Seagate and Intel to Demo Hybrid Drives Capabilities

Seagate Technology LLC will be working with Intel Corporation to demonstrate new advancements in solid state hybrid drives (SSHD) at this year’s Intel Developer Forum taking place September 11-13, 2012, at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco, CA.

In the Advanced Technology Zone of the event, Intel will demonstrate Seagate’s latest SSHD design, accelerated with Intel Smart Response Technology, which run common office productivity applications almost on par with SSDs.

Separately, an educational presentation titled Ultrabook Responsiveness: Performance & Power End-Users Can Feel, will provide details on how SSHD technology combined with Smart Response Technology will contribute to a powerful combination of performance and capacity in the next generation Ultrabook devices. SSHD s combine performance similar to a SSD with the large capacity of a HDD in a single disk drive enclosure.

Each year, Intel’s strategic partners gather at Intel Developer Forum to learn about, discuss and demonstrate advancements in personal computing based on PC industry standards and Intel products. At this year’s forum, Intel will announce support for the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) Hybrid Information Feature with Smart Response Technology, targeted for a release in the second half of 2013. Smart Response Technology is expected to accelerate the performance of solid state hybrid drives enabled with the SATA IO Hybrid Information Feature by up to 30%, as measured by the PCMark Vantage HDD suite.

"Solid state hybrid drives will help Ultrabook designers achieve key price points and performance goals," said Emil Yappert, VP of product line management at Seagate. "SSHD products are being embraced by industry leaders such as Intel as demonstrated by the collaborative efforts with the SATA-IO member companies leading to Seagate’s new hybrid drive capabilities, which can significantly improve SSHD performance and help drive general adoption in the PC ecosystem during 2013 and beyond."

Similarly, Microsoft has also included native support of SSHDs in Windows 8, utilizing the flash memory of the drive to achieve best-in-class boot performance.

"Intel is delighted to provide the PC industry with another attractive storage solution option," said Intel director of notebook product marketing, Adam King. "Solid state hybrid drives accelerated with Intel Smart Response Technology should enable more innovative Ultrabook and all-in-one desktop system designs."