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Z400s SSD Brings New Levels of Affordability to Replace Hard Drives in Laptops and Applications Such as Digital Signage, Point-of-Sale (POS) and Surveillance Systems

SEOUL, Korea, May 26, 2015 - SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash storage solutions, today introduced the new SanDisk Z400s SSD, a cost effective solid-state drive (SSD) designed to replace hard-disk drives (HDDs) in computing platforms and embedded applications. PCs and embedded systems need consistent, reliable access to storage in order to meet business demands. The Z400s outperforms HDDs by 20x¹, while providing 5x the reliability with 20x lower average power consumption, all at a price point on par with HDDs². The SanDisk Z400s SSD joins the company's existing portfolio of flash-based solutions that are designed to deliver a delightful user experience and reliability at an affordable price point.

"The Z400s represents a feat of engineering that addresses the needs of two distinct markets-PC OEM manufacturers and embedded application designers," said Rizwan Ahmed, senior director of product marketing, client platform solutions, SanDisk. "With a single architecture, SanDisk is able to provide OEMs with an affordable solution for displacing HDDs in today's cutting edge consumer devices, and help embedded application designers avoid overpaying for un-needed space-all while delivering the peak performance and high-reliability that only SSDs can supply."

An Economic Way for OEMs to Add Value and Competitive Advantage

With a variety of form factors and capacities, lightweight design and cost-effective architecture, PC OEMs can incorporate the new SanDisk Z400s into sleeker, mobile laptop designs without breaking bill of materials (BOM) costs. Additionally, because SSDs have no moving parts, they are much less prone to failure, which increases device uptime. According to published data, HDDs are three times more likely to fail than SSDs.³ By designing systems with the new SanDisk Z400s SSD, PC OEMs can deliver products that are 5x more reliable and 20x faster than traditional hard drives, translating into fewer returns, lower total cost of ownership and increased overall customer satisfaction.

IDC forecasts that the Intelligent Systems market will ship over two billion units in 2019 with the industrial segments growing the fastest.⁴ Digital signage, security surveillance, POS or kiosk environments are key areas where SanDisk SSDs can provide major benefits over HDDs, particularly in applications where the storage requirements are relatively short-term-meaning that data is frequently cleared from the device. Thus these applications only require low capacities, but reliability and performance levels are paramount.

Greater Reliability for Industrial Embedded Systems

Embedded industrial systems rely on storage's ability to execute one task consistently with minimal downtime. The Z400s can withstand up to 1.7 million hours of continual use, delivering greater stability during peak activity, underscoring its high-endurance design and reliability. Available in multiple form factors and capacities as low as 32GB, the new SanDisk Z400s SSD meets embedded systems applications designers' performance, reliability, size, low power, interface and scalability requirements for the following use cases:

• Digital Signage: The rise of big data analytics is driving the use of digital signage for transportation, advertising, retailers and more. The Z400s delivers the latest advances in flash storage technology so that users and manufacturers of digital signage equipment can trust their solution will consistently provide valuable and current information to all audiences.
• POS: Research shows that customers become frustrated after 2.5 minutes if there is no progress in a checkout line; after five minutes, one out of three customers will abandon the line altogether.⁵ The Z400s provides the performance and reliability that retail, hospitality, restaurant services, and many other industries need to ensure a quality customer experience and inspire brand loyalty.
• Security-Surveillance: The Z400s is extremely beneficial at the point of image capture, where ruggedness, durability and performance are critical, but storage requirements are relatively short-term. This includes digital cameras where images are cleared more frequently, but still operate 24/7 in order to reduce risk, such as in courtrooms or government buildings, healthcare facilities and shopping malls.

¹ As compared to 5400 RPM SATA 2.5" hard drive, based on published specifications and internal benchmarking tests using PCMark Vantage scores.

² Pricing comparison dependent upon capacity.

³ "SSDs do die, as Linus Torvalds just discovered," Computerworld, Sept. 12, 2013.

⁴ Worldwide Embedded and Intelligent Systems 2014-2019 Market Update.

⁵ Ibid Footnote No.3 from SanDisk Whitepaper "Top Five Reasons to Use Solid-State Drives in POS Systems."