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IRVINE, Calif. and TOKYO , Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Toshiba Corp. (Toshiba) and Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC)*, its subsidiary in the Americas, today announced the expansion of their line up of NAND-flash-based solid state drives (SSD) with the industry's first 2.5-inch 512-gigabyte (GB)(1) SSD and a broad family of fast read/write SSDs based on 43 nanometer (nm) Multi-Level Cell NAND. The new drives provide a high level of performance and endurance for use in notebook computers, gaming and home entertainment systems, and will be showcased at International CES 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 8 - 11, 2009 .

In addition to the 2.5-inch, 512GB drive, the 43nm NAND SSD family also includes capacities of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB, offered in 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch drive enclosures or as SSD Flash Modules. Samples of the new drives will be available in the first quarter (January to March) of 2009, with mass production in the second (April to June) quarter.

Toshiba's second-generation SSDs bring increased capacity and performance for notebook computers. They utilize an advanced MLC controller, which is also compatible with further advanced processes, that achieves higher read/write speeds, parallel data transfers and wear leveling to optimize performance, reliability and endurance. The drives enable improved system responsiveness with a maximum sequential read speed of 240MB per second (MBps)(2) and maximum sequential write speed of 200MBps enabling an improvement in overall computing experience, and faster boot and application loading times. The drives also offer AES data encryption to prevent unauthorized data access.

"The solid state drive market is evolving rapidly, with higher performance drives to meet market requirements, and differentiated product families targeted for appropriate applications," said Mr. Kiyoshi Kobayashi , Vice President of Toshiba Corporation's Semiconductor Company. "This new 43nm SSD family balances value/performance characteristics for its targeted consumer applications, through use of MLC NAND and an advanced controller architecture."

Toshiba and many market analysts expect SSDs to begin to gain significant traction in the market in 2009, growing to approximately 10% of the notebook market by 2010, and 25% of the notebook market by 2012. Toshiba expects the value/performance of its MLC NAND-based SSD line-up to help speed the acceptance of solid state storage.

Toshiba will continue to promote innovations that widen the horizons of the NAND Flash market and support its continued leadership in that market. The company will spur demand for SSDs in notebook PCs, netbooks, laptops and digital consumer products by enhancing its lineup, offering products with different densities and interfaces in a range of packages, while advancing device performance. For more information on Toshiba SSDs, please visit ssd.toshiba.com.

    Outline of the new products
Form Factor             Capacity  Product Number   Samples    Start of
Mass
Production
2.5-inch Serial ATA-2   512GB     THNS512GG8BB     1Q, 2009   2Q, 2009
2.5-inch Serial ATA-2   256GB     THNS256GG8BB     1Q, 2009   2Q, 2009
2.5-inch Serial ATA-2   128GB     THNS128GG4BB     1Q, 2009   2Q, 2009
2.5-inch Serial ATA-2   64GB      THNS064GG2BB     1Q, 2009   2Q, 2009
1.8-inch Serial ATA-2   256GB     THNS256GG8BA     1Q, 2009   2Q, 2009
1.8-inch Serial ATA-2   128GB     THNS128GG4BA     1Q, 2009   2Q, 2009
1.8-inch Serial ATA-2   64GB      THNS064GG2BA     1Q, 2009   2Q, 2009
1.8-inch Flash Module   256GB     THNS256GG8BM     1Q, 2009   2Q, 2009
Serial ATA-2
1.8-inch Flash Module   128GB     THNS128GG4BM     1Q, 2009   2Q, 2009
Serial ATA-2
1.8-inch Flash Module   64GB      THNS064GG2BM     1Q, 2009   2Q, 2009
Serial ATA-2
Product specification
2.5-inch Serial     1.8-inch Serial    1.8-inch Flash
ATA-2               ATA-2              Module Serial ATA-2
Size            69.9 (W) x 9.5(H)   54.0(W) x 5.0(H)   53.6(W) x 3.0(H) x
x100(D) mm          x78.5(D) mm        70.6(D) mm
Mass            66g (Typ.)          44g (Typ.)         15g (Typ.)
Interface       Serial ATA-2 (3Gbps)(3)
Voltage         3.3V (Module, 1.8-inch type), 5V (2.5-inch type)
Reading speed   Maximum speed 240MBps (sequential mode)
Writing speed   Maximum speed at 200MBps (sequential mode)
Temperature     0 to 70 degrees Celsius
MTTF(4)         1 million hours
*About Toshiba Corp. and TAEC

Through proven commitment, lasting relationships and advanced, reliable electronic components, Toshiba enables its customers to create market-leading designs. Toshiba is the heartbeat within product breakthroughs from OEMs, ODMs, CMs, distributors and fabless chip companies worldwide. A committed electronic components leader, Toshiba designs and manufactures high-quality flash memory-based storage solutions, discrete devices, displays, advanced materials, medical tubes, custom SoCs/ASICs, digital multimedia and imaging products, microcontrollers and wireless components that make possible today's leading cell phones, MP3 players, cameras, medical devices, automotive electronics and more.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, Japan's largest semiconductor manufacturer and the world's third largest semiconductor manufacturer (Gartner, 2007 WW Semiconductor Revenue, April 2008 ). For additional company and product information, please visit http://www.toshiba.com/taec/.

Information in this press release, including product pricing and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current and believed to be accurate on the date of the announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained here is subject to the most recent applicable Toshiba product specifications. In developing designs, please ensure that Toshiba products are used within specified operating ranges as set forth in the most recent Toshiba product specifications and the information set forth in Toshiba's "Handling Guide for Semiconductor Devices," or "Toshiba Semiconductor Reliability Handbook." This information is available at http://www.chips.toshiba.com, or from your TAEC representative.

(1) When used herein in relation to memory density, gigabyte and/or GB means 1,024x1,024x1,024 = 1,073,741,824 bytes. Usable capacity may be less. For details, please refer to specifications.

(2) For purposes of measuring read and write speed in this context, 1 Megabyte or MB = 1,000,000 bytes. Read and write speed may vary depending on the controller, read and write conditions, such as file sizes you read and/or write.

(3) For purposes of measuring read and write speed in this context, 1 Gigabit or Gb = 1,000,000,000 bits. Read and write speed may vary depending on the controller, read and write conditions, such as file sizes you read and/or write.

(4) The MTTF (Mean Time to Failure) is not a guarantee or estimate of product life; it is a statistical value related to mean failure rates for a large number of products which may not accurately reflect actual operation. Actual operating life of the product may not resemble the MTTF