Intel has informed its customers that it plans to discontinue some of its Optane SSD DC P4800X solid state drives for data centers, one of the last storage devices based on 3D XPoint memory. Intel said its final Optane SSD DC P4800X products will be shipped to customers by October. Nonetheless, Intel still has some other Optane-branded products available.
Intel is asking its partners to place final orders for Optane SSD DC P4800X 375GB, 750GB, and 1.50TB drives in PCIe 3.0 x4 form factor by May 30, 2023, and intends to deliver its final drives by September 30, 2023. For now, Intel’s 2.5-inch U.2 model, the Optane SSD DC D4800X, will continue to ship, although those drives are apparently also facing discontinuation.
The affected models are as follows:
Intel officially cut off the Optane business unit last year, but Intel continues to sell Optane-branded SSDs based on 3D XPoint flash memory for data centers. For now, Intel will continue to offer its Optane SSD P1600X, Optane SSD DC D4800X, Optane SSD DC P5800X / P5801X, and Optane SSD DC P5810X hard drives to customers. Separately, the company will continue to sell its Optane persistent memory modules for now. But given that 3D XPoint memory is no longer in production, it’s clear that the supply of the remaining Optane-branded products will run out quickly.
The high cost of the technology prevents it from gaining popularity in the consumer market. But Intel’s 3D XPoint memory offers far more endurance than 3D NAND memory. So, despite the high price, data center demand for Optane SSDs with 100 hard drive writes per day is quite strong.
