“With continuing innovations in gaming, 4K and 8K technology as well as AI-driven applications, consumers’ need for high-performance storage is growing exponentially,” said KyuYoung Lee, Vice President of the Memory Brand Product Biz Team at Samsung Electronics. “The 990 PRO provides an optimal balance of speed, power efficiency and reliability, making it an ideal choice for avid gamers and creative professionals seeking uninterrupted work and play.”

Extreme Performance for an Immersive Gameplay Experience

Featuring Samsung’s latest V-NAND and a new proprietary controller, the 990 PRO series offers the highest speed currently available from the PCIe 4.0 interface.¹ The SSD delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 7,450 megabytes per second (MB/s) and 6,900 MB/s, respectively, while random read and write speeds come in at up to 1,400K and 1,550K IOPS,² respectively. With up to a 55% improvement in random performance over the 980 PRO, the 990 PRO is particularly well-suited for heavy gaming as well as creative and productivity tasks.

High-performance NVMe SSDs are also critical in reaping the full benefits of the latest game console and gaming technologies. Powered by NVMe, the 990 PRO brings faster loading times to PCs and consoles for a more immersive gaming experience. When tested with Forspoken,³ Luminous Productions’ forthcoming action role-playing game supporting the latest game-loading technology, the map loading time was about one second, compared to four seconds for a SATA SSD and 28 seconds for a hard disk drive (HDD).

Ultimate Power Efficiency and Reliable Thermal Control

Built on a low-power architecture, Samsung’s newly designed controller dramatically improves the SSD’s power efficiency by up to 50% compared to the 980 PRO.⁴ Additionally, the 990 PRO employs a nickel coating on the controller and a heat spreader label on the drive for reliable thermal management. Samsung’s Dynamic Thermal Guard technology further ensures that the drive’s temperature stays in the optimal range.

The 990 PRO with Heatsink version offers an additional layer of thermal control while its RGB lights add more style to the drive.

Samsung’s 990 PRO is also an excellent solution for laptop and desktop upgrades as well as for build-your-own PCs, providing a significant performance boost while using less power for increased battery life and thermal management.

The 990 PRO will be available worldwide starting this October with the manufacturer’s suggested retail prices (MSRP) of $179 for the 1TB model and $309 for the 2TB. A 4TB capacity version will become available from next year. For more information, including warranty details, please visit samsung.com/SSD or semiconductor.samsung.com/consumer-storage/internal-ssd/.

Samsung NVMe SSD 990 PRO Series Specifications

¹ PCIe 4.0’s highest theoretical sequential read speed is 8000 MB/s — 990 PRO reaches 7,450 MB/s as of Q3 2022.

² Sequential and random performance measurements are based on IOmeter1.1.0. Performance may vary based on SSD’s firmware version, system hardware & configuration.

* Test system configuration: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core Processor CPU@3.80GHz, DDR4 3600MHz 16GBx2 (PC4-25600 Overclock), Windows 10 Pro 64bit, ASRock-X570 Taichi

³ FORSPOKEN © Luminous Productions Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. FORSPOKEN, LUMINOUS PRODUCTIONS and the LUMINOUS PRODUCTIONS logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Square Enix Co., Ltd.

* Test system configuration: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor 3.70 GHz, AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB, DDR4-2666 (16GB x2), Windows 11 Pro 21H2

⁴ 980 PRO provides power efficiency of 1,129/877 MB per watt for sequential read/write while 990 PRO’s is 1,380/1,319 MB per watt for sequential read/write, based on internal test results of the 1TB capacity model.

⁵ 1GB=1,000,000,000 bytes by IDEMA. A certain portion of capacity may be used for system file and maintenance, so the actual capacity may differ from what is indicated on the product label.

⁶ Samsung Electronics shall not be liable for any loss, including but not limited to loss of data or other information contained on Samsung Electronics product or loss of profit or revenue which may be incurred by user. For more information on the warranty, please visit samsung.com/SSD or semiconductor.samsung.com/consumer-storage/internal-ssd/.

⁷ Five years or total bytes written (TBW), whichever comes first. For more information on the warranty, please refer to the enclosed warranty document in the package.

Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has successfully developed a second generation of its pioneering SmartSSD.

The new proprietary computational storage incorporates data processing functionality within a high-performance SSD. Unlike existing SSDs, Samsung’s SmartSSD can process data directly, thereby minimizing data transfers between the CPU, GPU and RAM. This technology can avoid the bottlenecks that often occur when moving data between storage devices and CPUs, resulting in markedly improved system performance and much higher energy efficiency.

The SmartSSD is playing an increasingly important role, especially with the growth of next-generation technologies such as AI, machine learning and 5G/6G, which require large amounts of data processing.

Leveraging software and intellectual property (IP) developed by customers, along with in-built Arm cores, Samsung’s second-generation SmartSSD enables much more efficient data processing. Compared to conventional data center solid-state drives, processing time for scan-heavy database queries can be slashed by over 50%, energy consumption by up to 70% and CPU utilization by up to 97%.

Since its development in 2020 through the joint efforts of Samsung and AMD, the first-generation SmartSSD is being supplied to global IT companies including video communications platform providers. The first-generation SmartSSD was recognized as an Innovation Awards Honoree at CES 2021 for its outstanding performance and energy efficiency.

“Commercialization of the first-generation SmartSSD, in collaboration with AMD, established that the computational storage market has great potential,” said Jin-Hyeok Choi, Executive Vice President and Head of Memory Solution Product & Development at Samsung Electronics. “With the upgraded processing functionality of the second-generation SmartSSD, Samsung will be able to easily address increasing customer needs in the database and video transcoding sectors, as we expand the boundaries of the next-generation storage market.”

“Powered by Xilinx Versal Adaptive SoCs from AMD, second-generation Samsung SmartSSDs enable improved CPU efficiency and greatly reduced energy consumption by efficiently integrating the computing and storage functions in data centers,” said Sina Soltani, Corporate Vice President of Sales, AECG, Data Center and Communication Group at AMD. “As data-intensive applications continue to grow, second-generation Samsung SmartSSDs will deliver the superior performance and efficiency required for this expanding market.”

Samsung Electronics is leading efforts to standardize SmartSSD technology through close collaboration with the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and with NVM Express, while seeking to expand the boundaries of SmartSSD devices through technological validation for a wide variety of applications.

Samsung Electronics and Western Digital (Nasdaq: WDC) today announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a unique collaboration to standardize and drive broad adoption of next-generation data placement, processing and fabrics (D2PF) storage technologies. The companies will initially focus on aligning their efforts and creating a vigorous ecosystem for Zoned Storage solutions. These steps will enable the industry to focus on countless applications that ultimately create greater value for customers.

This marks the first time that both Samsung and Western Digital have come together as technology leaders to create widespread alignment and stimulate awareness for important storage technologies. Focusing on enterprise and cloud applications, the partnership is expected to spur a range of collaborations around technology standardization and software development for D2PF technologies like Zoned Storage. With this collaboration, end-users can have confidence that these emerging storage technologies will have support from multiple device vendors as well as from vertically integrated hardware and software companies.

“Storage is the essential foundation for how people and businesses consume and use data. To enable today’s needs and tomorrow’s next big ideas, we must innovate, collaborate and keep pace as an industry in bringing new standards and architectures to life,” said Rob Soderbery, EVP and GM, Flash Business Unit at Western Digital. “In order for a technology ecosystem to be successful, overall frameworks and general solution models must come together so they do not suffer from fragmentation, which delays adoption and adds unnecessary complexity for software stack developers.”

Soderbery added, “For years Western Digital has been laying the foundation for the Zoned Storage ecosystem by contributing to the Linux kernel and open-source software community. We are excited to bring these contributions to this joint initiative with Samsung in facilitating wider adoption of Zoned Storage for users and application developers.”

“This collaboration is a testament to our relentless effort to exceed customers’ needs now and in the future, and holds special meaning in how we anticipate it will actively grow into a larger basis of engagement for Zoned Storage standardization,” said Jinman Han, Corporate EVP, Head of Memory Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics. “Our collaborative efforts will embrace hardware and software ecosystems to ensure that as many customers as possible can reap the benefits of this highly important technology.”

