SANDISK UNLEASHES WORLD’S FASTEST MLC SOLID-STATE DRIVE (SSD) FAMILY
Affordable
Third-Generation SSDs Based on Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Flash
Technology, Equivalent to a 40,000 rpm Hard Disk Drive
(HDD)
CES 2009, South Hall, Booth # 30659,
LAS VEGAS- --Jan. 8, 2009 - SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:
SNDK) today unveiled its third-generation family of solid-state
drives (SSDs). Using multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory
technology, SanDisk's G3 Series establishes new benchmarks in
performance and price-performance leadership in the SSD
industry.
Designed as drop-in replacements for hard-disk drives (HDDs) in
notebook PCs, the initial members in the SanDisk G3 family are SSD
C25-G3 and SSD C18-G3 in the standard 2.5" and 1.8" form factors
respectively, each available with a SATA-II interface. Available in
capacities of 60, 120 and 240GB*, the unit MSRPs are $149, $249 and
$499, respectively.
The G3 SSDs are more than five times faster than the fastest
7,200 RPM HDDs and more than twice as fast as SSDs shipping in
2008, clocking in at 40,000 vRPM1 and anticipated
sequential performance of 200MB/s read and 140MB/s
write3. The G3 SSDs provide a Longterm Data Endurance
(LDE) of 160 terabytes written (TBW) for the 240GB version,
sufficient for over 100 years of typical user usage.
(2,3)
"SanDisk's G3 SSD has met the demand of a 120GB SSD at less than
$250 with an exceptional user experience" said Rich Heye, sr. vp
and general manager, Solid State Drives (SSD) business unit,
SanDisk. "Three key features developed by SanDisk enable this new
design: a new SSD algorithm called ExtremeFFSTM allows random write
performance to potentially improve by as much as 100 times over
conventional algorithms; reliable 43nm multi-level cell (MLC) all
bit-line (ABL) NAND flash; and SanDisk's new SSD controller, which
ties together the NAND and the algorithm."
"With large capacities and aggressive pricing, SSDs are poised to
enter mainstream corporate notebooks in 2009." Heye explained,
"Given the current economic environment, corporate IT managers have
also described a desire to extend the service life of existing
notebooks. These notebooks are already maxed out on DRAM, and
struggle to meet users' performance expectations. These existing
WinXP notebooks can be upgraded to a 60GB SSD for $149, resulting
in a system that frequently outperforms a new notebook with a HDD,
thereby delaying the need for large capital purchases."
"Web-Feet Research has tested the replacement of the HDDs in
three year old Notebooks with SSDs and has found an improvement in
boot times, application loading and general user responsiveness
that, in many cases, exceeds what a new notebook with an HDD can
deliver," said Alan Niebel, Principal at Web-feet Research. "In
these challenging economic times, IT managers are looking for ways
to reduce IT spending without adversely affecting their user base
and the SanDisk G3 SSD solution extends the notebook replacement
cycle an additional two years at minimal cost."
The SanDisk G3 SSDs will be available to this market in mid
2009, in a 2.5" PATA configuration expressly for this purpose. In
addition, the SanDisk G3 SSDs will be available on sandisk.com for
do-it-yourself (DIY) enthusiasts. "An SSD upgrade improves the user
experience like nothing else you can do to a computer." Heye
concluded.
SanDisk's flash technology is produced at fabrication plants in
Yokkaichi, Japan, where SanDisk and its partner, Toshiba
Corporation, share the output. The SSD controller and firmware were
designed by SanDisk expressly for the G3 SSD.
If you would like to learn more about flash and the significant
role that it plays inside laptops and other consumer electronic
devices, please visit SanDisk's SSD Academy at http://www.sandisk.com/ssd.
Here you can learn about solid state drives and the great promise
they present to the computing market
About SanDisk:
SanDisk Corporation, the inventor and world's largest supplier of
flash storage cards, is a global leader in flash memory - from
research, manufacturing and product design to consumer branding and
retail distribution. SanDisk's product portfolio includes flash
memory cards for mobile phones, digital cameras and camcorders;
digital audio/video players; USB flash drives for consumers and the
enterprise; embedded memory for mobile devices; and solid state
drives for computers. SanDisk (www.sandisk.com/corporate))
is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 company, with more than half
its sales outside the United States.
SanDisk's product and executive images can be downloaded
from
http://www.sandisk.com/corporate/MediaKit
SanDisk's web site/home page address: http://www.sandisk.com
SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation,
registered in the United States and other countries. ExtremeFFSTM
is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation. Other brand names mentioned
herein are for identification purposes only and may be the
trademarks of their respective holder (s).
*1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes, 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million
bytes.
Performance based on internal testing and projections, may vary
depending on host device.
| 1. |
vRPM (virtual Revolutions Per
Minute) - a metric to compare SSD performance in client
PCs with the HDD and with other SSDs. vRPM = 50 / ((0.5 / 4kB
random read IOPS) + 0.5 / 4kB random write IOPS)) |
| 2. |
LDE (Long-term Data
Endurance) - an industry metric, introduced by SanDisk,
that quantifies how much data can be written to an SSD in its
lifespan expressed in terabytes written (TBW). Data is written
using typical PC transfer size pareto, written at a constant rate
over the life of the SSD and data is retained for at least 1 year
upon LDE exhaustion. Based on SanDisk internal measurements, as
typical client PC user writes 4GB/day. |
| 3. |
SanDisk C25-G3 and C18-G3 SSD
Performance: anticipated performance based on SanDisk internal
estimates and projections. 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes; 1
gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes |
| a) Performance is characterized using some or all of the
following tools |
| b) H2BENCH 3.6; average access time = average seek time +
average latency time |
| c) IOMETER 2003.12.16 |
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements,
including expectations for new product introductions, technology
measurement standards, applications, markets, and customers that
are based on our current expectations and involve numerous risks
and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements
to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause these forward-looking
statements to be inaccurate include among others: the proposed
standards may not be adopted by the market, market demand for our
products may grow more slowly than our expectations or there may be
a slower adoption rate for these products in new markets that we
are targeting, and the other risks detailed from time-to-time in
our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports,
including, but not limited to, our annual report on Form 10-K and
our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We do not intend to update the
information contained in this press release.