Western Digital Corp. today announced that it has successfully developed its next generation 3D NAND technology, BiCS3, with 64 layers of vertical storage capability. Pilot production of the new technology has commenced in the Yokkaichi, Japan joint venture facilities and initial output is expected later this year. Western Digital expects meaningful commercial volumes of BiCS3 in the first half of calendar 2017.

“The launch of the next generation 3D NAND technology based on our industry-leading 64 layer architecture reinforces our leadership in NAND flash technology,” said Dr. Siva Sivaram, executive vice president, memory technology, Western Digital. “BiCS3 will feature the use of 3-bits-per-cell technology along with advances in high aspect ratio semiconductor processing to deliver higher capacity, superior performance and reliability at an attractive cost. Together with BiCS2, our 3D NAND portfolio has broadened significantly, enhancing our ability to address a full spectrum of customer applications in retail, mobile and data center.”

Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today announced additional capacities of the Crucial MX300 solid state drive (SSD). Built for speed and loaded with advanced features, the new drives deliver an immediate increase to system performance.

With read speeds up to 530 MB/s and write speeds up to 510 MB/s on all file types, the Crucial MX300 enables users to boot up almost instantly, load programs with ease, and accelerate demanding applications. The drive is engineered with Micron® 3D NAND technology, resulting in an endurance rating of up to 220TB total bytes written by leveraging larger NAND cells to deliver top-notch performance and prolong endurance.

Seagate Technology plc, today unveiled a first-of-its kind, high-capacity drive that can help data centers more easily accommodate exponential data growth, while still maintaining high levels of computing power and performance. The two terabyte (TB) version of its Nytro XM1440 M.2 non-volatile memory express (NVMe) Solid State Drive (SSD) is the highest-capacity, enterprise-class M.2 NVMe SSD available today, making it well suited for demanding enterprise applications that require fast data access, capacity and processing.

As the latest addition to the Seagate Nytro SSD product line, the 2TB Nytro XM1440 M.2 NVMe SSD is designed to accelerate enterprise data access, with twice the density of prior M.2 NVMe environments. Optimized for read-intensive and mixed workloads, its high capacity and small form factor are ideal for today’s cloud and enterprise data center environments, where speed and processing power in a small footprint are increasingly important. The drive can help meet the needs of demanding enterprise applications including online transaction processing, high-performance computing and big data analytics. It also helps manage storage growth with deduplication and compression, allowing data centers to easily create more virtual machines instantly without having to add additional servers — enabling today’s data centers to more easily manage their ever-expanding storage growth.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today unveiled the SE730, SC660, and SV620 external SSDs. The three are compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and Android, thus bringing solid state storage expansion and convenience to the majority of notebooks, ultrabooks, desktops, and even media boxes and game consoles. From the USB Type-C SE730 with its IP68 dust and water proofing to the cost-effective SC660 and SV620, each offers at least four times the performance of an external mechanical drive while consuming far less power (excellent for portable device batteries), operating in total silence, and ensuring vastly better shock resistance. The drives are ideal for mobile or stationary scenarios. They use carefully-sorted and certified controllers and memory chips, undergoing rigorous ADATA testing. Likewise, PCB production and enclosure assembly meet demanding ADATA standards, backed by a 3-year warranty. The SE730 and SV620 launch today while the SC660 will release in August.

SE730: presenting the most compact USB Type-C external SSD in the world
Embodying ADATA innovation and dedication to premium products, the SE730 packs read/write performance up to 500MB/s in a super-compact form factor that weighs a mere 33g. The smallest external SSD with a reversible USB Type-C connector in the world at the time of writing, the SE730 supercharges data transfers with USB 3.1 Gen 2. Its sandblasted metallic enclosure and robust build mean it carries official IEC IP68 dust and water proof qualifications, as well as military-grade shock proofing. The SE730 offers the ultimate in external SSD style, performance, and mobility, weighing less than a golf ball and fitting easily in the palm of a hand.