Samsung PM1633a SSD (Image source: Samsung via TechFrag)
Last week, Samsung veiled its 16TB SSD that also featured its new 256Gbit 3D V-NAND flash memory. The drive has a formatted capacity of 15.3TB but it still is the largest SSD in terms of storage capacity. The device was revealed the last week’s Flash Memory Summit where the company also showcased a system that packed 48 of these SSDs. According to TechFrag, the storage system boasts of a total capacity of 768TB, and is touted to capable of delivering over 2,000,000 IOPS. The new 16TB Samsung PM1633a SSD contains 48 layers of the new 256Gbit 3D V-NAND cells. In comparison, the Samsung SSD 850 EVO SSD features 32 layers of 32 stacked layers of NAND cells; in fact, this older drive uses the 128Gbit 3D V-NAND cells.
Samsung 256Gb, 3D V-NAND flash memory chips (Image source: Samsung via TechFrag)
With this new enterprise-level Samsung PM1633a SSD, the data capacity has been doubled at the cell level. This has been achieved within less than a year when Samsung began mass production of its 3-bit, 128Gbit 3D V-NAND flash memory in October last year. According to the company’s white paper on this very flash memory technology, the current development is in accordance with the technology roadmap. In fact, 3D V-NAND flash memory is expected to reach 1 Terabit (Tb) in data density by 2017.
(Image source: Samsung)
Besides doubling the data density of the new flash chips, Samsung also highlighted its power efficiency as the chip consumes up to 30% less power than its 128Gb counterpart when storing the same amount of data. Enterprise-level data storage products will be the company’s focus, especially those PCIe NVMe and SAS devices; however, new consumer products, with the new flash memory chips, wouldn’t be neglected as they will be unveiled later this year.
(Source: Samsung via TechFrag (1), (2))
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