Las Vegas (NV) - Solid-state storage may come much sooner into reach for consumers than many expected just a few years ago. Adtron's 8 GByte A35FB drive is further evidence that Flash harddrives are stepping down the price ladder and could complement traditional harddrives in the not too distant future.

Supported by the price erosion in the Flash memory segment, the A35FB device is one of the first solid-state harddrives that may be in option for some enthusiast users. The harddrive is designed into a 3.5" form factor and offers a capacity of 8 GByte NAND Flash. The SATA-equipped device provides a sustained data transfer bandwidth of 80 MByte per second, Adtron claims. Quantity pricing is set at $1900.

Adtron A35FB

According to company spokeswoman Patti Naccarati, Adtron sells its Flash harddrives especially into the government and military sector for applications that need to move large amounts of data very quickly. "Mostly you will these drives, in jets or in tanks," she said. However, she mentioned that Adtron has received also inquiries from the corporation that eye the technology for image and video processing applications. So far, there has been little interest from consumers, Naccarati said.

Adtron currently offers Flash harddrives with capacities of up to 56 GByte. A 128 GByte version will be available in early January 2006. The 3.5" SATA drive will ship in November, the company said.