SAN. The
Breeze H-series runs Nimbus' HALO storage operating system which combines
storage virtualization and advanced data protection and supports an
SSD acceleration option.
...Nimbus profile
Editor's
comments:- Nimbus carries on the torch of a network storage operating system
- which under the name "Cloudbreak" - was first developed by Nimbus's
founder at TrueSAN
Networks
.
That kind of groundwork thinking may help to make an SSD
work economically as part of a hybrid HDD-SSD accelerated array - while avoiding
the traditional high costs of manual setup and tuning. Like space-time - cost
is relativistic and depends if you're in the right dimension. A
fully-configured Breeze MH860 - with all software, 34TB of storage, and 64GB of
mirrored SSD starts under $120,000.
Fusion-io Gets $19 million Funding for PCIe SSD
SALT LAKE CIT - March 31, 2008 - Fusion-io
today announced that it has closed $19 million in Series A funding from a group
of investors led by New Enterprise Associates.
The funds from
this round will be used to manufacture the company's first product, the ioDrive
- a PCIe compatible flash SSD.
...Fusion-io profile
Unveiling XLC Flash SSD Technology
Editor:- March 31, 2008 -
STORAGEsearch.com today published an article about stealth mode fabless
semiconductor company, XLC Disk, Inc called - Unveiling XLC Flash SSD
Technology.
It describes their revolutionary multi-level cell nand
flash technology which may appear in a new range of high density
flash SSDs in Q1
2009.
Overcoming the intrinsic technology problems which have limited
previous MLC
devices to 2 bits in a single
flash memory cell - the
new XLC technology uses a patent pending calibration / discriminator
architecture which enables reliable operation with 4 bits (with today's process
technology) and may be scalable to more bits in the future.
If
successful - this type of technology could deliver 16x the storage density
currently available from SLC SSDs using the same area of silicon - thereby
closing the gap in cost per gigabyte between
SSDs and
HDDs. As with any new
storage technology reliability
is an unknown factor - but XLC Disk claim that intrinsic data repeatability
(before on chip error correction) is at least as good as current MLC devices.
This article was initially planned for publication tomorrow (on April
1st) but when I contacted Jim Handy at
Objective
Analysis for a comment on this spoof concept - he surprised me by saying
that he knows of at least one of the
top 10 SSD companies
which is working on exactly this type of technology. It shows that fact can be
stranger than fiction - and we can expect to see SSDs starting to put price
pressue on the hard drive market years earlier than predicted by Moore's Law
type density improvements. ...read the article
IMI Launches SATA SSD Testers
Milpitas, Calif - March
20, 2008 - International Microsystems Inc. today announced immediate
availability of 3 new SATA SSD testers.
The IMI testers support
functional testing including read/write functional tests, read/write speed tests
as well as parametric standby/dynamic current tests. Also supported is the
initialization of the
SSD controller which is
normally required as the first step in production testing.
- The M7305 is a 4 slot engineering tester.
- The M7300 is a 4 - 16 slot benchtop production tester.
- The M7310 is a 4 to 16 slot burn in chamber production tester with a
temperature range from -73°C to +180°C.
All 3 testers come with user-friendly software and are supplied as
fully functioning standalone systems with display, keyboard and mouse along with
Ethernet connectivity. The powerful GUI allows user definition of all
parameters governing the chosen tests. All models can be used as SATA SSD
duplicators with
master data being supplied by either a master drive or by a master binary file.
...IMI profile,
Storage Testers &
Analyzers
Does Notebook Maker Have High Rate of SSD Flash Backs?
Editor:-
March 19, 2008 - a report discussed in an article on CNET saying that
flash SSDs in notebooks are incurring double digit customer reject rates has
been dismissed by Dell as "untrue."
Toshiba's MLC SSDs in Mass Production
IRVINE,
Calif. - March 18, 2008 - Toshiba has started mass production of MLC
flash SSDs aimed at the notebook market.
The new
Toshiba
SSDs have SATA
interfaces and will be available in 3 form factors:- module,
1.8" and
2.5", and with
upto 128GB capacity.
