The SSD Review The Worlds Dedicated SSD Education and Review Resource | 
SanDisk Corporation, a world-leading producer of flash storage devices, is announcing the new SanDisk Z400s solid-state drive (SSD), an affordable solution engineered to replace hard-disk drives (HDDs) in laptops and other computing platforms, as well as for embedded applications. The Z400s outperforms most HDDs by a factor of 20X, with 20X lower average power consumption, and with 5X the reliability – and at a price point that is very competitive with HDDs.
PC OEMs are able to incorporate the Z400s’ variety of capacities and form factors into thinner, sleeker laptop designs without impacting bill of materials (BOM) costs. The superior performance and reliability of the Z400s allows PC OEMs to offer products that result in fewer returns, lower ownership costs, and improved overall customer satisfaction.
According to Rizwan Ahmed, senior director of product marketing of client platform solutions at SanDisk, “The Z400s represents a feat of engineering that addresses the needs of two distinct markets – PC OEM manufacturers and embedded applications designers. With a single architecture, SanDisk is able to provide OEMs with an affordable solution for displacing HDDs in today’s cutting edge consumer devices, and help embedded application designers avoid overpaying for un-needed space – all while delivering the peak performance and high-reliability that only SSDs can supply.”
IDC is predicting that the Intelligent Systems market will achieve over two billion units shipped by 2019, with the strongest growth being in the industrial segments. Key areas where the Z400s can offer superior benefits over HDD usage include digital signage, point-of-sale (POS) and kiosks, and security surveillance. The storage requirements for these usage scenarios are often rather short-term, with data being frequently cleared from the device. Smaller capacities are fine for these applications, but performance and reliability are still critical.
These types of embedded industrial systems need storage devices that are able to execute one task or set of tasks consistently, and with minimal downtime. SanDisk’s Z400s is rated for up to 1.7 million hours of continual use, and provide greater stability during peak activity periods. Offered in a variety of form factors and capacities as low as 32GB, the Z400s meets embedded systems designers’ needs when it comes to reliability, performance, size, low power consumption, compatibility with various interfaces, and scalability.
Mario Morales, vice president of Enabling Technologies and Semiconductors research group at IDC, observes that “Intelligent Systems continue to play a critical role in disrupting traditional industries as connectivity, flash and sensor technology allows us to drive more value for applications and data. The value chain for the embedded market is broad and fragmented across a large set of industries that span decades of development and commercialization. SanDisk has decades of experience in tailoring flash technology for a broad range of applications – from consumer devices to data center solutions – making them the ideal partner to help intelligent system designers solve business-specific challenges across several embedded industries.”
SanDisk is currently sampling the Z400s with select customers in 2.5” SATA, mSATA, M.2 2242/2280 form factors, and in capacities of 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. For more info, you can visit the Z400s product page here; and you can view the SanDisk press release announcing the Z400s in its entirety here.