Revealed back during the 2015 Flash Memory Summit in August last year, the now available Samsung PM1633a enterprise SSD series is based on a standard 2.5-inch form factor and features a 12Gbps Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) interface. It also uses Samsung new controller as well as Samsung’s own 3rd generation 256Gb 48-layer TLC V-NAND.

As noted, the Samsung PM1633a lineup is based on Samsung’s 256Gb V-NAND flash chips. The 256Gb dies are stacked in 16 layers to form a single 512GB package and by adding up a total of 32 NAND packages, you get the 15.36TB model. According to Samsung, the 3rd generation 256Gb V-NAND will provide both significant performance as well as reliability improvements compared to the PM1633 drive which used 2nd generation 32-layer 128Gb V-NAND flash.

The controller has also been upgraded to concurrently access large amounts of high-density NAND flash and the PM1633a 15.36TB model comes with no less than 16GB of cache.

When it comes to performance, the Samsung PM1633a provides sequential read and write performance of up to 1,200MB/s while random 4K performance is set at up to 200,000 IOPS for read and up to 32,000 IOPS for write. The new Samsung PM1633a enterprise SSD also offers high high reliability date with 1DWPD (drive writes per day), adding up to 15.36TB that can be written every day without failure, which is quite important in the enterprise market.

While the 15.36TB model of the Samsung P1633a is already shipping to select enterprise customers, Samsung is also promising a wide range of capacities, including 480GB, 960GB, 1.92TB, 3.84TB and 7.68TB. According to Samsung, enterprise managers can now fit twice as many drives in a standard 19-inch 2U rack compared to a 3.5-inch storage drive.

Unfortunately, Samsung did not reveal any details regarding the price but we doubt that such high capacity and performance will have a low price tag.

Courtesy-Fud

Intel plans to invest up to $5.5 billion over the coming years to use its Dalan, China, facility to expand its NAND manufacturing capacity. Initial 3D NAND production is expected to commence in second-half 2016 in Dalan.

Barrons has said that with pricing pressure already present in DRAM, Intel’s move puts Micron in a state of uncertainty.

This is a little odd given that Intel and Micron are chums, but Barron’s Rajvindra Gill said that the move will reduce Chipzilla’s dependence on Micron.

More than half of output is expected to use 3D NAND in the next two to three years and Intel’s focus on the technology reduces its reliance on Micron as a supplier while transforming it into a competitor, Gill said.

Micron be the last one standing when the mergers and acquisitions the industry is seeing and be an industry also ran.

Intel’s focus on the non-volatile memory market could put the pricing and supply/demand environment under pressure.

Micron has already had difficulties setting up 3D NAND versus its peers and now has another significant challenger entering the market, Gill said.

Intel’s move to NAND places a major Micron customer at risk. While Intel noted that its relationship with Micron remains strong and that it will continue to focus on 3D Xpoint, we believe the IM Flash Agreement could be at risk.

With Intel producing more NAND on its own, it could look to lower its reliance on the joint venture.

Intel has a right to sell its portion of the joint venture to Micron. If Intel elects to do so, a closing date would be set within two years. Sales to IM Flash sales to Intel were $101 million in the third quarter, or 8 per cent of trade NAND revenue.
Courtesy-http://www.thegurureview.net/computing-category/is-intel-trying-to-destroy-micron.html