Besides the expectation of revenue growth in 2016, next year will also see the launch of Intels first products based on the Optane technology - faster SSDs and memory for enthusiast PCs and eventually mobile products.
Speaking at the company's annual investor conference on Thursday, Kirk Skaugen, senior vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group (CCG) at Intel, confirmed that the first Optane products - SSDs and memory DIMMs that plug into memory slots- will be coming early next year.
The Intel Optane technology is based on the 3D XPoint non-volatile memory media and combined with the company's system memory controller, interface hardware and software IP, they are expected to unleash performance potential in a range of forthcoming products. Intel Optane technology will first come to market in a new line of high-endurance, high-performance Intel SSDs. The new class of memory technology will also power a new line of Intel DIMMs designed for Intel's next-generation data center platforms.
3D Xpoint memory media can be 10 times denser than DRAM, and 1,000 times faster and durable than flash storage. Developed jointly by Intel and Micron, 3D Xpoint's memory cells sit in a three-dimensional mesh. The structure ensures data can be written in small sizes and faster read and write speeds.
Intel has demonstrated Optane storage operating at approximately seven times faster than its current SSDs.