Micron Intros New Client 3D NAND-based SATA, NVMe SSDs
Micron Technology on Tuesday unveiled new client SSDs based on new 3D NAND flash technology.
The two new SSDs, one featuring SATA connectivity and the other based on the NVMe PCIe standard, include 3D NAND flash technology Micron developed in partnership with Intel, said Shawn Adams, product marketing manager for Boise, Idaho-based Micron's client and NAND teams.
The introduction is the first in a planned series of 3D NAND-based SSDs, Adams told CRN.
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"At some point, we'll announce additional solutions for servers and storage," he said. "These two initial solutions are targeting OEM client partners."
One potential client partner is Northern Computer Technologies, a Burnsville, Minn.-based custom system builder.
Dominic Daninger, vice president of engineering for Nor-Tech, told CRN his company is seeing NVMe SSDs as a fast-growing part of its high-end workstations, which often include a mix of NVMe SSDs for performance and SAS SSDs for capacity.
"NVMe isn't dominant yet, but its growing fast," he said. "Customers like the performance. NVMe takes the SAS and SATA protocols out of the solution to decrease latency and increase transfer speed."
New to the market is the Micron 1100 SSD, which features TLC 3D NAND and the SATA interface. The Micron 1100 features up to 1 TB capacity in the M.2 form factor and up to 2 TBs in the 2.5-inch form factor, Adams said. The drives also include Micron's write acceleration feature, in which a small amount of higher-performance SLC-based flash capacity serves as a cache for the lower-priced TLC flash, he said.
Also new is the Micron 2100 SSD, which includes the NVMe PCIe interface for about four times the bandwidth of SATA SSDs. Adams said the Micron 2100 SSDs work with any customer applications, and are targeted at high-end workstations.
The Micron 1100 SSDs are slated to ship in mid-July, while the Micron 2100 SSDs are slated to ship by late summer, Adams said.