Micron Receives Insight Award for Most Innovative Solid State Drive Technology

OTTAWA, Ontario, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM TechInsights, the leading technology and IP consulting firm, has announced that Micron Technology, Inc. has been honored with the Most Innovative Solid State Drive Technology award for their RealSSD C300 device in TechInsights' 9th Annual Insight Awards.

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UBM TechInsight's benchmarking tests, confirmed Micron's claim of manufacturing the fastest SSD in the market. The RealSSD C300 placed first amongst other nominees in numerous categories related to performance. It does so by utilizing an innovative controller technology, featuring two ARM9 processor cores that operate in parallel. This balances the load on the drive, with one core handling host requests and the other handling requests to read/write to the NAND flash components.

"Micron's RealSSD C300 is the fastest client SSD on the market and the first to leverage the SATA 6Gb/s interface for outstanding read/write speeds and improved boot and application load times for laptops and desktop applications," said Justin Sykes, director of client SSD products for Micron. "We are pleased to receive UBM TechInsights' award for most innovative SSD technology and appreciate the thorough technical consideration that goes into the award process."

Another factor in Micron winning was the adoption of the SATA 6Gb/s bus interface – also an industry first. The decision to utilize the RealSSD C300 as a SATA 6Gb/s device enables over 300 MB/s of data on the SATA link. Compared to SATA 3Gb/s, which has a rated transfer rate of 300 MB/s but realistically achieves 280 MB/s, the RealSSD C300 outperformed all its competitors at the time of its release.

From a manufacturing perspective, the RealSSD C300 is recognized for its use of Ball Grid Array (BGA) for surface-mount production. The use of BGA for the main components of Micron's SSD resulted in better interaction and contact between board and components, allowing for lower parasitic effects, minimum lead inductance and better use of board space than in the TSSOP surface-mounted boards of the competition.

"We are always impressed by the innovation we see from the Insight Awards finalists regardless of technology category," said Ed Keyes, CTO UBM TechInsights. "Micron Technology's improvements in SSD technology performance is a clear demonstration of their technical leadership in this area."

Other solid state drives considered for the 9th Annual Insight Awards include:

• Intel SSDSA2MH160G2C1 - Intel X25-M SATA Solid-State Drive
• Intel SSDSA2M160G2GC – Intel X25-M V2 160GB SATA300 Solid-State Drive
• Super Talent/Toshiba THNS512GG8BBAA - UltraDrive DX MLC Solid State Drive FTM12DX25T

UBM TechInsights annually recognizes companies for technical achievements in the semiconductor industry and is now accepting nominations for the 10th Annual Insight Awards. Please visit http://www.ubmtechinsights.com/news-and-events/insight-awards/ for more information.

About UBM TechInsights

UBM TechInsights is the preeminent firm for the provision of sophisticated information and advice to technology companies. We assist in the management of their technology and intellectual property portfolios, ensuring the reduction of risk and maximizing return on investment. Our leadership position is founded upon our commitment to the utmost integrity, and sustained by the ongoing investment and acquisition of the knowledge and capabilities necessary to meet our clients' evolving needs. When companies need assistance in managing their most complex technology or IP challenges, they turn to UBM TechInsights for assured results. For more information about UBM TechInsights, go to http://www.ubmtechinsights.com/.

SOURCE UBM TechInsights