The two companies have already kickstarted an initiative around Zoned Storage devices, including ZNS (Zoned Namespaces) SSDs and SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) HDDs. Through organizations such as SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) and the Linux Foundation, Samsung and Western Digital will define high-level models and frameworks for next-generation Zoned Storage technologies. With a commitment to enable open and scalable data center architectures, they have founded the Zoned Storage TWG (Technical Work Group), which was approved by SNIA in December 2021. The group is already defining and specifying common use cases for Zoned Storage devices, as well as host/device architecture and programming models.

In addition, this collaboration is expected to serve as a starting point to expand zone-based (e.g. ZNS, SMR) device interfaces, as well as future-generation, high-capacity storage devices with enhanced data placement and processing technologies. At a later stage, these initiatives will be expanded to include other emerging D2PF technologies such as computational storage and storage fabrics including NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF).

About Western Digital

Western Digital creates environments for data to thrive. As a leader in data infrastructure, the company is driving the innovation needed to help customers capture, preserve, access and transform an ever-increasing diversity of data. Everywhere data lives, from advanced data centers to mobile sensors to personal devices, our industry-leading solutions deliver the possibilities of data. Western Digital data-centric solutions are comprised of the Western Digital®, SanDisk® and WD® brands.

For more information about Zoned Storage, please visit ZonedStorage.io.

On November 13, Samsung Newsroom spoke with the designers behind the X5—Teukmo Ahn, Hyungsup Shim, Yoorim Yang and Gyejin Jun, of Samsung Electronics’ Brand Product Marketing Group—who discussed the device’s unique design philosophy.

The X5’s curved front resembles the hood of a high-performance supercar. The contrast between the drive’s glossy top, which brings to mind a car’s exterior, and the red bottom, which symbolizes the speed of light, completes the impression

According to Designer Hyungsup Shim, the team decided early on to produce a design that embodied the exciting speeds that the X5 was introducing to the market.

“Transferring a three-gigabyte (GB) video in just two seconds had never been possible before,” said Shim. “We wanted to express, through its design, that this product is built to exceed conventional ‘speed limits’.”

With that idea in mind, Shim added, the decision to fashion the design after a cutting-edge supercar was a no-brainer. This decision also meant that the device’s form would represent a departure from traditional memory storage device designs, which tend to focus on making products as simple and small as possible in an effort to make them durable and portable. The X5’s eye-catching design challenges the traditional notions of simple and small, without sacrificing the durability and portability that users prize.

The designers continuously refined the SSD’s details, including its color, materials and shape, in order to achieve the exact design that they had in mind. They carefully shaped the lower half of the device with aerodynamic lines; treated the upper half to a UV coating that evokes the glossy exterior of a supercar; and even fashioned a unique emblem that resembles the type of sleek hood ornaments that are traditionally found perched above the vehicles’ powerful engines.

The Brand Product Marketing Group is responsible for designing Samsung’s consumer memory products, which includes SSDs, memory cards, and USB memory. (From right) Designers Hyungsup Shim and Gyejin Jun

The X5’s powerful engine enables market-leading transfer speeds. Such speeds could make a conventional portable SSD prone to excessive heating, but Samsung’s design team worked hard to find a solution to this problem.

Reflecting back on the design process, Shim discussed some of the difficulties that came with trying to resolve the heat issue while maintaining a compact form.

“The easiest way to reduce heat buildup would have been to make the device bigger, but we didn’t want to compromise the innovative design,” Shim explained. “We therefore went to great lengths to install a heat sink that absorbs heat and allows air to flow inside—all while maintaining a sleek silhouette.”

The team worked long and hard to identify an optimal size and shape. The result of these efforts is a device that remains cool under pressure, and is verified not to exceed 45 degrees Celsius when in use.