Toshiba says overall performance is better
than 5,400 RPM and 7,200 RPM
HDDs. Read / write
speeds are 100MB/s and 40MB/s respectively. Initial production is for Toshiba's
own notebooks. ...Toshiba
profile
SiliconSystems Enhances SiliconDrives
ALISO VIEJO, Calif -
March 18, 2008 - SiliconSystems, Inc. today announced its enhanced 2nd
generation of SiliconDrive SSDs.
Capacity and read/write speeds
have been increased.
SiliconDrive II
are aimed at embedded systems in which design factors such as reliable
operation, elimination of drive corruption and the ability to forecast
useable life are calculated to deliver significant cost benefits compared to
expensive field failures and replacements over a multi year installed life -
which can come from using hard
disks or less glitch resistant consumer SSDs. Available form factors
include 2.5", CF and miniature modules. Available interfaces include PATA,
SATA and USB.
...SiliconSystems
profile
Editor's comments:- when you look at SiliconDrive
performance and capacity specs relative to many other available consumer market
oriented flash SSDs
they aren't the fastest or the biggest. But within the spectrum of flash SSD
reliability there's
more than an order of magnitude difference even within
SLC devices.
BenchmarkReviews.com Tests MemoRight's GT 2.5" SSD
Editor:-
March 13, 2008 - BenchmarkReviews.com has published performance tests on
MemoRight's fastest 2.5" flash SSD - the GT.
Overall
the tests confirm this as the fastest overall
2.5" SATA drive
period (HDD or
SSD). It was already listed
in our own fastest SSDs
article. ...read
the article , ...Memoright
profile
OCZ Takes SSD OEM List to 70
Sunnyvale,
CA - March 12, 2008 - OCZ Technology Group, Inc. today entered the SSD
market with a range of SATA compatible 2.5" flash SSDs.
OCZ's
SSDs have capacities of 32GB and 64GB and speeds of 120MB/s read and 100MB/s
write.
...OCZ profile
Editor's
comments:- that takes the total number of
SSD oems to 70 and
the number of 2.5" SSD
oems to 31.
Imation Enters the SSD Market
OAKDALE,
Minn - March 10, 2008 - Imation Corp. entered the SSD market today with
solid state drives powered by Mtron.
Imation's SSD
portfolio includes the MOBI 3000 Series for high performance end users, and the
PRO 7000 Series for enterprise, corporate and IT infrastructure applications.
"Many storage applications can benefit from the increased performance,
reliability and power savings that SSDs are able to provide in the computing and
enterprise environment," said Jeff Janukowicz, research manager,
IDC. "Shipments of SSD
solutions, such as those in Imation's SSD solutions meet the requirements for
this performance-demanding storage market are expected to increase at a 73% CAGR
through 2011."
...Imation profile,
...Mtron profile
Editor's
comments:- oeming Mtron's high performance
flash SSDs is a
good business move for Imation - which has a well known (50 years old) storage
brand. The SSD market
provides Imation with a shimmering
Stargate like escape route
out of the shrinking
tape backup market.
1.8" Storage Drives - new article
Editor:- March 10, 2008 - STORAGEsearch.com
published a new directory of 1.8" Storage Drives.
The
battle for supremacy in the 1.8" storage drive form factor, between
hard disks and
flash SSDs is
reminiscent of the 30 year war between Intel
and AMD over which processor would be
designed into PCs, notebooks and servers. Currently 21 oems actively market 1.8"
drives. ...read the
article
Memoright Announces Faster 2.5" SSD
Editor:- March
7, 2008 - Memoright reconfirmed its lead in the high performance 2.5"
SATA flash SSD market today.
Memoright says its new GT Series can
sustain 120MB/s read / write and is available with capacity upto 64GB. Its
standard product has higher capacity (128GB) but lower speed (100MB/s). ..Memoright profile
SMART Completes Acquisition of Adtron
FREMONT,
CA - March 4, 2008 - SMART Modular Technologies, Inc. announced that
it has closed its acquisition of privately-held Adtron Corp.
