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Western Digital Introduces Solid State Disks For Its Business Customers

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Following on from the announcement that it has introduced a consumer version of its solid state disk product, Western Digital recently announced a similar product for its enterprise/business customers.  While the consumer version is a MLC (multi level cell) solution, the business version is an SLC (single level cell), which theoretically is faster than an MLC.

Press release follows.

WD® ANNOUNCES NEW HIGH SPEED SOLID STATE DRIVES

WD SiliconDrive® N1x SSDs Deliver High Performance, High Reliability for Embedded System OEM Applications

Kuala Lumpur – 10th March 2010 — WD® (NYSE: WDC) today announced that the company is shipping its new high performance WD SiliconDrive® N1x 2.5-inch solid state drive (SSD) family. The new SSDs feature fast read/write speeds in high capacities and are designed for embedded system OEM applications that require superior performance, high reliability and long product life. The single-level cell (SLC) -based WD SiliconDrive N1x SSDs are an ideal storage solution for a wide range of embedded system OEM applications in growing markets such as automotive and transportation, data center, communications infrastructure, video surveillance and industrial automation.  The new WD SiliconDrive N1x family of products complements the recently announced multi-level cell (MLC) -based WD SiliconEdge™ Blue™ SSDs, which offer a cost-effective alternative for less-demanding OEM applications while still providing high read/write speeds and high random write IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) performance.

WD SiliconDrive N1x SSD products feature a native SATA 3.0 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface with target read speeds up to 240 megabytes per second (MB/s) and write transfer rates up to 140 MB/s in capacities up to 128 gigabytes (GB). WD SiliconDrive N1x SSDs deliver maximum drive endurance and high sustained sequential write speeds to satisfy the 24/7 operational requirements in critical OEM applications. The WD SiliconDrive N1x products also feature WD’s innovative Speed Assurance™ technology for consistent read/write performance.

“The WD SiliconDrive N1x SSDs are the newest addition to our SiliconDrive product family, which has shipped several million units since the first products were introduced. SiliconDrive SSDs have consistently met critical OEM application requirements for high reliability, high performance and long product deployment cycles,” said Michael Hajeck, senior vice president and general manager of WD’s solid state storage business unit. “Satisfying the challenging storage demands for a wide variety of OEM applications, WD has designed the WD SiliconDrive N1x and WD SiliconEdge Blue product families to facilitate SSD technology adoption in a multitude of existing and expanding new markets that can benefit from advanced storage solutions.”

The WD SiliconDrive N1x SSDs feature patented and patent-pending WD technologies combined with Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and Windows® 7 TRIM command support for high data integrity, long product life and sustained performance levels throughout the drive’s service life without the need for an external refresh utility, media over-provisioning or forced idle times used by many SSDs available today.

The WD SiliconDrive N1x SSD comes with a five-year limited warranty. More information about WD SiliconDrive N1x SSDs may be found on the company’s Web site at: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=786.

Information on the recently announced WD SiliconEdge Blue SSD may be found at: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=789.

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FalconStor® FDS Enables Businesses to Store MORE with Less

Friday, March 12th, 2010

This is not really a consumer products announcement, but more a business one.  But I reckon that since a lot of us here have full time jobs aside from our passion for gadgets, this information may come in handy if you want to score some brownie points with your CFO or CIO/CTO the next time the subject of data storage comes up.

Falconstor, a US company with regional headquarters in Malaysia, has introduced a solution for data backup/storage called a “Deduplication Solution“. The exact name of the solution is “File-interface Deduplication System (FDS)“.  This technology is basically something that does “differential” backup of data, instead of “full” backup.  Differential backups save storage space and bandwidth, especially when one is backing up data to an offsite data recovery centre.  I’ll let the press release explain more.

For more information, do surf over to their corporate website!

FalconStor® FDS Enables Businesses to Store MORE with Less

Latest Deduplication Solution by FalconStor® Delivers High Availability Plus Double the Performance with Symantec OST Support

KUALA LUMPUR, 11 March 2010 – FalconStor Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: FALC), the provider of TOTALLY Open™ data protection solutions, today announced version 2.0 of FalconStor® File-interface Deduplication System (FDS), which takes LAN-based deduplication to the next level of enterprise-class functionality with high availability and other enterprise capabilities.

With data growth averaging 50% percent year-on-year, companies today are seeking more cost-efficient ways to store backups.  Full and accurate recovery of monthly archived data is now an essential part of all businesses. As the size of these files increase, companies yearn for faster recovery time and longer data retention periods, while driving costs down – not an easy task during such challenging economic times.

Moving up the ranks with FalconStor® FDS

The FalconStor FDS solution targets growing businesses such as SMBs and SMEs, as a large portion of data growth will be contributed by these companies. Furthermore, as high-growth businesses venture into enterprise territory, proper data management infrastructure is essential to ensure seamless expansion.

FalconStor FDS is designed for businesses looking to reduce storage space and costs by writing backup data more efficiently to disk.  With the addition of high availability, enterprises of all sizes will retain access to their backed-up data, ensuring that backups of critical systems can always be completed within narrow backup windows – which is especially important for databases that may run a company’s ERP, CRM or other important applications.

