seagate logo.jpgSeagate Technology plc, a world leader in storage solutions, and Avago Technologies Limited, a leading semiconductor device supplier to the enterprise storage, wired, wireless and industrial end markets, today announced that they have entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement under which Seagate will acquire the assets of LSI’s Accelerated Solutions Division (“ASD”) and Flash Components Division (“FCD”) from Avago for $450 million in cash.

The acquisition strengthens Seagate’s strategy to deliver a full suite of storage solutions, providing Seagate with established Enterprise PCIe flash and SSD controller capabilities to deliver solutions for the growing flash storage market. LSI’s ASD business, which is the second largest player in the PCIe flash space, offers a highly differentiated enterprise-grade PCIe flash solution focused on the high-growth cloud and hyperscale markets. LSI’s FCD business, led by its SandForce SF2000 and SF3700 controller products, is driving a multi-product roadmap to address volume markets.

“Seagate is committed to providing our customers with a complete range of storage solutions, and this acquisition will significantly enhance our flash storage offerings to supplement our existing portfolio,” said Steve Luczo, Seagate chairman and CEO. “LSI’s ASD business has the broadest PCIe flash product offering and intellectual property in the market today and the FCD business has best-in-class SSD controllers with proven support for a wide range of applications. This acquisition immediately boosts Seagate’s range and depth of flash storage capabilities today, and these teams bring to Seagate the expertise to accelerate our roadmap in this important and growing market.”

Add a comment

samsung logo.jpgSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing the industry’s first three-dimensional (3D) V-NAND flash memory using 32 vertically stacked cell layers, which is its second generation V-NAND offering.

Samsung’s 32-layer 3D V-NAND – also referred to as Vertical NAND – requires a higher level of design technology to stack the cell arrays than the previous 24-layer V-NAND, yet delivers much greater production efficiency because Samsung can use essentially the same equipment it used for production of the first generation V-NAND.

In addition, Samsung has just launched a line-up of premium SSDs based on its 2nd generation V-NAND flash memory with 128 gigabyte (GB), 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage options. After introducing 3D V-NAND-based SSDs to data centers last year, Samsung is now extending its V-NAND SSD line-up to high-end PC applications, in expanding its market base.

Add a comment

Today, OWC expanded its award-winning line of high-performance SSDs in capacities ranging from 120GB to 480GB for the MacBook Air 2010-2012 and the MacBook Pro with Retina display 2012-2013. The new upgrade options deliver even greater affordability and are backed by the support and expertise OWC is known for around the world.

owc_aura_ssd.png

Aura and Aura Pro SSD: The Easy Drive Upgrade for Air and Retina
Aura and Aura Pro SSD (Flash) drive upgrades provide an easy and economical path versus buying a new laptop to achieve greater performance and/or internal drive capacity. Repurpose the original factory drive with a sleek, award-winning Envoy/Envoy Pro external enclosure included with complete DIY Kits.

Add a comment

plextor logo.jpgPlextor, 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.

plextor_m6_pro_ssd.png

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.

Add a comment

corsair_force_lx_ssd.pngCorsair, a worldwide designer of high-performance components to the PC hardware market, today announced the release of the Force Series LX solid-state drives (SSD). Available in either 256 GB or 128 GB capacities, Force Series LX SSDs bring the amazing performance benefits of an SSD to new lower price point - making it easier than ever to move your PC into the SSD fast lane.

The speedy benefits of solid-state drives have long attracted PC enthusiasts, but high prices may have put off some users from making the switch to this faster storage technology. In response to this dilemma, Corsair is bringing all the perks of an SSD to a new, even more budget-friendly price point so everyone can feel the rush. With the Force LX 256 GB costing $129.99 and the 128 GB just $74.99, there's never been a better time to upgrade to faster SSD technology.

Powered by a Silicon Motion SSD controller, the Force Series LX SSDs offer fantastic performance up to 10 times faster than that of a conventional spinning-disk hard drive. Force LX's SATA 3 file transfer speeds of up to 560 MB/sec read and 300 MB/sec write can massively improve system performance. Operating system start-up and application load times accelerate to mere seconds, anti-virus scans complete far faster, and navigating your PC's files feels much more responsive thanks to near-instant access times.

Add a comment