Kingston launched a wide range of new storage merchandise at CES 2021, asserting new NVMe SSDs starting from entry-level to high-end shopper and enterprise drives, plus new moveable storage merchandise.
NV1 SSD: Entry-Level Consumer NVMe
Kingston’s new entry-level shopper NVMe drive would be the NV1, presumably ushering in a brand new naming scheme for his or her shopper NVMe lineup. The product technique for the NV1 was likened to their A400 SATA SSD: the NV1 will in all probability be competing to be one of many most cost-effective NVMe drives from a recognizable model. The {hardware} used within the NV1 will fluctuate primarily based on market situations. Initially, we should always see a mixture of DRAMless controllers (Phison E13T, SM2263XT) paired with TLC NAND for decrease capacities and QLC NAND for no less than the very best 2TB capability. This means the NV1 might be extra low-end than their present A2000, which straddles the road between low-end and mainstream NVMe SSDs through the use of TLC NAND and a SM2263 controller with DRAM, albeit solely 4 NAND channels. Kingston is planning for the NV1 to be able to hit the market across the finish of Q1 or early in Q2.
High-End Consumer NVMe, Codenamed Ghost Tree
At the excessive finish, Kingston is engaged on a PCIe 4.zero SSD primarily based on the Phison E18 controller. This is at the moment codenamed “Ghost Tree”, and a extra standard product identify might be chosen earlier than launch. This drive will take over the flagship place from their present KC2500, their second product primarily based on the Silicon Motion SM2262EN controller. The Ghost Tree product will provide capacities as much as 4TB. Kingston did not disclose what NAND might be used, however given the timing we’d anticipate to see Micron’s 176L TLC quite than the 96L TLC utilized by the Phison E18 drives which might be already available on the market.
XS2000 USB 3.2 Portable SSD
In the second half of the yr, Kingston will introduce the XS2000 high-end moveable SSD. This will help USB 3.2 Gen2x2 to supply speeds of as much as about 2GB/s, and capacities will vary from 500 GB to 2 TB. Kingston hasn’t formally determined which controller the XS2000 might be primarily based on, however they wish to use a local USB controller quite than a NVMe controller behind a bridge chip. That means the newly-announced Phison U18 controller needs to be one of many main candidates.
Enterprise SSD Updates
Last yr, Kingston launched the DC1000M, their first U.2 SSD. This yr, they’re changing it with the DC1500M, a reasonably simple replace to 96L 3D TLC from Kioxia that ought to deliver some efficiency and energy enhancements. The DC1500M will nonetheless be utilizing the Silicon Motion SM2270 16-channel enterprise NVMe controller, and this time they’ve added a number of namespaces help to the firmware. The DC1500M is at the moment in qualification and might be accessible across the finish of Q1.
Kingston’s different enterprise NVMe product line is the DC1000B server boot drive, primarily based on the Phison E12DC controller. Currently, the DC1000B is obtainable in 240G B and 480 GB capacities, however Kingston will quickly be including a 960 GB mannequin.
Kingston can be beginning to plan for a PCIe 4.zero U.2 drive, however that is in very early phases; they have not selected a controller but, so we cannot be seeing this launch any time quickly. Kingston did not share any plans for his or her enterprise SATA merchandise, however they’re nonetheless promoting extra of these drives than their enterprise NVMe merchandise. (Kingston’s enterprise/datacenter buyer base tends to be much less aggressive about migrating to newer platforms than the highest hyperscalers which were the first drivers of NVMe adoption in datacenters.) Kingston’s DC450/DC500 household will in all probability be getting the occasional NAND updates for an additional few years.
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