"Combining our strengths with Adtron, with its technical expertise, product
portfolio, and customer base, immediately expands our non-DRAM business and
complements our
existing
SSD business. Together, we offer the
SSD market, especially the
Enterprise Storage SSD market, a broader range of high performing, rugged, and
reliable storage solutions," said
Iain
MacKenzie, President and CEO of SMART.
In connection with the acquisition,
Alan Fitzgerald,
founder of Adtron, joins SMART as VP and CTO, Flash Products, and Robert
Benkendorf joins SMART as VP and GM, SSD Products. The acquisition was an
all-cash transaction of approximately $20 million with up to an additional $15
million should certain calendar year 2008 financial and operational performance
goals be achieved.
...Adtron profile,
...SMART Modular
Technologies profile
SeaChange Eliminates Spinning Disks in the
On-air Chain
March
3, 2008 – SeaChange International today introduced its
Broadcast Flash Memory Library FML200, a flash memory-based ingest and
play-to-air solution that sets a new benchmark in reliability and economy.
With no moving parts, the breakthrough server is 100x more reliable and consumes
10x less power than spinning disk-based counterparts, greatly mitigating
failures, rebuilds, replacements and other disk-related threats. The system can
eliminate spinning disks in the on-air chain and is immediately available for
television operators worldwide. SeaChange will demonstrate the FML200 at
NAB2008 in April.
...SeaChange
International profile
Free Tool Unveils SSD Fast Lane for
Oracle DBAs
Houston,
Texas - February 27, 2008 - Texas Memory Systems today announced
availability of version 2.0 of StatspackAnalyzer.com.
This is a
freely available online tool that analyzes the data from a user's own
Oracle reports and
presents clear, customized
recommendations for
improving performance. In just 1 year, over 10,000 Oracle DBAs and consultants
have become registered users and hundreds have offered to help improve the
features. Version 2.0 has been updated to support Oracle from version 8 to 11.1
"StatspackAnalyzer.com is quickly emerging as the go-to resource
for Oracle DBAs who are trying to improve their database performance," said
Don Burleson, CEO of
Burleson Consulting, author of
numerous books on Oracle database performance tuning and a sponsor of the
StatspackAnalyzer.com initiative. "DBAs email us regularly to say how it is
helping them understand the issues that are affecting their database
performance, and providing helpful recommendations. We are also getting great
feedback that is helping us to keep evolving the tool, and improving its
usefulness to the Oracle community." ...sign up for free copy,
...Texas Memory Systems
profile
Editor's comments:- tools which help users see clear
opportunities for application speedup are a good thing. The sample report I saw
only refers to the sponsor's own SSD material (and they do make the fastest
storage in many form factors). But you can always come
back here to
compare other SSD price /
performance options too.
iSuppli Says Flash Prices Are Dropping
Below Costs
Editor:-
February 20, 2008 - iSuppli Corp. is cutting its outlook for global
NAND flash revenue growth in 2008 to the single digit percentage range, down
from their previous outlook of a 27% rise.
In an early warning
sign of consumer weakness, Apple
has slashed its 2008 NAND order forecast significantly and has informed
suppliers that its demand growth will slow in 2008 compared to 2007, according
to iSuppli sources. This is expected to have a huge impact on the NAND market.
With its extremely popular flash-memory based
iPods, Apple was the world's
3rd largest OEM buyer of NAND flash
memory in 2007.
On the supply side, slower NAND demand will have a
major impact on suppliers' financial results. Capital spending on NAND
production will rise by more than 20% this year, ensuring easy availability of
parts. This will cause prices to decrease. iSuppli believes that NAND prices
already are below suppliers' fully loaded costs.
...iSuppli profile
Editor's comments:- buyers in the fast growing
flash SSD market
will be the beneficiaries of this downturn. As I predicted last year
overcrowding in the notebook SSD market means that prices are already well below
previously forecast levels.
