Investment In Memory Partners will be looking out for any mention Intel's investment in its memory segment – and how the company is dealing with the global shortage and spiking prices of NAND supplies. The company in March unveiled new flash storage devices based on its Optane memory technology designed to bridge the gap between high-performance DRAM and lower-cost NAND memory. Optane technology's first commercially available application, the Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X, will be available in the second half of 2017, according to Intel. Also in March, the company warned channel partners that demand for SSDs is expected to outstrip supply for all of 2017, forcing the company to prioritize its production for data center SSDs over lower-cost consumer SSDs. Partners will be looking out for any updates on the shortage that the SSD and NAND memory industry is experiencing record demand across all markets.