EMC's Iomega launches USB 3.0 SSD drives, eyes SMBs
EMC's Iomega on Friday announced a solid state USB 3.0 external drives that are the size of an iPhone and designed for the creative pro, small business and prosumer markets.
Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega, said the company's latest drives are aimed squarely at the 2.5-inch drive market. If anything, premium drives targeted at SMB and prosumers appears to be a hot market. Data Robotics, which makes the Drobo storage appliance, has also noted this market can be lucrative.
"We thought the SMB would be the initial market for this, but the consumer will also be interested," said Huberman, who added that the SSD drives will appeal to anyone that has big video and photo files. "This is a real big market for us."
The rub here is that most of the speed gains for these new Iomega drives will be due to USB 3.0, a standard that will likely be on most PCs in the fourth quarter and first quarter of 2011. "By the end of next year, most PCs will have USB 3.0," said Huberman.
In the meantime, Iomega's sleek drives will hold appeal, but the speed won't be there.
Other key features for the new drives:
- The drives can handle 10-foot drops;
- v.Clone software that images your entire PC;
- Subscription to Trend Micro security services for a year;
- Backup software and the MozyHome online service, which is also owned by EMC.