Move over Samsung and SanDisk, the market for solid-state drives is beginning to see some new competition. South Korean manufacturer Mtron, a relatively newcompany, announced Wednesday that it would introduce three new SSD drive lines – including a 64GB model – at the IFA 2007 consumer electronics fair in Berlin. Besides the capacity of its new drives,Mtron claims a read speed of 120MB/s and write speed of 90MB/s, along with 0.1 ms random access time, means they are three to four times faster than existing magnetic hard drives and 30 to 40 percentfaster than other SSD drives.
Mtron’s MSD product line is targeted at consumers, with both 2.5- and 3.5- inch SATA drives at capacities of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. A tantalizing 128GB drive in the 1.8-inch form factor is alsoin the works for the fourth quarter of 2007. The MSD PRO line caters to businesses with enhanced durability and stability, as well as a secure erase feature to wipe out sensitive data. The MSDXTM line can operate from -40 degrees to 85 degrees, making the drives practical for industrial applications. Drives from all three lines will be on display when IFA 2007 begins on August 31,with mass production firing up in September.