PNY to ship SSDs with up to 256 GB this year

Taipei (Taiwan) - PNY, known mainly as a system memory vendor, is getting in the SSD game : The company today announced that it is shipping 32 GB flash-based solid state disks now and will be offering versions with 64, 128 and 256 GB by October.

Even before the doors at Computex are opening, it has become clear that solid state disk drives will be one of the key topics at the 2007 tradeshow. Following PQI and Samsung, PNY said that it will be selling SSDs, which - other than most competing products - will actually be available through retail stores this year.

PNY said that its roadmap includes 1.8" drives with up to 64 GB capacity and 2.5" versions with up to 256 GB. According to a spokesperson, 32 GB 1.8" drives are currently shipping, with 64 GB models following in July. 128 GB versions should be available buy August and 256 GB drives by September or October, we were told.

The 1.8" SSDs will come with a PATA-based "ZIF" connector as well as a Micro SATA interface. The 2.5" versions integrate will be available with PATA-based 44-pin IDE or SATA connector. PNY said all SSDs will offer read and write speeds up to 66 MB/s and 55MB/s, respectively.

Pricing of the drives remains unclear at this time, as PNY stated that the 32 GB will sell for about $350 "in large volumes." By the time the drives are available to the consumer, there is likely to be a premium attached to those drives. PNY was unable to say how high this premium will be, but mentioned that pricing will be competitive : For today’s market that means that the retail price of the PNY 32 GB SSDs could end up in the range between $450 and $500. This scenario suggests that the 128 GB SSD will easily break the $1000 barrier, while the 256 GB version is unlikely to hit the market for less than $2000.