Micron unveils SCM-lite SSD – A third of the performance, a fifth of the cost

Micron unveiled two SSDs yesterday: the first was the Micron 6500 ION and the second is the XTR, which complements the former and aims at providing, in Micron’s words, an affordable alternative to “expensive” storage class memory (SCM) SSD. Micron is clearly aiming at its former partner, Intel, and its now defunct Optane technology which used 3D X-Point which was developed in partnership with Micron.

Key to Micron’s aspirations are two features: the XTR is 80% cheaper than Intel’s Optane at similar capacities and delivers up to 35% of the random DWPD (drive written per day) numbers. That’s a staggering 35 random drives written per day (up to 67TB written per day for the 1.92TB model).