Mtron Storage Technology has just unveiled its new 1.8-inch ZIF-type solid state drive with 128GB of NAND flash-based storage space. The company has previously released a SSD based on Single-Level Cell flash memory, that could read data at a maximum rate of 120MB/s. The writing speed was also robust and situated at 100MB/s.

The Multi Level Cell flash devices released this time feature the same increased storage space, yet their performance is not even close to the values of the Single-Level Cell drives. Mtron's MLC devices can operate at reading speeds of 110 MB/s (just like the SLC version), but the writing speed is dramatically reduced to 40MB/s.

"With our new 1.8 Inch SSD, Mtron has added another great product line as a leader in SSD market, which is expected to grow into ten billion dollars in 2012. Our new product is a result of careful market analysis and research for consumer needs, and we will launch our new product in April so that we can satisfy their need for high performance SSD products," claimed Steve Jeon, CEO of Mtron.

Mtron has announced that it would start mass producing the 1.8-inch solid-state drives in early April this year. The company did not disclose the selling price for the 120 GB solid-state drive monster, yet, judging by the pricing trend in the competition's offerings, you'd better expect it to be significant. However, the company might as well adjust the pricing for their newly introduced SSD drive, as Mtron representatives stated that it reduced the cost of manufacturing by a large margin.

Mtron's 128 GB MLC SSD provides four times the storage capacity of an average solid-state drive, and is the ideal choice for notebooks, ultra-mobile computers, as well as for camcorders or portable media player devices. The 128 GB 1.8-inch solid state drive will slowly replace Mtron's current offering of 1.8-inch miniature hard-disk drives.