Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a worldwide leader in advanced memory solutions for more than two decades, today unveiled the Samsung 960 PRO and 960 EVO, its newest solid state drives (SSDs). The V-NAND based, M.2 form factor SSDs were built on the company’s category-defining Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) SSD leadership. With powerful performance, endurance and capacity topped with all new and more robust Samsung Magician software package, Samsung continues to accelerate the NVMe era.

Packed with more technology and innovation than ever, the 960 PRO and 960 EVO are designed for users who seek smaller and faster storage solutions that deliver higher bandwidth and lower latency for processing massive amounts of data for everything from gaming and large file transfers to 4K video rendering, data analytics and more on their ultra-thin notebooks and PCs.

Both the 960 PRO and 960 EVO use the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) Gen.3 x4 lane interface and are compliant with NVMe specifications to realize effective use of the high-speed PCIe bus and optimize both hardware and software configurations to take advantage of the NVMe SSD technology. The SSDs feature Samsung Dynamic Thermal Guard technology to manage performance during extreme workloads.

Western Digital Corporation, a global storage technology and solutions leader, today unveiled its SanDisk 1TB terabyte (TB) SDXC card prototype at the world's leading trade fair for photo and video professionals. With increasing demand for high resolution content, such as 4K and 8K, the company continues to push the boundaries of technology with solutions that support the exponential growth of data-intensive production demands.

“Showcasing the most advanced imaging technologies is truly exciting for us,” said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product management, Content Solutions Business Unit, Western Digital. “Sixteen years ago we introduced the first SanDisk 64MB SD™ card and today we are enabling capacities of 1TB. Over the years our goal has remained the same; continue to innovate and set the pace for the imaging industry. The SanDisk 1TB SD card prototype represents another significant achievement as growth of high-resolution content and capacity-intensive applications such as virtual reality, video surveillance and 360 video, are progressing at astounding rates.”

Since the introduction of the record-breaking 512GB SanDisk Extreme PRO® SDXC UHS-I Memory Card at Photokina 2014, Western Digital has proven it can nearly double the capacity in the same SD card form factor using proprietary technology. Higher capacity cards expand the possibilities for professional videographers and photographers, giving them even greater ability to create more of the highest quality content, without the interruption of changing cards.

During its annual press briefing at CEDIA Expo today, Sony Electronics unveiled a new reference standard 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player which will be shipping next spring. The new ES Series model (UBP-X1000ES) offers full Custom Installation (CI) compatibility and incorporates a number of features and technologies that will make it the centerpiece of the most advanced home audio-video systems.

According to Yukio Ishikawa, Director of Home Entertainment Systems for Sony Electronics, “The new UBP-X1000ES player has been long awaited by custom installers who desire a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player that provides a “one-stop” solution for their clients’ premium entertainment needs. Our new reference model has been specifically designed to deliver the highest quality video and audio possible and will excite the most demanding A/V enthusiasts”.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC), a committed technology leader, today announces the launch of the OCZ VX500 SATA solid state drive (SSD) series. Aimed at mainstream desktop and notebook users looking to migrate away from primary hard disc drive (HDD) usage, VX500 SSDs feature superior endurance ratings and provide a faster, more responsive PC experience thanks to well-balanced read and write performance.

Backed by OEM-level testing that provides validated reliability and built with the latest Toshiba MLC NAND flash, the Toshiba OCZ VX500 SSD series delivers endurance ratings of 74 to 592 terabytes written (TBW), making it suitable for write-intensive applications such as content creation, revolving media/game storage, or as a scratch disk.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today launched the i-Memory AI920 Flash drive. Extremely compact and light, the AI920 combines an Apple MFi-certified Lightning connector with a USB 3.1 plug for diverse connectivity. It makes transferring content to and from iOS devices eminently easy and fast, offering support for an extensive range of media and file extensions, subtitles, and Live Photos. The AI920 supports strong encryption and has been designed to resist water and dust for more care-free user mobility. The AI920 is available in 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities, with Gold and Rose Gold schemes. A lanyard is included in the package with every AI920.

Dual connectivity, one compact design
While extra-compact and light, the AI920 integrates Lightning and USB 3.1 connectors to increase its versatility and compatibility. The Lightning connector has been stretched to enable easy plug-in even on iOS devices protected by thick covers that would otherwise prevent connectivity using a shorter plug. The AI920 shares a luxurious, sandblasted metal design that measures just 6.9mm in profile and weighs only 3.6g, making it very easy to store and carry.

CDRLabs kicks off the week with a review of Crucial's new MX300 solid state drive. Powered by Marvell's 88SS1074B1 controller and available with up to 1050GB of Micron's 3D TLC NAND, this new mainstream SSD delivers 530MB/s read and 510MB/s write speeds for faster boot times, quicker application launches and better overall system performance. The MX300 also offers a long list of features including AES 256-bit encryption, thermal and power loss protection, TRIM support and active garbage collection. It also comes equipped with Crucial's Dyamic Write Acceleration technology, which uses an adaptable pool of high speed, single-level cell flash memory to enable faster saves and file transfers.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced Data Center 400 (DC400) SSD, the latest solid-state drive to its family of enterprise solutions. DC400 SSD is an entry-level enterprise drive designed for server use in data centers especially for customers who deploy a rip-and-replace strategy. It is ideal for read-intensive applications such as boot, web servers and lower data rate operational databases and analytics – especially in data center mixed workload environments where endurance and reliability are important.

DC400 SSD offers superior quality of service for data center customers whose workload environment calls for sustained IOPS and consistent low latency. An expanded on-board DRAM acceleration cache enables high, sustained IOPS to increase performance over a wide range of read/write workloads. Standard as well as user-adjustable over-provisioning improves random IOPS performance and endurance while enterprise firmware improves latency and delivers consistently low data access times under steady-state workloads. Additionally, DC400 SSD features enterprise-class reliability with end-to-end data path protection and firmware-implemented power-loss protection (“pFAIL”).