Intel launched Optane with great fanfare in 2015 as a paradigm-shifting bridge between DRAM and NAND.
I think the problem is that they were over-promising and fixed the price to high.
Intel 905P is still hands down the best drive I've ever used but they
should still market it as a really fast SSD only. They current keep saying that it's not an SSD so it will not be included in most SSD reviews, which obviously makes it harder to sell. The only issues I see with 905P is too high price and a bit too high power consumption.
QD1 random read 4K of Intel 905P is so much better than anything else it's not even funny. And that reflects the real world response time of the storage device a lot more than many people are willing to say. And the really good write endurance is just a bonus.
Of course, QD1 random read 4K is the only metric that cannot be fixed just by adding more drivers to a RAID, which is why the Optane is so special. If you need more bandwidth than a single Optane can offer, just get multiple and use software RAID on top. Trust me, it's fast!
Intel just needs to release M.2 version of 905P with sensible pricing and they could take the market.
Of course, if manufacturing 905P is too hard to make it any cheaper even with mass production, then Intel has a big problem.