Flash Memory Summit 2015 Preview: Tom's Hardware Coverage, Free Passes Available

Note: The Flash Memory Summit 2015 and Tom's Hardware / Tom's IT Pro are pleased to announce complementary 3-day access passes (a $1,695 value) to all qualified IT Professionals. See below for registration information.

Flash storage permeates every single aspect of our daily lives. If you've used a PC, laptop, cellphone, television, or even drove a vehicle today, the odds are pretty good that you have come into contact with the advantages of flash storage. There is no better place to get a finger on the pulse of the flash world than the upcoming Flash Memory Summit 2015 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. The trade show runs from August 11-13 and is jam-packed with seminars, forums, keynotes and sessions that cover every aspect of the flash ecosystem.

At last year's summit we began hearing the drumbeats of the approaching TLC SSD parade. The move to TLC NAND is now well underway, and there are projections that by the end of this year more than half of the NAND produced will be TLC. Toshiba has its new 15nm TLC coming to market, and across the aisle Micron will also be touting the advantages of its competing 16nm TLC NAND.

Samsung has yet to make one of its notoriously ground-shaking 3D NAND announcements this year, so we also expect more news on the V-NAND front during the show. The powerful Intel/Micron partnership isn't standing on the 3D NAND sidelines, and with their products headed to market by the end of this year, we wouldn't be surprised to see a wafer of their long-anticipated 3D NAND on display.

NVMe brings the next level of performance for bleeding-edge SSDs, and a common perception in the industry is that if a vendor doesn't have a TLC SSD with NVMe by next year, they aren't going to be around for long. We expect to hear more about the pairing of lower-cost TLC NAND with the NVMe interface from several vendors during this year's show. Plextor, for instance, will be rolling out its first NVMe SSD, the M7e.

SSDs with larger capacities are also coming to the forefront as the price of NAND continues to drop, and we are sure to hear of new 2.5" SSD releases that break the 1 TB barrier during the event. 

Last year's event also had a glimpse of the future beyond NAND, with ST-MRAM, PCM and RRAM on display, including a working demo pushing out more than 3 million IOPS. It will be interesting to see what new cutting-edge technology will come to the forefront during this year's event.

Flash Memory Summit has it all, from the most in-depth over-your-head technical discussions to the glitzy displays of the latest flash products. The leaders of the flash industry, including Micron, Samsung, SanDisk, HGST, Seagate and Toshiba, among many others, will be at the conference in full force. Exhibitors from every link in the flash food chain will also be present, such as networking, test equipment, standards committees and software vendors. 

Tom's Hardware and Tom's IT Pro will also be at the show in full force to bring the latest news directly to our readers. We will be scouring the floor for award-worthy products in the client and enterprise space, which we will be announcing online during the show. We will also have a booth at the show, so feel free to stop by and chat about storage with our media representatives. 

Flash Memory Summit has an expanded IT focus this year, and we are also pleased to announce that there will be free all-access 3-day passes for qualified readers who are IT professionals. Readers meeting that requirement are encouraged to email the Flash Memory Summit at pr@flashmemorysummit.com with the requisite credentials (such as a link to a LinkedIn profile).

Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.