Intel’s roadmap for its upcoming Optane-based SSDs and Memory has been leaked. According to folks over at Benchlife, consumers can expect to see new products using this new memory standard by the end of this year. Interestingly, Intel will be opting for the codename “Beach” for its upcoming SSDs that are utilising the Optane Technology – like how “Lake” is used for its current CPUs.
Based on the leaked roadmap, one can see that Intel is planning to release two Optane-based products by the end of 2016: Mansion Beach and Stony Beach. SSDs using Intel’s Optane Technology will be introduced under the Mansion Beach nomenclature, while the Optane-based Memory will be known as Stony Beach.
That said, Mansion Beach SSDs will initially be released for enthusiast workstations before being made available for the mainstream market. Intel’s most powerful Optane SSDs will be utilising the NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 lane. In addition, a less powerful Optane-based SSD under the codename Brighton Beach, will be introduced sometime in Q1 2017, which will support the NVMe PCIe 3.0 x2 lane. Meanwhile the Stony Beach Optane-based Memory will be aimed at enterprise usage instead.
During its Computex 2016 keynote a few weeks ago, Intel has demonstrated the incredible speed that an Optane-based SSD is able to achieve. When put up against a NAND-based SSD, the SSD containing Optane Technology was able to fully render a seven second photorealistic animation of a whirlpool in nine hours; the NAND SSD took approximately 35 hours.
