After taking its time to branch into another new market, Kingston has finally entered the competitive solid state drive (SSD) market.  Kingston announced it is teaming up with Intel to sell Intel-made SSDs to the enterprise market, with eventual plans to enter the consumer market.

Intel currently has one SSD for notebook computers and the other SSD product for use in servers.  They have 240MB per second read speeds and have a write speed of 170MB per second.  The consumer SSD has a 1.8-in. form factor while the SSD for servers uses a 2.5-in. form factor.

Kingston is interested in focusing on enterprise customers, who typically purchase memory modules when upgrading their PCs.

The company will issue a press release and go on a minor marketing spree once its first product is ready for launch.

Analysts and consumers alike expect SSD technology to increase in popularity due to its construction with no moving parts, lower heat consumption, and ability to be operated in harsher environments than normal HDDs. 

The popularity of SSDs has increased over the past year, but will not be able to progress in the consumer notebook market until SSDs decrease in price.  Once the price per megabyte falls further, expect to see more SSDs offered in pre-built desktops and notebooks.

Even with a foray into SSDs, Kingston expects to remain dedicated to the flash storage and media market, where the company makes a significant portion of its yearly revenue.  One of its main competitors, SanDisk, has been the target of acquisition by Samsung, with unconfirmed rumors that Intel and Toshiba also are interested in purchasing the company.