Other enterprise-class features in FDS 2.0 include:

  • Support for Symantec OpenStorage (OST) delivers 5.4 terabytes per hour of backup data throughput, ingest rates of 1.5 gigabytes per second over two 10 Gigabit Ethernet links for double the performance.
  • An increased fan-in ratio of 150-to-1 that supports more distributed environments and enhances the scope of global deduplication.
  • An enhanced replication dashboard for real-time status monitoring.
  • More granular, folder level, replication support.
  • Policy driven end-to-end data integrity checking.
  • Collision avoidance that ensures data consistency and prevents data loss.

“With these significant enhancements to FalconStor FDS, FalconStor now leads the market in data deduplication solutions for data centers,” said Simon Ng, South Asia regional director of FalconStor Software Inc.  “The market has been demanding a flexible and all-in-one deduplication solution, and we are the first to deliver.”

Pricing and Availability

FalconStor FDS 2.0 is available now through FalconStor’s worldwide network of channel partners.

About FalconStor FDS

FalconStor FDS offers block-level deduplication of backup data via a simple file interface.  FalconStor FDS extends the company’s highly scalable data deduplication technology – already widespread as part of the industry-leading FalconStor® Virtual Tape Library (VTL) solution – to network-attached storage (NAS) disk-to-disk backup environments.  With built-in many-to-one replication capability, the file-interface system provides global deduplication by replicating from remote sites to a central data repository across the wide-area network.

About FalconStor Software, Inc.

FalconStor Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: FALC) is the market leader in disk-based data protection. FalconStor delivers proven, comprehensive data protection solutions that facilitate the continuous availability of business-critical data with speed, integrity, and simplicity. The Company’s TOTALLY Open™ technology solutions, built upon the award-winning IPStor® platform, include the industry leading Virtual Tape Library (VTL) with deduplication, Continuous Data Protector (CDP), File-interface Deduplication System (FDS), and Network Storage Server (NSS), each enabled with WAN-optimized replication for disaster recovery and remote office protection. FalconStor products are available from major OEMs and solution providers including 3Com, Acer, Data Direct Networks, Dynamic Solutions International, EMC, IBM, Oracle, Pillar Data Systems, SGI and Spectra Logic and are deployed by thousands of customers worldwide, from small businesses to Fortune 1000 enterprises.

FalconStor is headquartered in Melville, N.Y., with offices throughout Europe and the Asia Pacific region. FalconStor is an active member of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA).  For more information, visit www.falconstor.com or call 1-866-NOW-FALC (1-866-669-3252).

# # #

FalconStor, FalconStor Software and IPStor are registered trademarks and TOTALLY Open is a trademark of FalconStor Software, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries.  All other company and product names contained herein may be trademarks of their respective holders.

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Western Digital Introduces New Solid State Drives For Notebooks And PCs

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Solid state drives (SSD) are much faster than traditional hard disks, and consume less power.  But being new, they are still relatively more expensive, although the prices of these things are on a downward path as is usually the case with technology items.  Today, Western Digital introduced its SSD product called SiliconEdge Blue, a 2.5 inch consumer SSD using a SATA 3.0 interface with capacities ranging from 64GB to 256GB.

Here’s the press release (emphasis in pricing section mine):

WD® INTRODUCES FAST AND RUGGED SOLID STATE DRIVES FOR NOTEBOOKS AND DESKTOP PCs

New WD SiliconEdge™ Blue™ Drive Designed as High Performance, High Reliability Storage for OEMs and Technology Enthusiasts

Kuala Lumpur – 8th March 2010 — WD® (NYSE: WDC) today announced that the company is shipping its first consumer-oriented solid state drive (SSD) with the new WD SiliconEdge™ 2.5-inch SSD family. WD SiliconEdge Blue™ SSDs offer fast read/write speeds and high SSD capacities, making them an ideal storage solution for read-intensive applications requiring high performance and plug-and-play compatibility.

WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs, in capacities up to 256 gigabytes (GB), feature a native SATA 3.0 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface with read speeds up to 250 megabytes per second (MB/s) and write transfer rates up to 170 MB/s. Fast and rugged, WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs accelerate application performance and deliver maximum tolerance for drops, shock and vibration along with silent and low-power operation.

“The development of the WD SiliconEdge Blue product family leverages WD’s extensive experience in designing and manufacturing highly reliable storage products and the company’s worldwide sales and distribution network to accelerate SSD technology adoption by OEMs, technology enthusiasts, gamers and road warriors,” said Michael Hajeck, senior vice president and general manager of WD’s solid state storage business unit. “Customers who demand the ultimate in performance will find the WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs exceed all their requirements.”

