Intel’s SSD roadmap for 2012

It seems Intel is planning on more productivity in 2012, not only in the processors, but into the SSDs as well.

As a matter of fact we can see a new product for more or less every market of the SSD business, from mSATA to PCIe.

Intel is planning on finishing this year and starting the next on the mSATA SSDs as well as a couple of other products announced very recently as well as new ones: the SSD 520 “Cherryville”, SSD 710 “Lyndonville”, SSD 720 “Ramsdale”, and “Hawley Creek” mSATA SSDs. Launching during the fourth quarter, these will continue to lead the latest of Intel’s SSDs until the end of the first quarter of 2012, which is around March 2012.

The second quarter will see Intel releasing an update to the “Ramsdale” Intel SSD 720 series PCI-Express with a version dubbed “Ramsdale MLC”, which is simply a change to the 25 nm MLC-HET NAND flash memory instead of the previous SLC NAND flash. By doing this, Intel is now able to provide larger capacities on its 720 series while keeping the performances close to the SLC. Downside is the price per gigabyte increased as well as the throughput being lowered.

During the same period, Intel will launch the “King Crest”, now a proper successor to the SSD 520 “Cherryville” family, as this new product will see an update to the 25 nm MLC-HET NAND flash instead of the regular 25 nm NAND flash on the original. This changement shouldn’t provide any greater capacities, but an improvement in endurance, sequential data-rates and throughput are expected to increase. This update will still feature a 2.5” form-factor as well as a 6Gps interface.

One of the biggest leap in Intel’s plan for 2012 is expected in the third quarter, with the release of codenamed “Taylorsville”, slated to succeed to the SSD 710 “Lyndonville” family. The most notable improvement on this release is the capacities, set to be available in 200 GB, 400 GB and 800 GB. Most of the specs stay the same: MLC-HET NAND flash, 2.5 form-factor and SATA 6Gbps interface.

The last and final launch from Intel will be the “Lincoln Crest”, successor to the SSD 320, and the bringer of the 6Gbps interface to the mainstream-thru-value SSDs from Intel and will use the MLC-HET NAND flash, as well as featuring more durability and more speedy performances compared to the original version.

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