It died because the first generation of Optane devices failed to take the market by storm and instead of advancing the technology they simply exited the market,

It died because the first generation of Optane devices failed to take the market by storm and instead of advancing the technology they simply exited the market, eating all of the prior investment. Why they failed to take the market seems to be both a combination of lousy marketing (is it a drive, or are they RAM replacements?), selling only enterprise-class products, high prices, and competition technology that is both "good enough" and beats it in all of the other areas. Spec-wise, a Samsung 2TB 990 Pro, is about as fast (sustained, IOPS, etc.), a 10th the price, and is coming from a manufacturer with a reputation of sustaining development and releasing newer, better products in that product-line. If the part fails, you're likely to not only replace it, but upgrade it for the same cost.