The new WD SiliconEdge Blue product family has passed WD’s extensive functional integrity testing procedures, which subjected the WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs to over 250,000 hours of testing to ensure they meet the industry’s highest data integrity, reliability and compatibility standards. Designed for both read-intensive client/consumer applications and write-intensive, 24/7 OEM applications, WD’s new multi-level cell (MLC) -based SSDs feature patented and patent-pending technologies, such as advanced wear-leveling and error correction control, as well as TRIM and NCQ (Native Command Queuing) command support to ensure maximum drive performance and endurance with easy plug and play compatibility.

Price and Availability

WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs are available through select distributors and resellers. The manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) for WD SiliconEdge Blue SSD 64 GB (model SSC-D0064SC-2100) capacity is RM 979, the 128 GB (model SSC-D0128SC-2100) capacity is RM 1,859 and the 256 GB (SSC-D0256SC-2100) capacity is RM 3,499. The WD SiliconEdge Blue drive is backed by WD’s world-class technical support and comes with a three-year limited warranty. More information on WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs may be found on the company’s Web site at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=789.

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Queue Madness Number 3

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Here comes another reason to queue up.  This time, it’s from Sony (again, after the queue for the SonyEricsson Satio, Aino and Yari late last year).  Tomorrow, from 10am onwards at 1-Utama, Sony Malaysia, in conjunction with FM988 will be organising a fight-to-the-death queue for 20 lucky (or unlucky, if you have to queue up from tonight!) customers to enjoy discounts of various amounts to buy the new bloggie™ pocket video camcorder.  First three in queue get to buy it at RM 199, instead of the usual retail price of RM 899, a whopping RM 700 discount.  And so on and so forth – you get the idea.

I think RM 700 savings is worth sacrificing a night’s worth of love with the other half, but depending on the intensity of your sessions, you may not think so.  But at least you know there’s something worth queueing up for, if you happen to be one of the first three.  The next 17 don’t do too badly either, they still enjoy a RM 400 discount, and you can walk away boasting that you are the first in Malaysia to own the bloggie™ camcorder – just don’t forget to come back and share the video that you shot using your newly purchased toy, ‘k?  ;-)

Source.  And I just realised that this is the third piece of Sony Malaysia news I’ve posted today, and no, in case you’re wondering, they don’t pay me anything to do it.  Which is a great big feckin’ pity.

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Sony bloggie Priced, Teases Malaysians

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

But not yet available.  It’s one of those classic “CT” stories.  Get something on to your website, tease people, then say it’s coming.  The bloggie, so named because it’s supposed to be for video bloggers with its high definition recording capability, image stabilisation and easy upload to video sharing sites such as YouTube, will be coming to Malaysia, “soon”.  Price?  RM 899, for the following specifications:

General
Image Sensor
1/2.5” CMOS Sensor
Effective Pixels (Still Image Recording)
Approx. 5038K pixels (2592×1944, 4:3)
Effective Pixels (Movie Recording)
Approx. 2073K pixels (1080P)
Digital Zoom
4x (720P/VGA/photo)
Internal Memory
Approx. 26 MB
LCD Monitor
2.4” (4:3), 230K dots
Battery Remaining Indicator
Yes

Recording
Compatible Recording Media
Memory Stick PRO Duo™ (Mark 2), Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™, SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card
Still Image Recording
JPEG
Still Image Size (5M, 2592×1944)
Yes
Still Image Size (4M, 2592×1728)
Yes
Still Image Size (3M, 2048×1536)
Yes
Still Image Size (2M, 1920×1080)
Yes
Still Image Size (VGA, 640×480)
Yes
Movie Recording
MPEG4 AVC/H.264 (MP4)
Movie Image Size (1920×1080, 30p)
Yes
Movie Image Size (1280×720, 60p)
Yes
Movie Image Size (1280×720, 30p)
Yes
Movie Image Size (640×480)
Yes
Continuous Recording Time
95 min

Interfaces
A/V OUT Jack
Yes
Built-in USB Arm
Yes

Supplied Accessories
Battery
Rechargeable battery pack NP-BK1
A/V Connecting cable
Yes
Wrist Strap
Yes
Memory Stick
Yes (4GB)
USB Cable
Yes
360 Video Lens
Yes
Application Software
Picture Motion Browser

Would I get one?  Yes, if I didn’t have an existing HD pocket camcorder already.  Why?  Well, this time, Sony has seen it fit to support other memory card formats rather than the lame and unusable-in-other-devices Memory Stick crap.  It supports SDHC cards.  It has image stabilisation.  It can take still pictures up to 5 megapixels in resolution.  It comes with a 4GB memory stick, better than nothing.  It records at up to 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution at 30 frames per second – not that this is going to be tremendously useful for the lay person, for two reasons: one – file sizes are just going to be so huge that you’ll cry at having to buy blank DVDs, or worse, DVD dual layer discs.  Second – try uploading a 50MB file to YouTube on our broadband connection and you’ll soon be wanting to jump off the highest building to you to put yourself out of the misery.

The not-so-good?  No HDMI out.  The quality using that lame AV out will look horrendous on that brand spanking new RM 15,000 LED TV of yours.  So, be warned.

If you get one after it’s available, do try to come back and share with us some of your Steven Speilberg rivalling videos, ‘k?  ;-)

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