Why is it that we call the year with an extra day, Leap Year? Don’t get me wrong, I know it has to do with the Gregorian Calendar. I just have my definitions all wrong. To me ‘leap’ means to jump forward or upward, I think of it as advancing, not adding? I wonder, did anyone else out there grow …

Intel Corporation and Micron Technology have announced that they are expanding their existing joint venture relationship for production and use of NAND flash memory. As part of this expansion, Micron increases its share of the overall NAND Flash output by purchasing the assets of IM Flash Singapore (IMFS) and also the assets of IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) in Manassas, Va. …

Greenliant, well known for their power efficient SSDs targeted at industrial and embedded applications, has announced the release of their NANDrive line at Embedded World. Initially available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities, NANDrive is one of the world’s smallest SSDs, weighing in at 14mm x 24mm x 1.95mm. NANDrive will be offered in a 145 BGA package, is resistant …

If NAND flash is the fuel, than a controller is the engine. This article takes a look at controller and firmware, it’s importance, and the players that “Own the Controller”. The first debate is what’s more important, the controller itself, or the firmware that drives it? While a debatable issue, we can certainly agree that one does not work without the other. Further, significant Intellectual Property …

Runcore, well known for their SSDs and storage solutions, has announced that they will be showcasing a myriad of products at Satellite 2012. For those who don’t know, Satellite focuses on (try to act surprised) the satellite industry, attracting numerous interested parties (military, broadcast, enterprise, mobile, telcos). The show also highlights products of immediate relevance to the industry. This naturally includes …

Tonight is Hollywood’s big night!  Will you be watching the Oscar’s or surfing the net? The red carpet events are worth watching, looking to see who has the best dress, best hair, all the important things. Then of course there is the fact that Billy Crystal will be hosting. As for all the rest, who wins what and who they wish to thank, …

Eli Harari,  one of flash memory’s founding fathers, was not reserved when speaking Monday at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). The SandDisk co-founder predicts that flash memory will “checkmate” hard drives by 2020.  He goes on to state that DRAM, as we know it, may not be far behind. This is quite the counterpoint to the recent Microsoft Research …

Toshiba has put a strong foot forward into the enterprise SSD storage arena with their 6 Gbb/s MKx001GRZB series of drives that also feature 32nm SLC NAND Flash Memory.  These drives are available in capacities of 100 / 200 / 400 GB. The 6 GB/s interface lets these SSDs achieve sequential speeds of 500MB/s reads and 250MB/s writes.  4K random …

Its been some time since Samsung has put out an SSD video but they seem to be spreading the SSD love throughout Europe as of late. It seems that Samsung has taken 50 of their prized 830 Series SSDs, one ambulance turned Tech bench and 4 SSD angels (of which one definitely is) and has toured Europe in hopes of …

Up until this morning, the most recognizable characteristic of a ‘SandForce Driven’ SSD was the fact that it’s capacities were always 60, 120, 240 or 480GB, unlike the standard of 64, 128, 256 and 512GB. This was a strong clue which supported our belief that LSI SandForce and Intel had teamed up for manufacture of their enthusiast level 520 Series …