Samsung Now Producing 256GB Solid State Drive; Substantial Performance Gains Make it Best Overall Performing SSD for PCs

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today that it has begun mass producing 256 gigabyte (GB) solid state drives for use in notebooks and desktop PCs. With the addition of the high-speed 256GB drive, Samsung now offers the most extensive line of SSDs in the industry with 8, 16, and 32GB SSDs for low-density designs and 64, 128 and 256GB alternatives for the higher densities.

The new 256GB SSD more than doubles the performance rates of Samsung 64GB and 128GB SSDs to become the SSD with the highest overall performance in the personal computer industry, combining sequential read rates of 220MB/s (megabytes per second) with sequential write rates of 200MB/s. This sharply narrows the performance gap between read and write operations to only 10 percent, compared to a read-write speed difference of between 20 and 70 percent for other SSDs. In addition, erase cycles are a rapid 100GBs per minute, allowing the entire drive to be re-written much faster, when needed.

“Samsung’s latest SSD is setting a new standard in the storage industry and delivers truly outstanding performance,” said Gerd Schauss, Director Memory Marketing, Samsung Semiconductor Europe. “Compared to a common 15,000rpm drive, Samsung’s 256GB SSD operates in a notebook with the same power but without the usual size, noise, power and heating disadvantages.”

The Samsung 256GB SSD expedites data transfer when large multimedia files are simultaneously read and stored. It can store 25 high-definition movies* in just 21 minutes, a significant advancement over a 7200rpm HDD, which takes about 70 minutes. Furthermore, the 256GB SSD launches applications ten times faster than the fastest 7200rpm notebook HDD.

The 256GB SSD’s advanced performance can be attributed to a new, optimized, single platform design consisting of a chip controller, NAND flash and special drive firmware all developed by Samsung. This single platform is designed to easily adapt to Samsung’s 40nm class NAND flash memory.

Also offering a high degree of energy efficiency, the new drive consumes 1.1 watts of power versus two or more watts for a comparable HDD, while delivering outstanding reliability and durability. The high operating speed of the 256GB SSD translates into longer periods in either stand-by or idle mode resulting in 40 minutes of extended operation on a single battery charge.

Similar in weight to a 128GB SSD (81 grams), the 2.5-inch Samsung 256GB SSD retains the standard 9.5 millimeter (mm) drive thickness.

Samsung’s 256GB SSD is also available with optional proprietary encryption programming that provides full disk encryption, a key feature for many corporate users.

* Each HD movie has approximately 10GB of data storage.

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About Samsung Semiconductor Europe

Samsung Semiconductor Europe, a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Seoul, Korea, is headquartered in Eschborn near Frankfurt/Main, Germany and London, UK with sales offices all over Europe. The two European headquarters are handling the marketing and sales activities of semiconductors, TFT LCD panels in Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA). In addition, the marketing and sales activities of Rotating Memories (Hard Disk Drives and Optical Storage Solutions) for the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and UK are handled there.

For more information, please visit www.samsungsemi.eu.

About Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2007 consolidated sales of US$105 billion. Employing approximately 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries, the company consists of four main business units: Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business, and Telecommunication Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

More information can be found at www.samsung.com.

Contacts

Samsung Semiconductor Europe GmbH
Ariane Heim
Tel. +49 (0)6196-66-35 14
Fax +49 (0)6196-66-235 14
Email: ariane.heim {at} samsung(.)de