Traditionally the big memory chip makers
switch fab production between RAM
and flash to whichever
reaps the highest price. But many
analysts already
predicted this would not be a good year for RAM oems either.
Introducing Another Enterprise SSD Player
- Pliant Technology
Milpitas, Calif -
February 19, 2008 - Pliant Technology today announced that it has
received $8 million in Series A funding to drive the development of SSD storage
devices for enterprise computing markets.
Pliant's new
Enterprise Flash Drive devices are being designed to deliver dramatically
higher levels of performance while meeting the growing need for increased energy
efficiency and reliability
in enterprise computing environments.
Pliant Technology was formed by
several of the foremost experts and innovators in the data storage industry
including:- Jim McCoy (co-founder of
Maxtor and
Quantum), Amyl Ahola
(former CEO of
TeraStor
and Mike Chenery (former VP of advanced product engineering at
Fujitsu). Pliant's
solution is expected to be available to OEM and data center customers in the 4th
quarter of 2008.
...Pliant Technology
profile, rackmount
SSDs
Editor's comments:- over 20 oems currently make products
for what Pliant calls the "new" enterprise SSD market. This will be as
big a market in revenue as the consumer notebook SSD market - but with (mostly)
different players.
Some of Pliant's founders have worked together
before on the same concept (replacing hard drives) at
TeraStor
which went through more than $85 million in the 1990s working on an
unsuccessful optical storage technology. Computer architecture, applications
experience and marketing are the key factors needed to make a successful
enterprise SSD business today. There are plenty of companies who will sell you
cheap memory chips. The enterprise SSD market in 2009 will be an exciting area
to watch.
See also:-
Squeak! - RAM SSDs
versus Flash SSDs - which is Best?
Mtron's New Notebook SSD will be 6x
faster than Hard Drive
SEOUL,
South Korea - February 18, 2008 - Mtron Technology Co. Ltd - announced
today that they have completed the development of a new 1.8" ZIF-type SSD
family for laptop PCs and will begin production in April.
Mtron's
new SLC flash SSD has a maximum reading speed of 120MB/s and writing speed of
100MB/s, which is more than 6x faster than a typical 1.8" HDD.
Therefore when it's used in laptop PC and
UMPC,
it delivers much faster performance than a desktop.
Mtron also
released a 1.8" MLC Flash SSD with up to 128GB capacity along with a
maximum reading speed of 110MB/s and writing speed of 40MB/s.
Steve
Jeon, CEO of Mtron, said, "With our new 1.8 inch SSD, Mtron has added
another great product line as a leader in the SSD market, which is expected to
grow into ten billion dollars in 2012. Our new product is a result of careful
market analysis and research of consumer needs."
...Mtron profile
Samsung Ships Faster 64GB SSDs
Seoul, Korea -
February 15, 2008 - Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd announced today that
it has begun mass producing 64GB solid state drives with its new SATA II
interface.
Aimed at the premium notebook PC market the new SSDs
can read data at 100MB/s and write at upto 80MB/s while consuming 75% less
power than typical hard
drives.
"While there will always be a market for HDDs, we see
growing demand for our new SSDs, especially now that they are available with the
SATA II interface," said Jim Elliott, director, flash marketing, Samsung
Semiconductor. "SSD technology is especially viable for the business and
high-end consumer notebook markets because of its outstanding performance, as
well as the added value gained from virtually no downtime and faster operating
speeds."
...Samsung profile
Editor's
comments:- my first reaction on seeing this press release was "how many
times are Samsung going to launch their 64GB products?" There was a samey
feel to it (and some companies do relaunch the same products every 3 months or
so in the hope that editors will forget). But on closer scrutiny I realized this
is not the same lack-luster 64GB SSD they talked about in March 2007 - but an
improved go-faster model. That new improved speed is still a long way behind
the fastest SSDs
which are aimed at servers, however.
Now Sampling - Phase Change Memory
SANTA
CLARA, Calif - February 6, 2008 - Intel Corp and STMicroelectronics
began shipping prototype samples of a future product using a new, innovative
memory technology called Phase Change Memory.
