Performance and cost are closely tied to production processes when it comes to memory. We quizzed Bernd about whether Kingston would soon make the move to the new 22nm memory, “Yes, this market, whether DRAM or NAND is driven by technology advances. Die shrinks are very important as they allow production cost reductions”.
Bernd is a straight talker. In fact, all through the interview, there was only one area that made him shy – speaking about future product releases from AMD and Intel. We asked him for Kingston’s opinion on AMD Fusion, “Kingston Technology works closely with many of the key component vendors – both CPU and motherboard – making sure our products are compatible. We expect DDR3 volumes to continue to grow this year and integrated graphics will play a part in this growth. We expect they will be used in mainstream applications, gaming, and even in the growing home theatre market”.
Although USB3 has been adopted slowly through 2010, KitGuru is now seeing more and more motherboards with this kind of functionality. We asked Bernd if we should expect an update to Kingston products soon, “See, you prove the point I made earlier: The ecosystem wasn’t there so far, that’s why you haven’t seen USB3.0 drives in stores. Now the motherboards are coming out of the lab into the shops and of course it makes sense to offer the matching memory and storage products. Watch this space!”
KitGuru thanked Bernd and asked if he had a final thought for the KitGuru reader.
“This market never ceases to amaze me. It’s supposed to be the quiet summer season with half of Europe lying on the beach and the Middle East starting a month long religious holiday, while we’re on the brink of a double dip recession. But while we spoke today my account managers booked more than five million dollars’ worth of revenue – almost twice as much as I had expected for today. Excuse me while I find out why people just can’t get enough of our stuff”.
Recent price moves from Kingston have kept the brand competitive. The 64GB SSDNow V drives are now around the £90 mark in the high street and a 4GB kit of HyperX T1 modules will also cost you around £90 from your local store. If we were in the memory market, right now, all eyes would be on Kingston. From Bernd Dombrowsky's words comes a clear message, Kingston is gunning for market share and believes it can out-compete every other vendor in the market on R&D, marketing and price/performance. One thing's for sure, KitGuru readers are in for a value-storm as competition heats up!
KitGuru says: We love it when senior executives like Bernd Dombrowsky Get In The Ring. His passion for the product is infectious – especially the top end HyperX modules. We're keen to see Kingston's new 64-128GB SSDs with next-generation controllers and smaller/faster memory. The DSLR cameraman inside us also wants to feel the joy of 35MB/sec burst mode on SD. With a bit of luck, the SSDs should be in stores around Christmas.
If you love or hate the man, the company, the product – you can let us know below or comment fully in the Kitguru forum.