Superfast SSDs are coming, but will they be used the right way?

Intel, Dell, IBM, EMC, and a host of other component makers and OEMs have announced a partnership aimed at developing a standard interface for PCIe-hosted solid-state disks. If the group has its way, we'll eventually be ditching the SATA bus entirely for SSDs that are hosted directly on PCIe. Why does this matter? Because PCIe-based SSDs are brain-meltingly fast. And right now, they're also wallet-bustingly expensive, even for enterprise customers.

While the new standards won't immediately bring down prices, they'll pave the way for more widespread adoption that can let economies of scale kick in. The group aims to create a new, standardized drive connector for PCIe SSDs; it will also specify features, like hot-plug capability, and a 2.5" form factor.