Intel releases its first solid-state hard drive: The Z-U130

Leading chipmaker, Intel Corp, joins a growing list of solid-state hard drive manufacturers with its very own product, the light-weight Z-U130. Intel’s new product line will come in different sizes. 1GB and 2GB are already in production, with 4GB expected in April this year and an 8GB unit lined up for December.
The Z-U130 has interfaces for USB 2.0/1.1 and is based on NAND flash memory technology. Additionally, it features read and write speeds of 28Mbs and 20Mbs respectively. Moreover, the units are expected to provide the distinct advantages solid-state drives exhibit over traditional magnetic ones. These include faster boot times, less seek time, lower power-consumption rates, embedded code storage, speedy data access, improved reliability and robust performance.
A number of applications areas have been identified that could take advantage of the lightning fast system boot times. These include video gaming, handheld devices as well as routers, servers, Point-of-Sale terminals, next-generation notebooks and other devices with built-in solutions from Intel.
There has been a considerable rise in the storage realm, with prominent manufacturers such as Samsung, SanDisk, ASUS and Fujitsu making serious progress. It will be interesting to see how Intel positions itself. With the Z-U130, Intel promises to deliver a top-quality, value-added product that will offer reliability across wide-ranging embedded applications.