During an extensive development process that took nearly three times longer than usual, the design team produced more than 20 mock-ups (each of which featured five or six unique variations) before landing on the X5’s final form. Here you can see the progression from the SSD’s initial design (located on the top left), which roughly resembles a portable battery, to its final form (located on the bottom right). As you can see, the designs progressively become smaller, more streamlined, and more similar in appearance to a supercar

In addition to performance, the team highlighted durability and usability when hammering out the X5’s final design. For example, because portable storage devices are meant to be easy to carry, the design team carefully tapered the SSD’s form to ensure a comfortable grip, and applied a soft finishing to its lower half to prevent it from slipping out of users’ hands.

The drive’s exceptional durability stems from the team’s decision to fashion it out of a strong and lightweight magnesium alloy that enables it to withstand accidental drops of up to two meters.

As the designers explained, the decision to use magnesium instead of the more commonly used aluminum presented difficulties from a design standpoint, as magnesium is generally harder to finish. This meant that the team would have to finish the device by hand.

It can also be quite difficult to color magnesium. The team welcomed the challenge, however, applying layers upon layers of color until the device was just the right hue. Even the colors of the labels on the bottom of the drive were coordinated to accentuate the aesthetic.

As Designer Gyejin Jun explained, when it came to identifying innovative ways to incorporate ‘speed’ into aspects of the X5’s design, no detail was overlooked. “We challenged ourselves to come up with several new design features that would express the device’s unprecedented speed,” said Jun. “Nothing was easy.”

The result of these extensive efforts is a device that the design team is very proud of, which offers content creators and on-the-go professionals the portable storage solution they’ve been waiting for.

“I hope that the X5 will serve as the powerful engine that content creators need to do what they do best,” said Jun, before expressing his ambition to “come up with more innovative products and designs in the future.”

Samsung Electronics today unveiled its first NVMe¹-based portable solid state drive (SSD) – the Samsung Portable SSD X5 – achieving new levels of performance and reliability for external storage solutions. Based on the cutting-edge Thunderbolt 3² technology, the new X5 features exceptional speeds in a compact and durable form factor, making it an ideal portable storage for content creators and IT professionals on the go.

“As a leader in high-performance and reliable storage solutions, we are thrilled to continue to advance the external SSD market with the introduction of our first Thunderbolt 3 portable SSD,” said Dr. Mike Mang, vice president of Brand Product Marketing, Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. “The X5 is yet another testament to Samsung’s commitment to providing innovative portable storage solutions that enable faster transfer of large data files, saving users’ valuable time.”

Whether editing 4K videos, creating real-time 3D rendering images or compiling high-resolution photos, consumers want fast and convenient ways to store and transfer their data. Leveraging synergies between NVMe and Thunderbolt 3 technologies, Samsung’s X5 delivers maximized performance levels for professionals working with heavy multimedia files. Thanks to Thunderbolt 3’s 40Gbps bandwidth – up to four times faster than USB 3.1³ – the X5 offers a read speed of up to 2,800 MB/s, which is up to 5.2 times faster than the widely used SATA interface portable SSDs and up to 25.5 times faster than external HDDs⁴. The drive also boasts the fastest maximum write speed of 2,300 MB/s⁵, enabling users to transfer a 20GB-sized 4K UHD video in just 12 seconds⁶. Designed for Macs and PCs with Thunderbolt 3 ports, the X5 allows users to enjoy the speed benefits in a lightweight and portable design, with capacity options up to 2TB.

The X5 features a full-metal body with a glossy finish and non-slip bottom mat. A shock-resistant internal frame and rugged metal housing can withstand accidental drops of up to two meters (6.6 feet)⁷. In addition, the Dynamic Thermal Guard technology and a heat sink – a mechanical internal solution – safeguard the X5 from overheating, ensuring reliability while maintaining optimal operating temperatures. The X5 also offers powerful data protection with ‘Samsung Portable SSD Software’, based on the AES 256-bit hardware data encryption, including optional password protection and easy configuration of security settings.

The X5 comes with a three-year limited warranty and will be available globally from Sept. 3, 2018, with a manufacturers’ suggested retail price (MSRP) starting at $399.99 for the 500GB model, $699.99 for the 1TB model and $1,399.99 for the 2TB model. For more information, please visit samsung.com/portable-ssd or samsungssd.com.

