Kingston 2021 SSDs and Workflow Station Dock (Pepcom 2021)
Back to: Pepcom Digital Experience Main Page (Jan 2021)
Workflow Station Dock
The Workflow Station Dock is a modular docking system that lets you mix and match the types of ports and readers you need. As the name suggests, this dock is meant to optimize your workflow.
It sort of works like a switchboard with you being the operator. You connect your computer or laptop to the dock, which has 4 slots. And into these 4 slots, you can insert whatever readers you need for your work. There are several kinds of readers, with each one having 2 slots:
- miniHub: USB-C and USB-A
- SD Reader: dual SD card slots, supports UHS-II (comes with USB-C cable)
- microSD Reader: dual microSD card slots, supports UHS-II (comes with USB-C cable)
Let’s say, for example, you were the data tech in charge of backing up the videographer’s shots. You might have 2 SD card readers and 2 miniHubs to connect your backup drives. If you anticipate more SD card data than you have drives, you could instead connect 3 SD readers and 1 miniHub. It’s very flexible.
The dock itself runs at USB 3.2 gen 2 speeds and comes with 1 mini hub (that’s 1 USB-C & 1 USB-A port). You can also use the readers without the dock, in which case you’ll be transferring at speeds of USB 3.2 gen 1 and won’t need a separate power supply (unlike the dock, which does).
SSD Drives – Internal, External, u.2 Enterprise
When it comes to storage solutions, Kingston will offer two internal and one external drive. All of them are m.2 form factor using the NVMe protocol and PCIe interface.
NV1 m.2 internal SSD
The NV1 is an entry level, internal m.2 SSD using PCIe gen 3.0 x 4 lanes. And while Kingston may call it “entry level”, Gen 3 x 4s are no joke when it comes to transfer speeds (we weren’t told because it’s not out yet, but if we had to guess, real world performance numbers should be roughly around 3000 MB/s.) Capacities up to 2 TB will be available and should be coming out end of Q1, early Q2 of 2021.
Ghost Tree m.2 internal SSD
This will be the cream of the crop – a high performance PCIe gen 4.0 x 4 lanes, 8 channels. Kingston is highly optimistic about its performance and will be targeting for transfer rates of 7000 MB/s read and write. Available in capacities ranging between 1-4 TB, this will be best suited for use by content creators & power users. Coming H2 of 2021.
XS2000 m.2 external SSD
For portability and ruggedness, the XS2000 is a super tiny external SSD has a removable rubber casing that you can slip on and off for durability. It connects via USB-C using USB 3.2 gen 2×2 speeds, offering 2000 MB/s read and write transfers. It’ll be available in Q2 of 2021 and will come in capacities between 500GB – 2TB.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning the upcoming DC1500M. It’s a u.2 SSD for the enterprise (especially in data centers), but I’m grapevining of more consumers using this type of interface. Could be because its hot-swappable, but there are blade configurations using u.2 with several m.2 SSDs embedded in carriers. It’s worth keeping your ears open on this especially if you edit video. Just saying.
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More Info: https://www.Kingston.com
Event: Pepcom Digital Experience (Jan 2021)