The 128M bit
prototypes are the first functional silicon to be delivered to customers for
evaluation, bringing the technology one step closer to adoption. The memory
device, codenamed "Alverstone" uses PCM, a promising new memory
technology providing very fast read and write speeds at lower power than
conventional flash, and
allows for bit alterability normally seen in
RAM.
"This
is the most significant non-volatile memory advancement in 40 years," said
Ed Doller, CTO-designate of Numonyx, the new name for the pending
STMicroelectronics and Intel flash memory company. "There have been plenty
of attempts to find and develop new non-volatile memory technologies, yet of all
the concepts, PCM provides the most compelling solution – and Intel and
STMicroelectronics are delivering PCM into the hands of customers today. This is
an important milestone for the industry and for our companies."
According
to the Web-Feet
Research the combined memory market for DRAM, flash, and other memory
products such as EEPROM in 2007 was US$61 billion.
...Intel profile,
...STMicroelectronics
profile
Editor's comments:- Intel is hedging its bets with non
volatile memory technologies which could be used in the
SSD market. As well as this
effort with PCM and a high speed flash venture with
Micron, Intel is also an
investor in Nanochip.
The holy grail for nv memory is to get the speed of RAM with the long term data
retention and low pricing of flash. There are many contenders in this market but
most will probably fail.
Past reasons for new semiconductor storage
technologies failing to get established have been
unreliability
(early data loss in GI EAROMs which didn't show up in early prototypes) and
lack of scalability (in Intel bubble memory). Other reasons for new storage
technologies failing to reach potential is that the main competitor does better
than planned - for example hard disk capacity kept increasing faster than the
optical disk industry had hoped. | |
| . |
click to read
the article:- SSD Market History
or see this SSD page as it looked
back in
|
| . |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
Founded in 1973,
DSI is the premier
supplier of solid state disk solutions
to the financial services
industry. | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| . |
| 2008
SSD Budgets - Robbing Peter to Pay Paul? |
Editor:-
January 2, 2008 - Happy New Year to You all.
I've got a
question for you - how big is your
solid state storage budget
in 2008?
I hazard to guess that most of you haven't put anything
notionally marked as "SSD spending" in 2008's budget - even if you
already have a good idea about what you're going to spend on traditional storage
products and services.
I also predict that when the crunch comes - and
you find yourself spending surprisingly large amounts of money on SSDs for the
first time - these costs will be initially allocated to other cost centers -
such as servers or PCs - rather than storage.
It was always thus.
In 1983 for example - over 90% of corporates didn't have a budget for buying
IBM PCs. These disruptive tools intitially crept in under the IT department
radar - as users found they could do useful jobs like word processing and
business analysis quicker, cheaper and more conveniently than using the clunky
alternatives then on offer by their IT departments. Similarly
RAID systems did not
appear in most 1990 corporate IT budgets - but are now everywhere.
In
2007 the SSD
industry surprised many by introducing many exciting new technologies and
products.
I predict that in 2008 - innovative users will surprise the
SSD market by discovering for themselves a new generation of killer
applications- enabled by SSDs - which would have been technically impossible -
or even nuts to try and achieve using conventional
hard disk based
technologies. Those SSD sparks will feed back to fan the flames of the market.
Examples might include what I call - enterprise spreadsheet analysis -
in which business managers are enabled to model "what if?" scenarios
on duplicate sets of their entire customer database - to find gaps in their
marketing or test ideas for new products.
Other applications enabled
by SSD accleration might include AI enabled real-time upselling offers on
ecommerce web sites. These are already feasible for innovative small to
medium size companies but are not scalable with today's magnetic disk arrays.
Large enterprises can't be nimble with their data because their servers would
grind to a halt if you tried these types of tricks.
I'm not going to
give you a long list of predicted disruptive SSD technology enabled applications
- because they would be wrong - and you're going to see them coming thick and
fast from real users on these pages soon enough.
2008 will be the year
that users - rewrite the rules on how they mix and match new storage
technologies in ways that the original manufacturers of those products - never
dreamed about. | | |