Key Specifications

Category	Samsung Portable SSD X5
Capacity	2TB/1TB/500GB8
Interface	Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps)
Dimensions (LxWxH)	119 x 62 x 19.7 mm (4.7 x 2.4 x 0.8 inches)
Weight	150 grams (5.3 oz.)9
Compatibility	H/W) Macs and Windows PCs with Thunderbolt 3 ports (Not backward compatible / Not compatible with PCs only with USB interface) O/S) MacOS Sierra (10.12) or higher Windows 10 64 bit RS 2 or higher
Performance	Up to 2,800 MB/s sequential read speeds Up to 2,300 MB/s sequential write speeds (500GB: up to 2,100 MB/s)
Encryption	AES 256-bit hardware encryption
Security	Samsung Portable SSD Software10 Password protection (optional)
Certifications	CE, BSMI, KC, VCCI, C-tick, FCC, IC, UL, TUV, CB
RoHS Compliance	RoHS2
Warranty	Three-Year Limited Warranty11

¹ The NVM Express® design mark is a registered trademark of NVM Express, Inc.

² Thunderbolt 3 brings Thunderbolt to USB-C at speeds up to 40 Gbps, creating one compact port that does it all – delivering the fastest, most versatile connection to any dock, display, or data device. Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

³ USB 3.1 Gen 2 delivers up to 10 Gbps USB data rate

⁴ Based on the internal test results compared to a portable SSD 1TB (T5) and Samsung external HDD 1TB (HX-MK20P12). *Test system configuration: Intel® Core i5-7600 (@3.5 GHz), DDR4 4GB 1066MHz, OS-Window 10*64, Chipset-Asus Strix Z270E Gaming.

⁵ Performance may vary depending on host configuration. To reach maximum read/write speeds of 2,800/2,300 MB/s, the host device and connection cables must support Thunderbolt 3.500GB version offers write speed up to 2,100 MB/s.

*Test system configuration: Intel® Core i7 8570H (@4.1GHz), DDR4 16GB 2667 MHz, OS-Windows 10*64, Chipset–Dell Alienware System (Dell i7 Alienware 17 R5). Performance measurements based on CrystalDiskMark v.5.1.2.

⁶ Performance of the PC’s internal storage should be equal to or greater than X5. *Test system configuration: Intel® Core i7 7700 (@3.6 GHz), DDR4 4GB 2133 MHz, OS-Windows 10*64, Chipset–Aorus(Gigabyte) Z270-X Gaming 9.

⁷ The internal free fall shock test was conducted under controlled conditions.

⁸ 1 GB=1,000,000,000 bytes, 1 TB=1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Lower capacity may be demonstrated by your computer due to its use of a different measurement standard.

⁹ Exact weight of product may vary by capacity.

¹⁰ X5 works on PCs (Mac / Windows PC) that support Thunderbolt 3. Only PC versions (macOS version/Windows OS version) of Samsung Portable SSD Software support X5, while the existing Android version (App) does not. In case of X5, Samsung Portable SSD Software update is available for both macOS and Windows OS versions. But X5 FW update is available for Windows OS version only.

¹¹ Samsung Electronics shall not be liable for any loss, including but not limited to loss of data or other information contained on Samsung Electronics product or loss of profit or revenue which may be incurred by user. For more information on the warranty, please visit samsung.com/portable-ssd.

At first glance, Samsung’s recently unveiled Portable SSD X5 looks more like a model for a high-performance supercar than a portable solid state drive (SSD). That’s because the company’s first NVMe-based portable SSD features a captivating design to match its exceptional performance.

Like the supercars that inspired its form, the X5 was built for speed. Based on the cutting –edge Thunderbolt 3 technology, its industry-leading read and write speeds—up to 2,800 MB/s and 2,300 MB/s, respectively—support blazing fast transfers, enabling users to transmit three gigabytes’ worth of data in just two seconds.

Check out the video to see how the X5 fast-tracks file transfers.

The 970 series maximizes the potential of NVMe bandwidth. The 970 PRO enables sequential read speed of up to 3,500 MB/s and sequential write speed of up to 2,700 MB/s, which means it can read a five-gigabyte (GB) movie in a mere second and write in 1.9 seconds.

