New Micron and Crucial M500 SSDs offer Affordable, High Capacity Storage

Micron Technology,Inc, announced the M500 solid state drive(SSD), featuring terabyte-class capacity, new ultra-slim package designs, and increased response times at a more affordable price point. Available to consumers, businesses, and system builders under the crucial brand, and to OEM, customers under the Micron brand, the new M500 SSD is built start-to-finish by Micron, providing the quality and reliability that only a NAND flash memory and SSD manufacturer can provide.
Introduction: 
M500 solid state drive(SSD) is designed to meet the increasingly demanding needs of the mobile computing market. The M500 delivers strong performance, greatly reduces power consumption, and provides exceptional data protection features. It is offered in three thin, lightweight form factors with capacities from 120-960GB. The M500 packs nearly half a terabyte into an M.2 SSD module a new factor that's the size of a stick of gum. It's an ideal size for ultra-thin computers, including Ultrabook devices, tablets, and laptops. The M500 built from start to finish using the 20nm MLC NAND Flash one of the most advanced and cost-effective NAND devices in the industry and our custom SSD firmware. The result is a high quality and reliable drive at a very competitive price point from a trusted NAND manufacturer.
 High Performance and Responsiveness: Enables significantly faster boot, file, and application load times compared to traditional hard drives.
 Low Power: Consumes significantly less power that our previous-generation SSDs, which translates to longer battery life for mobile applications.
 Best-in-Class Hardware Encryption: Self encryption maintains data security in the event of a device theft or loss. Unlike some competitors, the M500 complies with several stringent industry standards, including TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE 1667. This means it meets compliance regulations for government and large organizations that require a centrally managed encryption solution that cannot be defeated by individual users.
 Power-Loss protection: Power loss protection helps ensure that data isn't corrupted. To supplement our power-sensing firmware protection, our SSD engineers designed physical power reserves that are specifically tailored to our NAND requirements and deliver enough power to ensure data remains intact.
 Adaptive Thermal Throttling: if the temperature exceeds 65°C (150°F), the drive works with the host to adjust NAND workload and power consumption to help decrease the temperature back within the acceptable range an important feature for tightly designed systems with little airflow.
Flexibility: Offered in three thin, lightweight form factors and several different capacities from 120-960GB to meet unique application requirements.
Reliability: Built from the ground up, the M500 is a high quality, reliable drive from a trusted NAND manufacturer.
 Ultra thin-Ready 
ultra-thins are the future of the mobile PC industry, and we designed the M500 SSD with the following extended features for the ultra-thin market.
      Device Sleep Low-Power Mode support: Enables devices to always be on and connected without unnecessarily reducing battery life or system responsiveness. This low-power feature is an Intel ultrabook requirement; it enables the M500 SSD to draw 93% less power compared to previous generation drives.
    Improved Thermal Management: Enables the drive to work with the host computer to adapt to temperature fluctuations based on usage demands.
   Slim,Lightweight Form Factors: Allow the drive to easily fit into ultra-thin designs. Instant System Response Time: provides instant-on responsiveness through improved device-ready times and fast application load times. Durability: Because SSDs contain no moving parts like hard drives, they withstand the bumps and bruises of mobile computing much better.

 Benefits of Advanced NAND Flash Technology
 The M500 SSD utilizes Micron's award-winning, 20-nanometer(nm) multilevel cell(MLC) NAND flash to achieve terabyte-class capacity and enable a new level of SSD price competitiveness; the 960GB crucial M500 SSD will be initially priced under $600. Micron's advanced NAND flash technology also provides more storage in a small footprint. Micron is the first manufacturer to pack nearly half a terabyte of storage onto an SSD module the size of a stick of gum (80mm x 22mm). This new form factor, called M.2, along with the mSATA form factor, are key designs for current and next generation ultra-thin computers, including ultrabook devices, tablets and convertible PCs.

SSD Performance
 Dramatically faster than a hard drive, The M500 SSD enables lightning fast boot-up, near instant wake from sleep, and fast application loading, creating a dynamic and engaging computer experience. The M500 SSD uses a SATA 6Gb/s controller combined with Micron's custom firmware to deliver up to 80,000 input/output operations per second(IOPS). The drive's sequential read and write speed reach up to 500MB/s and 400MB/s, respectively.
             "The M500 SSD is a reliable storage solution featuring nearly instantaneous system response times and terabyte class capacity all at a competitive price point," said Glen Hawk, Vice president of Micron's NAND solutions Group. The Crucial M500 SSD is an easy, cost effective solution for dramatically increasing system performance. For OEMs, we're ultra-thin ready with the Micron M500 SSD improved response times, lower power consumption, and trusted reliability all in a design that's smaller than ever before." Next-Generation Feature Set 
The M500 SSD incorporates extended features important to ultra-thin systems, such as device sleep(DEVSLP), which increases system battery life while maintaining system responsiveness. This feature enables the drive to draw less than 5 milliwatts of power while the system is in sleep mode a 93% power improvement compared to previous generation drives.

 Compatibility and Availability 
The Crucial M500 SSD is backed by a three year limited warranty and is compatible with both PC and Mac system. The 2.5-inch drive will be available in 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB capacities. The smaller M.2 and mSATA form factors will be available in 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB capacities. The 2.5-inch Crucial M500 SSD is expected to be available for purchase in the first quarter of 2013 through select global partners or direct through www.crucial.com. Micron will sell the M500 SSD direct to OEMs and through their distribution network. The M.2 and mSATA form factors are expected in the second quarter of 2013.