It looks a lot better than pretty much every other PCI Express SSD out there

Apr 8, 2013 09:09 GMT  ·  By

Originally, the ioFX series of solid-state drives form Fusion-io consisted of a single model with a capacity of 420 GB, which was really kind of low for its type. Now, though, there is a high-capacity model in the collection as well.

Then again, that isn't really true. The product will, after all, only become available in the summer, not before.

The price will also be withheld until that time, unless an online store suddenly adds the product to its sales list, in which case the details may surface a bit earlier.

Fusion-io envisions the item being used in computers that perform video editing, CAD (computer assisted design), digital intermediate (DI) finishing, and 4K and stereoscopic production.

"Digital production is undergoing a resolution revolution as production moves to 4K and beyond, while production budgets and deadlines continue to tighten," said Vincent Brisebois, Fusion-io director of visual computing.

"To overcome these opposing forces, the Fusion ioFX can help digital artists efficiently deliver creative work faster, even when faced with the most demanding production requirements. Fusion-io is proud to collaborate with industry leading software developers and hardware companies to deliver breakthrough acceleration for the tools used by professional artists worldwide."

Spec-wise, the ioFX is made of MLC NAND Flash memory chips (multi-level cell) and has a transfer speed of 1.1 GB/s on the PCI Express 2.0 x4 bandwidth. The read bandwidth is 1.4 GB/s.

For the sake of comparison, the 460 GB one has the same read speed, but writing speed of just 700 MB/s.

The ioSphere software is bundled with each shipment, and the supported operating systems are many: Microsoft Windows 64-bit, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, Windows 7, MAC OSX 10.6.7 or higher, various Linux versions, and most Hypervisors OS'es. More can be learned on the product page.