Micron Technology has announced a new solid-state drive (SSD) for the rapidly emerging ultrabook category.

The C400 mSATA drive is designed to work in ultrathin, high-performance SSD-based systems and can also act as a cache drive in dual-drive systems. SSD-caching systems have both a hard-disk drive and a low-capacity SSD. These systems use software to automatically identify the most frequently used files and programs and then access those files from the SSD, providing greater performance than a hard-disk drive, but at a lower price point than a stand-alone SSD, the vendor said.

The mSATA form factor is an emerging standard that allows ultrathin notebook manufacturers to integrate a high-capacity SSD in a space that is about one-third of the size of a standard business card (3x5cm).

The RealSSD C400 mSATA SSD ships in capacities ranging from 32GB to 256GB with a SATA 6 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface for the high data throughput that is ideal for the "instant on" responsiveness demanded by ultrabook systems.

Additionally, the established design leverages Micron's 25nm MLC NAND flash and manufacturing and testing capabilities.

The drive is currently in production and is available through Micron's extensive distribution network.