Netlist, Inc.
designs and manufactures high-performance, logic-based memory subsystems for
datacenter server and high-performance computing and communications markets.
Netlist's flagship products include HyperCloud Memory, which breaks traditional
memory barriers and NetVault, a flash memory-based subsystem that enables data
retention weeks following a disaster. The memory technologies are developed for
applications in which high-speed, high-capacity memory, enhanced functionality,
small form factor, and heat dissipation are key requirements. These applications
include tower-servers, rack-mounted servers, blade servers, high-performance
computing clusters, engineering workstations, and telecommunication equipment.
Founded in 2000, Netlist is headquartered in Irvine, California with
manufacturing facilities in Suzhou, People's Republic of China. For more
information, visit the company's website at www.netlist.com.
see also:-
Netlist's
SSD page,
Netlist
- editor mentions on StorageSearch.com
SSD market
history
consequences
of the 2017 memory shortages
after AFA
storage - is it cloud adapted memory?
say
farewell to reassuringly boring industrial SSDs |
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Netlist and the
Top SSD Companies List
Netlist entered the list in
Q1 2016 - at #24.
Netlist
was one of the 2 fastest climbers in
Q3 2016. |
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| Who's who in SSD? - Netlist | |
by
Zsolt Kerekes,
editor - StorageSearch.com
- February 2014
I've been covering the
RAM market in my
enterprise buyers guides
since 1992.
Netlist first came to my attention in
2002 - when the
company joined the Quad Band Memory (QBM) Alliance.
Netlist entered
the SSD market in
2007 - with
products aimed at the
industrial SSD
market.
Nowadays Netlist is also engaged in the
enterprise SSD market
too, in these segments:-
- memory
channel SSDs - unlike the ulltradimm products from
Diablo /
Sandisk (which are high
capacity SSDs with R/W performance similar to fast PCIe SSDs) - Netlist's
NVvault
(which is very similar to the flash backup DRAM DIMM modules from
Viking and
Micron) implements a
DDR3 DRAM with enough battery backup
and power fail
protection - to enable backing up the contents of RAM (upto 4GB) to an
integrated flash store.
This is similar to the concept used in the
last few generations of RAM
SSDs - but scaled down to lower capacities. (In July 2008 - the
RamSan-440 from
Texas Memory Systems
was the first rackmount RAM SSD which backed up to a parallel flash array -
instead of a hard drive - to enable faster boot times when power was restored.) |
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In January
2014 - Netlist
announced
it was 1 of 12 companies to form a new group within
SNIA (storage
ORG) - the
NVDIMM Special Interest Group
(NVDIMM SIG). SNIA describes an NVDIMM as "a computer memory module that
retains data in the event of an unexpected power loss, planned shutdown or other
system failure."
Also in January 2014 -
Netlist
announced
it had filed motions to add two additional patents to the lawsuits against the
previously announced ULLtraDIMM memory module from
Diablo Technologies and
Smart Storage Systems.
In
September 2016
- Netlist
announced
the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 9,436,600 (the '600 patent) relating to a
multi-channel hybrid memory architecture that uses non-volatile memory to
protect critical data in the event of power loss. |
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SSD history
top SSD companies
what's the state of DWPD?
hybrid DIMMs - market
timeline
popular SSD articles
on StorageSearch.com
Capacitor
hold up times in 2.5" military SSDs
is remanence in
persistent memory a new security risk?
where are we
heading with memory intensive systems?
what were
the big SSD memory architecture ideas in 2016? |
..... |
| Surviving SSD
sudden power loss |
Why should you care
what happens in an SSD when the power goes down?
This important design
feature - which barely rates a mention in most SSD datasheets and press releases
- has a strong impact on
SSD data integrity
and operational
reliability.
This article will help you understand why some
SSDs which (work perfectly well in one type of application) might fail in
others... even when the changes in the operational environment appear to be
negligible. |
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| Diablo Technologies - which
had long been involved in legal tangles with Netlist over IP and patents related
to complex NVDIMM enabling technologies - has ceased operations and filed for
bankruptcy. |
| SSD news - December 2017 | | |
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| "Ive got the
impression that for many systems companies (storage array makers) the attraction
of the Netlist type of product is that it looks like a safe choice which they
can easily understand and integrate in their software and which isnt dependent
on them looking for hidden performance snags - such as they have to evaluate in
flash as RAM products. And flash backed RAM isn't subject to the
reliability uncertainties posed by new memory types such as Optane." |
Zsolt Kerekes,
editor - StorageSearch.com
- August 9, 2016 - in an email to a reader related to editorial coverage of
DIMM wars SSDs.
See also:-
DRAM's
indeterminate latencies,
is data
remanence in persistent memory a new risk factor? | | |
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| Netlist allies with Samsung
to codevelop flash-as-RAM DIMMs aka NV-P |
Editor:- November 19, 2015 - Netlist today
revealed
how it's going to enter the storage class memory SSD DIMM wars market. This by
way of a 5 year joint development and license with Samsung which also
brings to the table $23 million of funding. The companies expect to sample
products in 2016.
Editor's comments:- 2015 was a signficant
kick-start year for the server memory market.
Retiring and
retiering enterprise DRAM was one of the three big SSD ideas of the year.
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At stake is a future market
for server based accelerators which could be worth 10% to 20% of the entire
enterprise PCIe SSD market.
It's inconceivable that a small company like Netlist or Diablo would
be able to satisfy such demands on their own - especially given the fact that
neither has any core IP related to enterprise flash.
But future licensing partners (or wouldbe acquirers) need to be
satisfied that the core technology they're using - is patent troll proof. |
| California Court halts
sales of ULLtraDIMMs (January 13, 2015) | | |
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| "We have shipped
almost 0.5 million units of NV(DIMM) over the past 5 years... 20x more than the
total shipments from all of our competitors combined."
|
Chuck Hong, CEO
Netlist
earnings
conference call (November 11, 2014) | | |
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| Netlist asks court to shut
down SanDisk's ULLtraDIMM production and recall sold units |
Editor:- October 10, 2014 - Netlist recently
announced
it has filed a motion for
preliminary
injunction which seems to be intended to restrain Diablo and its
flash-side SSD integration partner SanDisk from any
further manufacture or sale of the ULLtraDIMM (memory channel SSDs).
The
Court has set a tentative date of December 2, 2014, for a hearing on Netlist's
motion. If granted this would immediately shut down any further manufacture and
sale of the ULLtraDIMM. Netlist has further asked the Court to order the recall
of any ULLtraDIMM products previously sold.
Editor's comments:-
This series of legal disputes has been going on since last year. If you haven't
read those stories - the essential story is something like this.
At
some time in the past Netlist and Diablo had a technology supplier agreement -
as a result of which - Diablo had access to Netlist's IP related to
minimizing the capacitive load of complex circuits susch as controllers when
they sit on a DRAM style of bus.
Netlist doesn't have any products
which are similar to SanDisk's ULLtraDIMM - but Netlist claims that the
ULLtraDIMM design has used its patented interface technology without a license.
Countering that - Diablo says it did get the rights to use some of the DRAM
load interface technology - and that in any case - this aspect of the design
is not the essential defining characteristic of their flash SSD architecture. | | |
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