Intel Shrinks SSDs

December 21, 2007: Intel has taken another big step forward with its solid state memory capabilities, announcing a new generation of flash storage chips that can cram 16GB of data in the same area as a small coin.

Designed for ultramobile PCs, the Z-P140 PATA Solid-State Drive comes in capacities of 2 and 4 gigabytes (GB), and can be expanded up to 16GB. The size of a small coin, the drives also weighs a mere .06 grams – roughly the same as a drop of water.

These diminutive dimensions make the Z-P140 the smallest SSD in its class, and Intel claims that capacities could grow to 64GB within two years, making the chips highly attractive for mobile computing and other applications in consumer electronics.

Intel claims the new drives can notch up 40 megabytes per second transfer speeds, and 30 MB/s write times. Power consumption clocks in at a tiny 1.1 miliwatts when idle and 300 miliwatts when operating, and the drives also feature the standard SSD longevity of 2.5 million hours mean-time between failures (MTBF).

“Our mission is to provide world-class non-volatile SSD and caching solutions that are designed, optimised and validated to enhance Intel Architecture-based computing platforms,” said Pete Hazen, director of marketing for Intel's NAND Products Group. “This is Intel's latest offering as we continue to expand our product line of reliable, feature-rich and high-performing SSDs.”

Intel will be showing off its new SSDs at the Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas in January, and is expected to add more SATA-based SSDs to its lineup during 2008.

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