Intel’s SSD 520 should be joined by two multi-model launches this year. New roadmap leaks to Digitimes have Intel unveiling a new budget 300 series drive, Maple Crest, and a new 720 series, Ramsdale. Both would be based on a 25-nanometer, multi-level cell design, which would help the 720 series start at 400GB and peak at 800GB.
Ramsdale would be a PCI Express-based design for servers and workstations, where the new 300 by implication would be a typical SATA drive for mainstream users.
A second wave was reportedly due in the fall. Jay Crest and Oak Crest (300 series), King Crest (500 series), and Taylorsville (700 series) would all use an even more space-efficient 20nm process. Other than Taylorsville having cheaper 100GB and 200GB options along with 400GB and 800GB, little was uncovered about what they would entail.
The new drives will most likely focus on performance as well as cost. Most SSDs still cost hundreds of dollars, in part as it takes larger amounts of flash memory chips to work. Smaller manufacturing lets Intel use fewer parts or get more usable chips from a production yield, lowering its own prices.
