During the company’s October 30 earnings call Western Digital CEO David Goeckeler started the conversation with the revelation that the company would be split into two, with a new flash-only company to be created in the process. This plan, intended to increase the company’s shareholder value, was the outcome of a process triggered by activist shareholder Elliott in May 2022, which was the subject of a couple of Continue reading “It’s Official: WDC to Split into HDD & Flash Parts”
Category: SSD Manufacturers
SNIA CXL Webinar
On June 27, The SSD Guy moderated a 1-hour CXL webinar, sponsored by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). The slides are already online at the SNIA Educational Library, and a recorded video is available on BrightTalk. Both attendees and those who missed it can now take advantage of this rare collection of CXL expertise.
The panel was titled Continue reading “SNIA CXL Webinar”
Optane’s Legacy, Part III: Memory Expansion and Security
A lot of folks believe that when Intel’s Optane is gone there will be nothing left but the story of its rise and fall. That is far from the truth. Optane has created a legacy of developments that will find use in computing for quite some time.
In this three-part series The SSD Guy blog reviews Optane’s lasting legacy to reveal six changes that it has brought to computing architecture in its short lifetime.
Each of the three parts covers two new developments:
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- New programming paradigm & instructions
- New approach to 2-speed memory & latency handling
- New approach to memory expansion & security
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This third and final post will cover Optane’s new approach to memory expansion and the new security Continue reading “Optane’s Legacy, Part III: Memory Expansion and Security”
Would WDC Really Merge with Kioxia?
Ever since Toshiba decided to spin out its memory business in 2017, leading to the creation of Kioxia, there have been rumors of Western Digital (WDC) acquiring it, or of Kioxia acquiring WDC’s flash memory business.
There is a new spate of merger rumors in response to Elliott Management’s proposal last May that Continue reading “Would WDC Really Merge with Kioxia?”
Optane’s Legacy, Part II: Two-Speed Memory and Latency Handling
A lot of folks believe that when Intel’s Optane is gone there will be nothing left but the story of its rise and fall. That is far from the truth. Optane has created a legacy of developments that will find use in computing for quite some time.
In this three-part series The SSD Guy blog reviews Optane’s lasting legacy to reveal six changes that it has brought to computing architecture in its short lifetime.
Each of the three parts covers two new developments:
-
-
-
- New programming paradigm & instructions
- New approach to 2-speed memory & latency handling
- New approach to memory expansion & security
-
-
This second post will cover Continue reading “Optane’s Legacy, Part II: Two-Speed Memory and Latency Handling”
Optane’s Legacy, Part I: New Programming Paradigm and Instructions
A lot of folks believe that when Intel’s Optane is gone there will be nothing left but the story of its rise and fall. That is far from the truth. Optane has created a legacy of developments that will find use in computing for quite some time.
In this three-part series The SSD Guy blog reviews Optane’s lasting legacy to reveal six changes that it has brought to computing architecture in its short lifetime.
Each of the three parts covers two new developments:
-
-
-
- New programming paradigm & instructions
- New approach to 2-speed memory & latency handling
- New approach to memory expansion & security
-
-
Intel’s Optane, the new memory/storage technology that was Continue reading “Optane’s Legacy, Part I: New Programming Paradigm and Instructions”
Supporting a Dynamic SATA Market
Nobody seems to talk about SATA SSDs much anymore, even though there’s still a vibrant market. NVMe is garnering all the attention. Of course, that should come as no surprise. While SATA is an extension of an interface designed around HDDs, NVMe was designed specifically for NAND flash.
Still, lots of Continue reading “Supporting a Dynamic SATA Market”
Another Perspective on a WDC Split
In an earlier post I reacted to a letter that activist shareholder Elliott sent to Western Digital’s board asking for the company to be split into two parts, one for HDDs and the other for flash. I wrote it before learning that the Elliott letter was posted on the web for public viewing.
I found Elliott’s proposal hard to rationalize.
Although the reasoning I shared in that post is Continue reading “Another Perspective on a WDC Split”
Smarter NAND for Better SSDs
Micron presented something really interesting during the company’s Investor Day Conference last week, but it didn’t seem to get any press coverage. The company naturally repeated its plan to become a more important supplier of data center SSDs, but what The SSD Guy was most interested in were a few comments they gave for choosing to make vertically-integrated SSDs. Micron now makes not only the NAND and the DRAM internal to its SSDs, but also the controller.
Why would a company Continue reading “Smarter NAND for Better SSDs”
WDC: To Split, or Not to Split?
Western Digital’s Board of Directors was recently sent a letter by activist shareholder Elliott asking for the company to be split into two parts: one for HDDs and one for flash. The reason given was that the company’s SanDisk acquisition was not performing well.
Elliott currently holds a 6% stake in WDC.
According to an article in Reuter’s, Elliot’s letter said: Continue reading “WDC: To Split, or Not to Split?”
