Smallest flash chip developed

Intel and Micron Technology are set to unveil a jointly developed 34nm, 32Gb NAND flash memory chip that should enable the production of cheaper solid-state drives with larger storage capacity, says Computer World.

Intel officials claim the chip is the smallest NAND process device currently available and will pave the way for cost-effective, high-density solid-state storage for small devices.

Joseph Unsworth, an analyst at Gartner, said Intel and Micron's new 34nm chip catapults the manufacturers ahead of rivals Toshiba and SanDisk, which have yet to unveil a sub-40nm NAND flash chip.

Virtual View, a new add-on for Xiotech's ICON Manager user interface that simplifies storage monitoring, management and provisioning tasks in virtual environments, has been released, according to ThomasNet.

Virtual View is designed for users of Xiotech's Emprise 7000 and Magnitude 3D 4000 storage systems, and enables administrators to manage storage in their VMware infrastructure environments from a single interface.

Users can have a global view of the three storage layers (array, VMware ESX and virtual machine) from a single console and then automate configuration across all layers.

Nexsan claims to be taking SAS to a new level with the launch of its SASBoy device, which it is touting as an energy-efficient, fast-access alternative to SATA-based secondary storage systems, says Byte and Switch.

The 4.2TB device is the vendor's first product to combine SAS and MAID (massive array of idle disks)-style technology, says Bob Woolery, Nexsan's senior VP of marketing.

AutoMAID is Nexsan's take on the MAID technology touted by the likes of Copan as a way for users to reduce the amount of energy used to power individual drives.