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New MacBook Includes Faster NAND Chip
The soon to be released new version of Apple’s MacBook Air, will feature NAND flash memory with up to 400Mbps performance, about one and a half times faster than its current technology, according to a recent report.
Unlike many notebooks, the MacBook Air has no hard drive or optical drive and instead uses a slim flash board for its internal mass storage device.
Citing an “Asian electronics component company person,” the blog site Macotakara stated that Apple will use flash memory chips that includes the new Double Data Rate (DDR) 2.0 interface. While the rumors could not be confirmed, the upgrade would come as no surprise, since Apple’s next MacBook Air, which originally used Toshiba’s Blade X-gale NAND flash board, has moved to using Samsung’s flash memory. The MacBook Air’s current Samsung flash sports read rates of 261Mbps and write rates of up to 209Mbps and is based on DDR 1.0 technology.
DDR 2.0 provides a tenfold increase over the 40Mbps Single Data Rate (SDR) NAND flash in widespread use today.
In May, Samsung announced that it was producing DDR 2.0 multilevel cell flash chips. Samsung’s flash chips are made using its smallest circuitry, only 20 nanometers wide. The chips boast a performance improvement of three times over its previous technology.
DDR NAND flash comes in two forms: Toggle Mode from Samsung and Toshiba; and ONFI NAND, from the Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) working group. The ONFI protocol is used by flash manufacturers, including Intel, Micron, SanDisk, Hynix and Spansion. In March, the ONFI working group announced its 3.0 specification for the DDR 2.0 interface, which also has up to 400Mbps throughput but with only half the number of pins, for a significant reduction in size.
Seagate To Acquire Samsung’s HD Unit
April 20, 2011 by admin
Filed under Around The Net
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Seagate Technology is to acquire Samsung Electronics loss-plagued hard disk drive (HDD) business for $1.4 billion as it looks to battle rival Western Digital Corp and curb price wars that continue to damage the industry.
The deal comes a month after Western Digital sought to buy Hitachi Ltd’s hard disk drive division for $4.3 billion, to create a global leader with deep resources.
It is yet to be seen whether Western Digital trump Seagate as the world’s largest hard drive maker after the deals conclude. In 2010, Seagate’s sales was $11.4 billion while Western Digital posted revenue of $9.85 billion.
Toshiba Corp and Fujitsu are the other smaller players in the hard-drive space.
The sale of the HDD business will see Samsung leave the cut-rate industry and focus on its bread-and-butter memory-chip business.
The sector is already battling persistent sales-growth declines and now faces a longer-term threat from wireless tablet devices using more power-efficient flash drives, or solid-state drives (SSD).
DRAM Prices Going Up
iSuppli is reporting that global chip revenue should increase to $325.2 due to supply and demand. Two months ago iSuppli originally forecasted a 5.8 percent increase to $320.1 billion. Apparently, DRAM chips will be impacted the most with a price increase due to supply issues as a result of the recent earthquake in Japan. iSuppli had originally forecasted sales of DRAM chips to shrink by four percent this year instead of seeing a drop of 10.6 percent.
Dell To Unleash Microservers
Dell is apparently in the process to debut two new microservers that are equipped with low-power consumption efficient processors from AMD and Intel.Representatives from Dell stated that the PowerEdge C5125 and C5220 were built for businesses that want to set up cloud computing infrastructures. Dell’s Barton George wrote in his blog that the C5125 will utilize AMD processors and will ship next month and the C5220 which will have an Intel processor will ship in May. The PowerEdge eco-friendly servers will have a dense 3U infrastructure that has 12 one-socket servers that can be used for running one application. These types of servers use four times less rack space and cabling which makes data centers more efficient.
Samsung Gains On Intel
Globally semiconductor revenue is expected to increase this year, with Samsung gaining noticeable ground on top semiconductor company Intel in market share, Gartner said in a study released Wednesday.
Revenue is expected to reach a “landmark” US$300.3 billion in 2010, up 31.5% from 2009, according to preliminary results released by Gartner. The semiconductor market has been rebounding after the worldwide recession curtailed chip revenue in 2009, when year-over-year revenue declined by 10%.
As the economy stabilized this year, semiconductors manufacturers quickly added capacity to meet the growing demand of parts from system makers. But semiconductor demand started weakening again starting in the third quarter this year, Gartner said. Read More……
Acer Returning To Server Market In U.S.
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Acer, the No. 4 PC maker in this country, has released a line of servers and storage products for the United States market.
The launch marks the company’s return, or reinvestment, in the U.S. as a server vendor. Acer sells consumer PCs and related devices under its own name, as well under Gateway, eMachines, and Packard Bell brands.
It had previously sold servers in the U.S., but it let that business dwindle over the last few years. The company said it has made a major investment in this market.
It said it has expanded its support and service capabilities, and will manufacturer its server products in the U.S. through third-party makers.
“I want to make sure that we can we build very, very quickly and deliver much faster than everyone else,” said Todd Mottershead, senior manager for servers and storage at Acer.
IDC ranked Acer No. 3 worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010, following Hewlett Packard and Dell. In the U.S., Acer is the fourth largest vendor; HP has 28.6% of the U.S. market; Dell about 22%; Toshiba, about 10%; and Acer 9%.
Acer has been selling servers outside the U.S.
For its U.S. reintroduction, Acer has released a tower rack, blade system, and systems especially designed for cloud computing, all with a number of configurations, as well as network attached storage products. Prices range from $721 for a tower to $10,499, for storage. Acer will be selling through channel partners. Read More…..