The Solid State market is steaming hot and Intel is spearheading the development. It recently announced the second generation Solid State Drives for the retail industry, but is now about to ship additional updates. First out will be the Intel-branded drive Kingston already launched a while back with 40 GigaByte capacity. Kingston got a few weeks head start, but since it’s Intel that developed the drive it will announce an identical 40GB drive called Intel X25-V.
Intel’s X25-M series use NAND flash memory circuits made with 34nm technology. These circuits can carry 2-bit data Intel claims to have made a breakthrough with MLC chips capable of storing 3-bit data. This is a 50% increase in storage capacity per circuit. At the same time it is said to be working on a shrink of the process, down to 30nm, that will be ready in two months tops.
Intel hasn’t updated its Solid State Drives for the business segment yet. An updated version of Intel X25-E will have to wait until July 2010 when three new drives should appear in sizes of 50GB, 100GB and 200GB, with faster and more durable SLC memory circuits.
Prices will be cut substantially, which is to expect with a considerably more efficient manufacturing process. The 50GB model will be priced around $350, around 40% less than today’s X25-E models.
