IDF: Intel Announces Enterprise SSD 710-Series

Intel announces the replacement for the aging X25-E solid state disk drives (SSDs).

Codenamed Lyndonville, the 710-series drives will be available in 100, 200 and 300 GB capacities for server applications. The new SSDs use 25 nm multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory instead of the single-level cell (SLC) flash that was used in the X25-E series, which was available in 32 GB and 64 GB versions.

Since Intel is using MLC, there isn't much performance gain in this new generation. Instead of 250 MB/s read and 170 MB/s write, the 710-series provides 270 MB/s read and 210 MB/s write data transfer rates. The IOPS count is now at 38,500, up from 35,000. The reliability rating remains at 2 million hours MTBF. There are a few new features in Intel's enterprise SSDs: The 710- drives can use AES 128-bit to encode data and there is a capacitor which acts as a buffer if there is a sudden power loss.

The 100 GB versions will sell for $650, the 200 GB model for $1250 and the 300 GB flagship model for $1900.