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Webfeet > Industry News Briefs Summary
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4/11/2008
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An IBM research team has developed a new generation of memory that combines the high performance and reliability of solid state "flash" memory, stored in microchips, with the high capacity of the PC's hard disk drive, which is cheap but contains moving parts and is slow. IBM's recently disclosed "Magnetic Race-Track Memory is a technology for practical applications that's five to ten years away. The mechanism for this technology is the movement of domain walls. Memory bits are stored perpendicularly on a silicon substrate. The orientation of the bit stream will determine if it is a 1 or a 0. Current pulses are used to move the domain walls. The direction of the current pulse controls the direction of the domain wall movement. |
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On July 19, 2007, Intel, STMicroelectronics and Francisco Partners came together to form a new pending independent semiconductor company name of "Numonyx". As of March 31, 2008 Numonyx has officially become a new semiconductor company focusing on delivering memory solutions using combinations of NOR, NAND and RAM memory technologies as well as new Phase Change Memory (PCM). Applications served are consumer, industrial devices, cellular phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, ultra-mobile computers and other high-tech equipment.
Numonyx is strongly positioned as a new company with the combined experience and patent portfolio from Intel and STMicro covering a broad range of storage technologies. Numonyx has approximately 7,000 employees worldwide with facilities in USA, Italy, China, Israel, Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines. |
4/4/2008
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Super Talent Technologies announced a high capacity SSD offering of 256GB. This high capacity SSD stays within the standard 9.5mm z-height of the 2.5 inch form factor used in notebook computers. Read and write speeds are 65MB/s and 50MB/s respectively. Sequential read IOPs is 58,675. The interface is Serial ATA. According to STT, samples are available. | 3/24/2008
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Toshiba announced at the 2008 Consumer Electronics the launch of a family of MLC SSDs for PC and consumer applications to be available by the second quarter. Capacities are 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB. Form factors are 2.5 inch, 1.8 inch and modules. The new MLC based SSDs provide a better value proposition with their significantly lower costs compared to comparable SLC technology. Read and write speeds are 100MB/s and 40MB/s respectively. |
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Fujitsu introduces its second generation 7200 RPM mobile drive with a SATA ll interface, doubling its storage capacity to 320GB. Fujitsu is one of five HDD suppliers offering 7200RPM drives, but is the first to offer 320GB of storage above the current offering of 200GB for this class product. This product is design for multimedia and data intensive applications such as gaming, graphics editing and high definition video in notebook platforms. According to Fujitsu shipments will start in the second quarter. | 3/5/2008
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JVC is the first to introduce a new form factor 1.3-inch hard disk drive for consumer electronics applications. The capacity offering is 30GB. According to JVC, this small form factor drive allows JVC to integrate a large 1/2.5" CCD and its accompanying large optical lens section, without getting bulky; maintaining a small body and offering a large capacity. JVC also offers several models of hybrid digital camcorders with 1.8-inch form factor hard disk drives with capacities up to 60GB along with alternative storage consisting of micro SD card flash storage. | |
© 2008 Copyright Web-FeetResearch Inc.
2/26/2008
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Toshiba is the first HDD supplier to launch a 1.8 inch drive with a spindle speed of 5400 RPM. They are also the first to Launch a 1.8 inch drive with a SATA interface using a Micro-SATA connector. Capacities are 80GB and 120GB. This product clearly targets PC platforms, more specifically ultra –mobile PCs by boosting performance with a higher spindle speed, larger cache, and native command queuing (NCQ) feature of Serial-ATA. The 1.8 inch form factor with its smaller footprint and lower power consumption has always been an advantage in ultra-mobile PCs however performance has been an issue with their spindle speeds limited to 4200 RPMs. This new 1.8 inch platform coupled with the features of Serial ATA will boost performance and help close the performance gap to 5400 RPM, 2.5 inch hard disk drive in standard size notebooks. |
© 2008 Copyright Web-Feet Research, Inc.
2/18/2008
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Mtron has introduced a 128GB SSD in a 1.8 inch form factor. The new SSD utilizes Single Level Cell (SLC) flash memory. The interface is Parallel-ATA (PATA) with a Zero Insertion Force Connector (ZIF). The maximum read speed is 120MB/s and write speed is 100MB/s. Additionally Mtron is releasing a Multi Level Cell version with capacities up to 128GB. Maximum read and write speeds are 110MB/s and 40MB/s respectively. Production of these products will begin in April 2008. These new products are additions to previously launched SSDs by Mtron in 2007 at 32GB. |
© 2008 Copyright Web-Feet Research, Inc. 2/8/2008
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Hitachi and Samsung have announced 2.5 inch, 5400 RPM mobile drives that will provide 500GB of storage. Currently the highest capacity for a two disk configuration yields 320GB or 160GB/platter. By adding a third disk and increasing the areal density approximately 4% to 167GB/platter, total capacity can be boosted to 500GB. The difference between Hitachi's product and Samsung's product is Hitachi adds additional Z-height (12.5mm) to accommodate the third platter, whereas Samsung is containing the third platter within the standard Z-height of 9.5mm. Fujitsu also introduced three platter products at 250GB in mid 2007 and 300GB in the latter half of 2007. Both products had Z-heights of 12.5mm. Products from Samsung and Hitachi are both due out in the first quarter of this year.
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Intel announced its latest entry into the solid-state drive market with the Intel® Z-P140 PATA Solid-State Drive (SSD), an ultra small SSD aimed at handheld mobile devices. According to Intel it is smaller than a penny and weighs less than a drop of water. Capacity points are 2GB and 4GB, expandable to 16GB. With high performance, low-power and ruggedness makes it ideal for mobile Internet devices, digital entertainment and embedded products. The Z-P140 PATA SSD adds to Intel's portfolio of USB embedded SSDs introduced in March of 2007. |
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