Intel plans to release five new solid-state drives (SSDs) before year’s end, according to reports.
In combination with its upcoming Z68 chipset any one of the new SSDs could be used as performance-boosting cache in combination with a standard hard disk drive (HDD), the reports say.
According to technology news site VR-Zone , Intel will release its Z68 chipset for Sandy Bridge-based processors next month. The Z68 chipset supports Intel’s Rapid Storage Technology SSD caching, which allows an SSD to be used in combination with a traditional HDD to create a hybrid drive similar to Seagate’s Momentus XT .
The SSD would act as a cache, increasing performance for operations such as OS and application load times.
Hybrid drives require an SSD with 18.6GB to 64GB capacity, according to VR-Zone. Like Seagate’s Momentus XT, the most frequently used data would also be cached for faster access.
Some of the five new Intel SSDs due out this year will exceed the performance of the company’s current top-of-the-line SSD 510 Series , according to an Intel drive roadmap obtained by Engadget. According to that roadmap, Intel plans to release a PCIe-based 400GB single-level cell (SLC) solid state drive as part of the new “Ramsdale” SSD 720 Series. The company will also ship a new “Lyndonville” SSD 710 series that uses enterprise-class multi-level cell (MLC) memory.
Intel and Micron established a joint manufacturing entity called IM Flash Technologies (IMFT), where NAND flash technology used in the new Intel SSDs is likely to be produced.
