New BG4 Series Doubles Capacity and Delivers Industry-Leading Random Read Speeds¹

LAS VEGAS — (BUSINESS WIRE) — January 8, 2019 — Today at CES® 2019, Toshiba Memory America, Inc., the U.S.-based subsidiary of Toshiba Memory Corporation, will introduce the fourth generation of its single package ball grid array (BGA) solid state drive (SSD) product line: the BG4 series. Toshiba Memory’s new lineup of ultra-compact NVMe™ SSDs places both the flash and an all-new controller into one package, bringing design flexibility to ultra-thin PC notebooks, embedded systems and server boot in data centers.

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“The BGA form factor SSD enables larger amounts of flash to be added to smaller and thinner devices and extends battery life to improve the mobile experience,” said Jeff Janukowicz, research vice president, Solid State Drives and Enabling Technologies at IDC. “NVMe BGA solutions, such as the new Toshiba BG4 series, provide OEMs with a better-than-SATA storage option that boosts demand for client SSD units. In fact, we expect this demand to increase at a 2017-2022 CAGR of 14 percent.”

Toshiba Memory Corporation has long been at the forefront of delivering SSDs that enable smaller, thinner, lighter, and more power efficient mobile designs. The company was the first to develop a single package PCIe® SSD, and the introduction of the fourth generation BG series represents another pioneering achievement as the densest client SSD by volumetric measurements². Utilizing Toshiba Memory’s innovative 96-layer BiCS FLASH^TM 3D memory, BG4 increases the maximum capacity from 512 gigabytes to 1024GB (approximately 1TB)³ and provides a slim 1.3mm profile for capacities up to 512GB⁴. Furthermore, the BG4 series doubles the PCIe Gen3 lane count from 2 to 4, delivering more performance in the same power envelope when compared to the prior generation product.

Performance improvements⁵ over the BG3 series include:

• Up to 2,250 megabytes per second sequential read (50 percent improvement) and up to 1,700MB/s sequential write performance⁶ (70 percent improvement)
• Up to 380,000 random read IOPS (153 percent improvement) and 190,000 random write IOPS⁷ (90 percent improvement)

“When it comes to performance, the BG4 series bests client SATA drives by a factor of up to 4x⁸,” said Alvaro Toledo, vice president, SSD marketing and product planning for Toshiba Memory America, Inc. “Better performance, along with its optimized power consumption and compact footprint, is why the BG4 SSDs are rapidly replacing SATA SSDs in notebook and desktop PCs.”

BG4 SSDs feature a power-saving solution that improves power efficiency up to 20 percent in read and 7 percent in write⁹ and provides a low-power state ¹⁰ as low as 5mW (when compared to the BG3 series). The BG4 also improves its Host Memory Buffer (HMB) technology by increasing the accelerated read access range and optimizing background flash management. Additionally, BG4 includes new enhanced reliability features to protect against host DRAM failures when using the HMB feature.

“By continuously pushing the envelope of what is possible with flash and SSD technology, we are arming OEMs with the technology they need to gain a competitive advantage,” said Neville Ichhaporia, senior director of client and data center SSD marketing for Toshiba Memory America, Inc. “With BG4, we’re elevating the end-user experience with upgraded storage capacity and significantly improved performance, while continuing to make power efficiency a priority.”

Providing essential options for today’s mobile devices, Toshiba Memory’s new single package SSD is available in capacities of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1024GB (1TB), in either surface-mount BGA M.2 1620 (16 x 20mm) or removable M.2 2230 (22 x 30mm) modules. Pyrite drive (version 1.00) or self-encrypting drive (TCG Opal version 2.01) models¹¹ are also available.

Toshiba Memory Corporation offers the industry’s broadest SSD portfolio, including a wide array of client SSDs. The BG4 series is currently sampling to select OEM customers, with general sample availability expected later in the second calendar quarter of 2019. Toshiba Memory America, Inc. will showcase the BG4 series in its private demo suite at the Venetian® Resort from January 8 – 11.

For more information, please visit www.toshiba.com/tma.

Notes:
PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG.
NVMe is a trademark of NVM Express, Inc.
All company names, product names and service names may be trademarks of their respective companies.

About Toshiba Memory America, Inc.

Toshiba Memory America, Inc. is the U.S.-based subsidiary of Toshiba Memory Corporation, a leading worldwide supplier of flash memory and solid state drives (SSDs). From the invention of flash memory to today’s breakthrough 96-layer BiCS FLASH™ 3D technology, Toshiba continues to lead innovation and move the industry forward. For more information on Toshiba Memory, please visit  business.toshiba-memory.com.

© 2019 Toshiba Memory America, Inc. All rights reserved. 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.

1		Toshiba Memory Corporation survey, in the segment of single package SSDs, as of January 8, 2019.
2		Toshiba Memory Corporation survey, in the segment of single package SSDs, as of January 8, 2019.
3		Definition of capacity: Toshiba Memory Corporation defines a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte (TB) as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1GB = 2^30 bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes, 1TB = 2^40 bytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, such as Microsoft® Operating System and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary.
4		The thickness of the 128GB, 256GB and 512GB single package models is 1.3 mm, and the thickness of the 1024GB single package model is 1.5 mm.
5		Based on the best performance of BG4 series (BG4 1024GB model) vs. BG3 series (BG3 512GB model) under Toshiba Memory Corporation test conditions.
6		Toshiba Memory Corporation survey based on sequential read and write speeds of 128KiB units, using BG4 1024GB models under Toshiba Memory Corporation test conditions. Read and write speed may vary, depending on the host device, read and write conditions, and file size. Toshiba Memory Corporation defines a megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes and a kibibyte (KiB) as 2^10 bytes, or 1,024 bytes. The sequential read and write performance mentioned herein are reference data, and may vary with the BG4 product data in the datasheet.
7		Toshiba Memory Corporation survey based on random read and write speeds of 4KiB units, using BG4 1024GB models under Toshiba Memory Corporation test conditions. Read and write speed may vary, depending on the host device, read and write conditions, and file size. IOPS is Input Output Per Second (or the number of I/O operations per second) and Toshiba Memory Corporation defines a kibibyte (KiB) as 2^10 bytes, or 1,024 bytes. The random read and write performance mentioned herein are reference data, and may vary with the BG4 product data in the datasheet.
8		Based on the best sequential performance of BG4 1024GB model vs. the theoretical maximum bandwidth of SATA 6Gbit/s SSD.
9		Based on the power/performance ratio of BG4 PCIe Gen3x4 lanes model vs. BG3 PCIe Gen3x2 lanes model under Toshiba Memory Corporation test conditions.
10		Toshiba Memory Corporation survey under the test conditions of link power management state L1.2 in non-operation power state.
11		Availability of the self-encrypting drive (SED) model line-up may vary by region.

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Contact:

MEDIA CONTACT:
Justine Houston-Brown
Lages & Associates
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or
COMPANY CONTACT:
Mia Cool
Toshiba Memory America, Inc.
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