Check out the infographic on NVMe SSD 970, which provides exactly what power-users are looking for in an SSD.

Samsung Electronics, a worldwide leader in advanced memory solutions for more than two decades, today unveiled the Samsung 960 PRO and 960 EVO, its newest solid state drives (SSDs). The V-NAND based, M.2 form factor SSDs were built on the company’s category-defining Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) SSD leadership. With powerful performance, endurance and capacity topped with all new and more robust Samsung Magician software package, Samsung continues to accelerate the NVMe era.

Packed with more technology and innovation than ever, the 960 PRO and 960 EVO are designed for users who seek smaller and faster storage solutions that deliver higher bandwidth and lower latency for processing massive amounts of data for everything from gaming and large file transfers to 4K video rendering, data analytics and more on their ultra-thin notebooks and PCs.

Both the 960 PRO and 960 EVO use the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) Gen.3 x4 lane interface and are compliant with NVMe specifications to realize effective use of the high-speed PCIe bus and optimize both hardware and software configurations to take advantage of the NVMe SSD technology. The SSDs feature Samsung Dynamic Thermal Guard technology to manage performance during extreme workloads.

“For more than 30 years, Samsung has continued to push the boundaries of what is possible to deliver innovative consumer memory experiences.” said Un-Soo Kim, Senior Vice President of Branded Product Marketing, Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. “Our V-NAND technology for NVMe-based storage products is our most recent advancement in the NVMe era.”

The 960 PRO and 960 EVO SSDs redefine the personal computer performance, in part attributed to new controller which raises the bar of consumer SSD performance. The 960 PRO delivers peak sequential read and write transfer speeds of 3,500 MB/s and 2,100 MB/s, respectively, and random read and write IOPS of up to 440,000 and 360,000.¹

On top of being the world’s fastest M.2 NVMe- SSD, the 960 PRO will also offer 2 terabyte (TB) capacity, which is the highest capacity commercially available for M.2 NVMe SSDs, along with 512GB and 1TB versions.² The 960 PRO’s high density was made possible by Samsung V-NAND technology and the uniquely restructured package design. As user capacity demand trends continue to rise, the high-density 960 PRO capacities are poised to conveniently meet the needs of personal data and information storage. The 960 PRO promises additional reliability and endurance with the five-year limited warranty and up to 1.2 petabytes written (PBW), whichever occurs first, for the 2TB capacity.

“We were proud to erect the NVMe era last year with the introduction of our 950 PRO SSD. Now, with the introduction of the NVMe 960 PRO and 960 EVO SSDs, Samsung is once again taking the next step in the multi-terabyte SSD technology and the storage revolution, providing users higher capacities and speeds than ever before within an NVMe PCIe drive to create new possibilities for consumers and business professionals,” Kim added.

The 960 EVO is available in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB capacities³ and provide users with next-generation personal computing performance. The new Samsung Intelligent TurboWrite technology makes its debut in the 960 EVO and accelerates sequential read and write speeds, that reach peaks of 3,200 MB/s and 1,900 MB/s respectively.^4,5   The 960 EVO’s random read speed reaches up to 380,000 IOPS and random write speed up to 360,000 IOPS.⁶ The 960 EVO comes with a three-year limited warranty and up to 400 terabytes written (TBW), whichever occurs first, for the 1TB capacity version.

In addition to the industry leading performance, capacity and the reliable warranty-backed experience the 960 SSDs offer, Samsung is also introducing the all-new and fully rebuilt Magician software with a new user interface with which users can control various SSD settings including firmware updates.

The 960 PRO and 960 EVO SSDs will be available worldwide starting October 2016, with manufacturer’s suggested retail prices starting at $329.99 and $129.99 USD respectively. For more information, including warranty details⁷, please visit www.samsungssd.com.

^1,4,6 Sequential performance measurements based on CrystalDiskMark 5.0.2/IOmeter 1.1.0 and random performance measurements based on IOmeter 1.1.0.Performance may vary based on the SSD`s firmware version, system hardware and configuration. Test system configuration: Intel® Core i7-6700K CPU@4.0 GHz,DDR4 1700MHz 16GB,OS-Window 10 Pro x64,Chipset-ASROCK Z170 EXTREME 7.

