Samsung Now Producing 256GB Solid State Drive

(Auszug aus der Pressemitteilung)

SEOUL, KOREA – November 20, 2008 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world

leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today that it has
begun mass producing 256 gigabyte (GB) solid state drives for use in
notebooks and desktop PCs. With the addition of the high-speed 256GB drive,
Samsung now offers the most extensive line of SSDs in the industry with 8,
16, and 32GB SSDs for low-density designs and 64, 128 and 256GB
alternatives for the higher densities.

The new 256GB SSD more than doubles the performance rates of Samsung 64GB
and 128GB SSDs to become the SSD with the highest overall performance in
the personal computer industry, combining sequential read rates of 220MB/s
(megabytes per second) with sequential write rates of 200MB/s. This sharply
narrows the performance gap between read and write operations to only 10
percent, compared to a read-write speed difference of between 20 and 70
percent for other SSDs. In addition, erase cycles are a rapid 100GBs per
minute, allowing the entire drive to be re-written much faster, when
needed.

“Samsung’s latest SSD is setting a new standard in the storage industry and
delivers truly outstanding performance,” said Gerd Schauss, Director Memory
Marketing, Samsung Semiconductor Europe. “Compared to a common 15,000rpm
drive, Samsung’s 256GB SSD operates in a notebook with the same power but
without the ususal size, noise, power and heating disadvantages.”

The Samsung 256GB SSD expedites data transfer when large multimedia files
are simultaneously read and stored. It can store 25 high-definition movies*
in just 21 minutes, a significant advancement over a 7200rpm HDD, which
takes about 70 minutes. Furthermore, the 256GB SSD launches applications
ten times faster than the fastest 7200rpm notebook HDD.

The 256GB SSD’s advanced performance can be attributed to a new, optimized,
single platform design consisting of a chip controller, NAND flash and
special drive firmware all developed by Samsung. This single platform is
designed to easily adapt to Samsung’s 40nm class NAND flash memory.

Also offering a high degree of energy efficiency, the new drive consumes
1.1 watts of power versus two or more watts for a comparable HDD, while
delivering outstanding reliability and durability. The high operating speed
of the 256GB SSD translates into longer periods in either stand-by or idle
mode resulting in 40 minutes of extended operation on a single battery
charge.

Similar in weight to a 128GB SSD (81 grams), the 2.5-inch Samsung 256GB SSD
retains the standard 9.5 millimeter (mm) drive thickness.

Samsung’s 256GB SSD is also available with optional proprietary encryption
programming that provides full disk encryption, a key feature for many
corporate users.

* Each HD movie has approximately 10GB of data storage.