Stefan Mileschin

Lite-On (including its consumer SSD brand Plextor) is one of the largest SSD vendors that is not vertically integrated. They don't manufacture NAND flash memory and don't design their own SSD controllers. Their strategy for competing against the vertically-integrated giants relies on picking the right technologies that are available on the open market and making the most of them with in-house firmware development. This makes Lite-On a great source for second opinions about new NAND flash and SSD controller silicon; they have to make their own judgments about whether new technologies are as great as the manufacturers claim, and they get to do so long before we get retail products to test. Lite-On's plans for exhibiting at Flash Memory Summit earlier this month were upended by the fire that closed the show floor for the entire duration of the conference, but they did manage to show me some of the products and prototypes from their booth.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11765/...nand-packaging