^2,3 1GB=1,000,000,000 bytes by IDEMA. A certain portion of capacity may be used for system file and maintenance use, so the actual capacity may differ from what is indicated on the product label.

⁵ Sequential Write performance measurements are based on Intelligent TurboWrite technology. The sequential write performances after Intelligent TurboWrite region are 300 MB/s(250GB),600 MB/s(500GB) and 1200 MB/s(1TB).

⁷ Samsung’s warranty does not cover any costs and expenses relating to SSDs’ overhaul/assembly and data recovery for repairs or replacements.

The VMware Cloud Foundation-based rack was built using six Dell R730XD servers, each configured with two Samsung PM1725 NVMe solid state drives (SSDs) as the caching tier and six Samsung PM863 SATA SSDs as the capacity tier. The prototype spans successful imaging and bring-up of the integrated system rack, creation of a workload domain, and deployment of applications within the workload-domain-hosted VMware vSphere® cluster.

“VMware Cloud Foundation is based on VMware Virtual SAN 6.2 with support for all-flash storage and greater data efficiency,” said Raj Yavatkar, VMware fellow, chief architect for VMware Cloud Foundation, VMware. “Our collaboration with Samsung, to combine VSAN with Samsung NVMe SSDs, in VMware Cloud Foundation, brings low latency flash to mainstream applications and makes flash affordable to business-critical applications.”

“Through our strong ongoing strategic relationship with VMware, we are providing the best of both worlds for IT managers by allowing them to quickly build and deploy public and private clouds using the VMware Cloud Foundation combined with our NVMe SSDs,” said Michael Williams, Vice President, Memory Product Planning, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.  “Samsung NVMe SSDs deliver a new level of performance for VMware Cloud Foundation-based systems that is simply not attainable with SAS or SATA SSDs.”

Selected for the caching tier, the PM1725 SSD allows enterprise scale-up storage systems to fully utilize the low latency and extremely high efficiency of the NVMe interface. Based on Samsung’s 3-bit MLC V-NAND technology and the NVMe 1.2 standard, the PM1725 features a native PCIe Gen-3 x8 interface, allowing a single drive to deliver up to one million random read IOPS and 140K random write IOPS, as well as reading sequentially at up to 6GB/s and writing sequentially at 1.9GB/s. The PM1725 can also provide five DWPDs (drive writes per day) of write endurance for five years, allowing it to support write-intensive enterprise caching applications, as well as read-intensive primary storage.

For the capacity tier, Samsung’s PM863 is the industry’s most flexible family of SATA SSDs for servers and storage systems.  The PM863 is available in a wide range of capacities, from 120GB to 3.84TB in a 2.5” 7mm-thick form factor.  PM863 SSDs are powered by Samsung 3-bit MLC V-NAND technology, which ushered in a new era of cost-effective, all-flash, read-intensive storage for SATA-based data centers.

VMware Cloud Foundation brings together the power of vSphere, VirtualSAN, NSX and SDDC Manager into a natively integrated stack that makes it extremely easy to deploy and operate an SDDC, according to VMware. It includes automated installation, configuration and deployment of the virtual infrastructure stack. The automation allows customers to instantiate a cloud instance either as an on-premises private cloud or as a per-tenant cloud instance in a public cloud. It also can reduce the TCO through simplified and automated infrastructure lifecycle management, including day-to-day operations and upgrade/update management.

To find more information about the VMware Cloud Foundation solution and Samsung’s collaborative role, visit www.vmware.com/products/cloud-foundation

How was this possible? Samsung engineers talk about how they overcame many challenges to create this amazing new SSD, and how the drive will impact the future of electronic devices, in this fascinating video.

Samsung Electronics, a global leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, semiconductors and telecommunications, today announced that it won 38 prestigious International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 Innovation Awards. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the producer of CES 2016 – the global gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies, who has been recognizing achievements in product design and engineering since 1976, has honored Samsung with one more Best of Innovation Award this year than last year.

