Flash Disk From STEC at $5/GB

STEC, Inc. announced the industry’s first multi-level cell (MLC)-based solid
state drive: the MACH8-MLC. Currently sampling to OEM customers, the
MACH8-MLC meets the storage requirements of several applications in the
high volume portion of the SSD market. Notebook computers and portable
media players are among the applications that benefit from MLC-based
SSDs due to the need for cost-effective SSD which also provides reduced
power consumption, reduced weight and improved reliability.

"STEC continues to provide innovative SSD solutions with advanced
controller technology that enables superior performance and
reliability, while optimizing costs," said Patrick Wilkison, vice
president of marketing and business development for STEC. "Through our
long history of SSD development STEC has amassed proprietary
technologies to ensure optimal drive-level reliability — so solving
the challenge of performance and reliability for an MLC-based SSD was a
subset of the technology previously developed and deployed for
enterprise-class SSD. As a result of this latest technology
breakthrough, STEC is first to offer an MLC-based SSD solution."

It is widely held that in order for SSDs to be a compelling
alternative to hard disk drives (HDDs) in notebook applications, the
SSD costs would have to become closer in line with HDD pricing. To
achieve the lowest possible cost, the use of MLC NAND is obligatory.
The challenge with MLC NAND is its inherently slow write speeds and
very low write/erase endurance.

To date, there have not been sufficient break-throughs in SSD to
make MLC NAND a viable media for an SSD. In order for MLC NAND to be
viable, an SSD must use a high performance controller which can create
drive-level performance superior to that of an HDD. Additionally, STEC
incorporates advanced ECC and Flash management technology to enable the
right levels of data integrity and extended life for SSDs used in
notebooks.

"Many notebook OEMs were eagerly waiting for an SSD manufacturer to
deliver the right mix of performance and reliability to make MLC-based
SSD a reality," said Wilkison. "We expect the MACH8-MLC to dramatically
accelerate the adoption of the high volume segment of the SSD market.
Rather than availability of viable MLC-based SSD in 2009 as many market
pundits anticipated, STEC is delivering this solution today."

An extension to the MACH8 product family, the MACH8-MLC is the first
MLC-based NAND product that is viable as a HDD replacement. The
MACH8-MLC is fully optimized, providing better performance than HDDs,
and it is the most cost-effective SSD in the market.

STEC employs proprietary media management technologies to
significantly improve drive-level performance. The MACH8-MLC offers
sustained sequential speeds as follows:
* Read: 90MB/s
* Write: 60MB/s

These speed levels, while attainable with today’s SLC-based SSD, were not thought possible with MLC-based SSD.

MACH8-MLC supports the following interfaces:
* SATA 2.0
* PATA

MACH8-MLC achieves unprecedented capacities in SSD, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, in the following form factors:
* 1.8"
* 2.5"

Pricing for SSD has historically precluded SSD from wide adoption in
notebooks. The price to make SSD viable in notebook applications is now
available. STEC offers this SSD family at pricing of $5/GB today,
declining to less than $2/GB within two years.

The MACH8-MLC is available in two models: 2.5" with capacity up to
512GB (in 15mm) and 256GB (in 9.5mm), and 1.8" up to 128GB (in 7mm) and
64GB (in 5mm).

STEC, Inc.