Toshiba Expands Enterprise SSDs With Three New Drives

Chris Preimesberger,

Toshiba has expanded its high performance solid state drive lineup for enterprises with three new models

The storage products business unit of Toshiba has expanded its enterprise solid state drive (SSD) lineup with three new models, geared towards high-performance environments.

The Japanese drive maker launched its PX-Series, designed for servers that take the most pounding each day: boot, read-intensive, entry level servers; entry-to-mid-range application servers; and high-performance enterprise application servers.

Model Details

Toshiba, which in 2012 is celebrating its 25th anniversary as the inventor of NAND flash memory, has optimised each new drive series for specific market segments with high-end NAND flash processes, capacity, and interface support.

The company made the announcement at the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, California, which continues through 23 August.

The PX02SM series is Toshiba’s first eSSD (enterprise solid-state drive) to utilise 24nm eMLC (enterprise multi-level cell) NAND memory, with capacities of 200/400/800GB1 and 1.6TB2. This also is Toshiba’s first offering with a dual-port 12Gbps SAS interface with a form-factor equivalent to industry-standard 2.5inch HDDs, the company said.

The PX02AM series is optimised for entry-to-mid-level server and storage applications requiring balance, reliability, capacity and endurance, Toshiba said. This product set also features 24nm eMLC NAND flash in capacities of 100, 200 and 400GB, all with a 6 Gbps SATA (Serial ATA) interface.

All capacities feature a 7mm, 2.5inch industry-standard form-factor in addition to power-loss protection, the company said.

Lastly, the PX03AN series is aimed at entry-level server applications. This is Toshiba’s first eSSD family to use 19nm cMLC (consumer multi-level cell) NAND flash, in capacities of 55, 120, 240 and 480 GB. Utilising the 7mm 2.5inch form-factor, the PX03AN series drives also offer power-loss protection, Toshiba said.

The PX02SM 200/400/800GB and 1.6TB models will start shipping in the fourth quarter of 2012, Toshiba said. The PX02AM series of value-line eSSDs and the PX03AN series of entry-level eSSDs will both begin shipments in Q4 2012.

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