Among Samsung’s 38 CES 2016 Innovation Awards are three Best of Innovation Awards. Products entered in the CES Innovation program are judged by a pre-eminent panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and members of the trade media to honor outstanding design and engineering in cutting-edge consumer electronics products across 27 categories.

“Samsung continues to deliver unique experiences for our consumers worldwide through the many products that help people lead more connected lives,” said Gregory Lee, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics North America. “We are honored that CTA and the industry recognizes our ongoing commitment to innovation and excellence in consumer experience as we look forward to demonstrating our latest achievements at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show.”

Samsung’s award-winning products span 18 categories including, TV, Monitor, Mobile, Tablet, Digital Imaging, Wearable, Home Appliance and Memory. Many of Samsung’s award-winning products will be on display at CES 2016, which runs January 6-9, 2016, in Samsung booth #11906 in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Some of the winning products will be showcased at Samsung’s CES press conference, scheduled for 2 p.m. on Tuesday January 5, 2016.

Following are details on some of Samsung’s award-winning products:

Samsung Gear S2 – A completely re-designed smartwatch that centers on an intuitive circular design with a rotating bezel that allows users to easily and precisely navigate the UI with the turn of a dial. The Gear S2 provides at-a-glance notifications to check calendars, e-mails, send texts and more.

Galaxy S6 edge+ – With an immersive, 5.7-inch dual-edge display, the Galaxy S6 edge+ breaks conventional smartphone design and delivers industry leading features, including Samsung’s most advanced camera for high quality photos and videos, fast wireless and wired charging, powerful processor and Samsung Pay.

Samsung Galaxy View – Re-imagining mobile entertainment, the Galaxy View provides a movable, touchable, immersive TV experience. With a unique, video-centric user interface, the Galaxy View makes it easy to access and enjoy streaming content, interactive video games, books and other digital content.

Samsung Gear VR – Powered by Oculus, the Gear VR is compatible the Samsung Galaxy Note5, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, leveraging each device’s Quad HD Super AMOLED display to provide the color, clarity and performance needed for an amazing virtual reality experience.

ATIV Book 9 Pro – Offering a stunning 4K display, cutting-edge performance from its Intel Core i7® processor, and magnificent quad speakers, this laptop is ideal for professionals and multimedia enthusiasts alike.

Samsung 950 PRO 512GB – This solid state drive (SSD), the first Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) M.2 form factor SSD with vertical NAND (V-NAND) technology, is designed to meet the demands of high-performance consumer and business PCs and laptops. Ideal for projects such as computer-aided design, data analysis and engineering simulation, the 950 PRO provides users with cutting-edge performance, higher bandwidth and lower latency from their workstations, even under intensive workloads.

Samsung 850 PRO 2TB – As the world’s first 2 terabyte consumer SSD, the Samsung 850 PRO 2TB is a high-performance, high-density storage device that delivers rapid data access times and program load times, as well as industry-leading power efficiency. With V-NAND technology at its core, the 850 PRO 2TB yields excellent reliability and superior performance throughout its lifetime.

Samsung SleepSense Sleep Monitor – The Bluetooth and IoT-enabled Samsung SleepSense device uses a complex set of sensors in a smart, innovative, and simple way to track and provide information on your sleep habits and deliver personalized expert tips directly to consumers’ smartphones to help you take control of the most important aspects of health and wellness: how well we sleep.

Samsung 128GB UFS – As the first mobile memory based on the much-anticipated Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard, this ultra-fast package is the highest capacity, highest performing, thinnest and smallest embedded storage memory for mobile devices. It allows for quick access to pictures from 20MP+ cameras and to 4K video files, as well as embracing 5G connectivity and delivering shorter application loading and response times.

Samsung 12Gb LPDDR4 – The world’s highest density mobile DRAM chip allows for packages of up to 6GB, delivering 34.1GB/s bandwidth – three times as fast as the industry’s previous highest performing mobile DRAM. The chip can accommodate the real-time multitasking scenarios of today’s flagship smartphones and tablets having UHD displays, while providing 50% greater power efficiency and the optimal density for new high-end 64bit-system smartphones.