Intel's all new ‘Optane’ faces threat as Micron pursues future QuantX tech

American Multinational Corporation and technology company ‘Intel’ recently created buzz at CES with  a new class of memory and storage that will supercharge PCs and servers, called as’ Optane’. Well, tt is also founded that Optane has competition with Memory Company’s ‘Micron’ which is coming out with memory and storage based on the similar fundamental 3D Xpoint technology.

Announced in 2015, both, Intel and Micron together developed the first-generation 3D Xpoint technology. But the fruitful partnership is now taking a back turn converting into a healthy rivalry.

As far as comparison is concern, Intel ships its first low-capacity Optanes for PCs, while Micron is already researching the second- and third-generations of 3D Xpoint technology. Micron's 3D Xpoint products are called as QuantX. The companies consider 3D Xpoint products might ultimately refurbish conventional SSDs and DRAM in PCs and servers.

According to Intel, Optane SSDs is 10 times faster than conventional SSDs. The companies say the new technology is significantly denser than DRAM. The first low-capacity Optane storage should emerge in PCs in the second quarter of this year. It will be used as cache to allow PCs to boot faster and load applications and games more quickly.

Micron which seems to take moves slowly, expects to ship its first QuantX products in small quantities by the end of the year, the company said during an earnings call in late January. However, they have a dissimilar approach than Intel for the development of QuantX. Instead of PCs, it will target high-capacity QuantX SSDs and DRAM at servers and high-end systems.

In the next-generation QuantX products, Micron wants to nail on more storage capacity and decrease latency, Scott DeBoer, vice president of Micron, said during an analyst meeting Scottsdale, "This a real exciting technology for the future," DeBoer said.

Micron won't offer the QuantX drives directly but will create it available through companies making storage products.