Smart Modular Can Replace Intel SSDs

SMART Modular Technologies unveiled its new Z-U130 embedded USB (eUSB) solid-state drive (SSD) to attendees yesterday at its analyst day event at the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City. SMART’s new Z-U130 eUSB SSD is the latest edition to its family of eUSB products. SMART has been selected by Intel to offer a drop-in replacement for OEM customers currently using the Intel Z-U130 Value SSD. Manufactured using Intel NAND Flash components, the new SMART eUSB product has been specifically designed to support applications that previously used Intel’s Z-U130 Value SSD.

"This recent collaboration represents an ongoing relationship between SMART and Intel. The Z-U130 eUSB SSD joins our product portfolio of Intel compatible Flash cards and modules. We are pleased to support existing and new customers with a drop-in-place solution for the Intel Z-U130 Value SSD," said Alan Gulachenski, Vice President of SMART’s Advanced Memory Solutions group. "SMART has extensive experience with embedded USB drives and is well positioned to provide future product enhancements and seamless support to Intel’s customers."

Targeting server, storage/accelerator, networking, data communications, mobile and embedded computing, medical, automotive, and industrial applications, the SMART Z-U130 eUSB SSD matches the Intel drive for power, reliability, profile, and RoHS compliance. Unlike the Intel drive, which supported 72nm single-level cell (SLC) NAND Flash, the SMART product also supports next-generation 50nm and 34nm SLC NAND Flash. In addition, SMART has enhanced the Z-U130 product’s original features in terms of read/write performance (30/20 MB/s), NAND management (8b BCH error correction code as well as static and dynamic wear leveling), and operating temperature (commercial temperature range of 0° C to 70° C or optional industrial temperature range of -40° C to +85° C). The SMART Z-U130 eUSB drive is available in 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16GB capacities.

Using a USB 2.0 high-speed serial link, the SMART Z-U130 SSD provides a simple two-wire signaling interface to the host. The SSD is manufactured using non-volatile memory, allowing it to offer high reliability, measured as mean time between failures (MTBF) of 5 million hours. Featuring a footprint of 36.9mm x 26.6mm, it is provided in a standard profile (9.6mm) and low profile (5.88mm) version.

Sampling in December 2008, the Z-U130 eUSB SSD will be available in production volumes beginning in January 2009.