Sandisk collaborates to improve SSDs on Ubuntu netbooks

Canonical announces detail of collaboration with SanDisk to better support Ubuntu

Ubuntu sponsor and leading solid state drive manufacturer share expertise to provide better Linux experience on both netbooks and laptops

Canonical today announced that it has been collaborating with SanDisk, the global leader in flash memory cards, to improve how Ubuntu runs on the solid state drives (SSDs) that provide the memory – and memory management – for most netbooks and laptops in the market today. Engineers from both companies have worked closely on system optimizations resulting in longer battery life, reduction in heat levels & better system responsiveness. This is done to optimise the user experience and offer original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) a better solution to bring to market.

In addition to remote collaboration, SanDisk engineers have engaged at events like the Ubuntu Developer Summit in San Francisco and Barcelona where the technology industry and Ubuntu community plan future releases of the award-winning platform.

That an industry leader like SanDisk has engaged to this degree is testament to the success of Ubuntu in winning design wins with leading PC manufacturers. More and more people are choosing an open platform on which to run their ‘on-the-go’ netbook machines, while increasing numbers of OEMs are enjoying the freedom and product differentiation that choosing Ubuntu gives them. With SanDisk committed to full support for the Ubuntu platform, and its engineers in direct and regular contact with their operating system peers, the success of Linux shows signs of acceleration in this area.

“SanDisk is committed to providing OEMs and consumers more choices in how they compute,” said Rich Heye, senior vice president and general manager, Solid State Drives, SanDisk. “We decided to collaborate with Canonical thanks to its unprecedented success in helping Ubuntu to drive Linux in the mainstream market. Ubuntu on SanDisk SSDs delivers a fast, robust user experience and offers a fantastic combination for OEMs or original design manufacturers (ODMs).”

“There is no question that flash memory technology has helped this category to flourish. For small, lightweight, robust, heat-managed machines, SanDisk SSD is the best choice for OEMs,” said Chris Kenyon, Director of OEM Services at Canonical. “The collaboration between our two organisations demonstrates that Ubuntu is an easy and great choice for OEMs interested in delivering an optimal user experience while differentiating their machines in the market.”

About Canonical

Headquartered in Europe, Canonical Ltd is committed to the promotion, distribution and support of the Open Source operating system Ubuntu. Canonical aims to ensure that Ubuntu is available to every business and individual on servers, laptops and netbooks. Canonical Professional Services provide expert consultancy and support that – together with superior Ubuntu technologies – can help deliver significant cost savings and an enhanced user experience to all its customers.

About Ubuntu

Since its launch in October 2004, Ubuntu has become one of the most highly-regarded Linux distributions. With millions of users in homes, schools, businesses and governments around the world, Ubuntu is growing in popularity on the server, the desktop, on netbooks and on mobile devices. With the values of Open Source software at its core, Ubuntu costs nothing to download or update. Users are also actively encouraged to copy, reinstall, modify and share their Ubuntu software anytime, anywhere and with anyone. Visit www.canonical.com or www.ubuntu.com for more information.