HGST Announces NVMe-Compliant PCIe SSDs

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterprise storage leader HGST, a Western Digital company (NASDAQ: WDC), today announced its new series of NVMe-compliant Ultrastar SN100 PCIe SSDs. HGST's NVMe PCIe SSDs, integrating Toshiba's current MLC NAND Flash, will drive the next wave of application acceleration with simplified PCIe SSD system integration paired with HGST's renowned quality and reliability. The standardized NVMe protocol for PCIe SSDs enables broad system interoperability and ease of deployment, resulting in lower cost of ownership.

Targeting application and database acceleration, virtualization and big data analytics, the Ultrastar SN100 series of SSDs will be offered as a half-height, half-length (HH-HL) add-in card, as well as in a standard 2.5-inch drive form factor, with industry-leading capacities up to 3.2TB. For added NAND Flash endurance and reliability, the Ultrastar SN100 series will deploy HGST's CellCare NAND management technology optimized for Toshiba MLC NAND Flash.

To further accelerate innovation for server-side Flash solutions, HGST will be implementing NVMe-compatible extensions aimed at delivering new levels of application integration by enabling value-add software layers to interface with the PCIe SSD's NAND flash management. Utilizing these HGST extensions, software can interact with the SSDs in a more comprehensive way and realize data management optimizations that deliver two times higher performance and two times better endurance compared to solutions without this capability.

"We expect to see significant growth in PCIe-based SSD demand, especially as businesses implement server-side Flash in conjunction with Flash-optimized software and applications," said Mike Gustafson, senior vice president and general manager of HGST Flash Platforms Group.  "As a strategic addition to our broad portfolio of SATA, SAS and PCIe SSDs, we expect the new Ultrastar SN100 series to raise the bar by delivering industry-leading performance, including consistent low access latency, as well as enterprise endurance. We are also delighted about our partnership with Toshiba and look forward to strengthening our relationship in the years to come." 

HGST is currently sampling the Ultrastar SN100 SSD series.

For more information about HGST products and solutions, please visit www.hgst.com.

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About HGST

HGST is a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC). HGST sets the pace for storage innovation and is helping the world harness the power of data. Building on its reputation for producing reliable HDDs, SSDs, and developing tighter integration with software, HGST is optimizing storage efficiency and reliability for today's data-centric economy. Founded by the creators of the hard drive, HGST serves a broad range of market segments, including enterprise, cloud, OEM, mobile, consumer electronics and personal storage. HGST was established in 2003 and maintains its U.S. headquarters in San Jose, California. For more information, please visit www.hgst.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements relating to expected offerings and benefits of SSD products, demand for certain categories of SSDs and availability dates for certain SSD products. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including changes in markets, demand, global economic conditions and other risks and uncertainties listed in Western Digital's recent SEC filings, to which your attention is directed. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak as of the date hereof, and HGST/WD undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Long Live Data is a trademark and CellCare and Ultrastar are registered trademarks of HGST, Inc. and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Toshiba is a registered trademark of Toshiba Corporation. All other products and services listed herein are trademarks of their respective companies.

One GB is equal to one billion bytes, and one TB equals 1,000 GB (one trillion bytes). Actual capacity will vary depending on operating environment and formatting.

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SOURCE HGST, A Western Digital Company