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new storage frontier | |
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SSD history
top SSD companies
what's the state of DWPD?
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? |
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| the
market impact of hybrid DIMM aware software |
Editor:- September 27, 2016 - I've been asking
people in the SSD industry to tell me what they think were the big SSD, storage
and memory architecture ideas which
emerged
and became clearer in 2016. As you'd expect -
SSD aware software
comes up a lot. Here's an interesting twist as it relates to SCM.
Sang-Yun Lee,
President & CEO - BeSang
said this...
"Storage Class Memory... As storage class memories
are emerging, the memory hierarchy will be changed. NOR-based NVDIMMs, such as
3D Super-NOR and 3D XPoint, will replace DRAM and SSD at the same time.
Also,
software-based NVDIMM-P, such as HybriDIMM, will come to the
storage class memory market. Storage class memories mingles fast-but-expensive
volatile, and slow-but-inexpensive non-volatile memories together. As a result,
it will significantly boost system performance at low cost and create huge
market opportunities."
See also:-
hybrid DIMMs,
DRAM's
virtual latency secret | | |
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| I noticed that whenever I
repeated the power off and power back on again cycling (into what we'd now call
a "cold boot" condition) most of the contents of the RAM looked
similar to what they had been before, instead of scrambled which is what I
expected. |
| does persistent
memory pose new new security risks? | | |
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Retiring and retiering
enterprise DRAM was one of the big SSD ideas which took hold in the market in
2015.
Over 20 companies have already announced products for this
market among which are Memory1, 3DXPoint etc
But what are the
underlying reasons that will make it feasible for slower cheaper memory to
replace most of the future DRAM market without applications noticing? |
| latency loving
reasons for fading out DRAM | | |
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SSD news - September
2016 |
Maxta offers free 24TB version of its SDS
software
Editor:- September 29, 2016 - Maxta today
announced
the general availability of a free download of its
MxSP SDS software for qualified
organizations in the U.S., Canada and select European countries.
Approved
registrants will receive a perpetual, transferable license to a fully-featured
version of the software free of charge, enabling them to configure and deploy
a three-node HCI cluster with a maximum storage capacity of 24TB.
Xitore's NVDIMM-X - comparison white paper
Editor:-
September 27, 2016 - If you're interested in a single document which summarizes
most of the DIMM wars products in the market today - take a look at this -
Introducing
NVDIMM-X (pdf) - an architectural white paper by Xitore which is
creating this "-X" technology.
This paper was brought to my
attention today by Xitore's CEO - Mike Amidi, CEO - who
said in his email - "This can be a good article to explain the main
difference between all non-traditional DRAM based solution sitting on DRAM
memory bus. Either persistence, non-persistence, or SSD-on-A-DIMM." ...read
the article (pdf)
Editor's comments:- This confirms
that Xitore has ambitions in the
memory channel
SSD market .
My initial impression of how their "-X"
product looks - is that it's something similar to what you'd get if you
combined the separate DIMMs in
Diablo Memory1 solution
(the mandatory motherboard DRAM and the Diablo flash DIMM and multilayered
controller software) and repackaged all the pieces into a single DIMM with
some external components to provide
power hold up
for the DRAM.
Xitore does say - "If a future version of
NVDIMM-X were to also use a non-volatile memory technology for the cache, then
no temporary backup power will be needed."
As a business
proposition - placing everything into a single component has advantages -
because it provides a lower cost threshold of application viability.
On
the other hand - like every other product in the memory market it still has to
pass the sanity test of - is there a distinct application for which this would
be the lowest cost solution? And how well does it scale up?
In
retrospect the first generation memory channel SSDs from Diablo weren't
compelling solutions and (aside from legal problems) had a weak internal bridge
between the flash and the memory bus.
Nobody owns that market space
today and if it looked like an interesting idea 2-3 years ago - the market
is more receptive to looking at such products now.
The risks are
lower because we can all see a competitive ecosystem developing in which this
type of architecture will prevail in the market regardless of the fortunes of
any single vendor
IDT discloses design win in Diablo's Memory1
Editor:-
September 27, 2016 - IDT
today
announced
that Diablo Technologies
has selected IDT's
DDR4
LRDIMM chipset as the preferred interface solution for its Memory1 128GB
system memory module.
"(Our) chipset is an essential enabler of
cutting-edge NVDIMM applications, such as Memory1," said Sean Fan, VP and GM
of IDT's Computing and Communications Division. "Such solutions have the
potential to change the entire landscape of in-memory computing, and it's an
exciting place for us to demonstrate our industry leadership."
See
also:- memory glue chips
Foremay ships aerospace capable 8TB 2.5" U.2 NVMe SSD
Editor:-
September 26, 2016 - Foremay
today
announced
volume production of 8TB models in its rugged secure 2.5" U.2 NVMe SSD
product range - which with PCIe x4 lanes has R/W speeds up to 1.2GB/s with
latency as little as 25 microseconds. Optional features of the SC199 hi rel
model include:-
- Military secure erase and fast erase features.
- Rugged designs with anti-shock and anti-vibration, meeting MIL-STD-810G/F
standards.
- Anti-radiation and anti-emission, both electrical and magnetic, for
aerospace applications subject to the customer's specifications.
See
also:- military SSDs
eMemory Receives TSMC IP Partner Award
Editor:-
September 23, 2016 - eMemory
today disclosed
that over 260 of its silicon IPs have been deployed on TSMC's Open Innovation
Platform.
Microsemi's rad tolerant FPGAs orbit Jupiter
Editor:-
September 20, 2016 - Microsemi
today
announced
that its radiation-tolerant FPGAs are in use on NASA's
Juno Spacecraft within the
space vehicle's command and control systems, and in various instruments which
have now been deployed and are returning scientific data. Juno recently entered
Jupiter's orbit after a 5 year journey.
See also:-
Juno
mission (pdf),
data
chips in space
Violin issues going concern warning
Editor:-
September 14, 2016 - Violin
Memory today filed a
FORM
10-Q (pdf) with the SEC which provides a snapshot of the company's poistion
for the quarter ended July 31, 2016. Among other things:-
- Violin's revenue had fallen by 72% compared to the year ago. Product
revenue was $2 million and services revenue was $5.4 million (unaudited).
- Violin has issued a going concern warning which concludes - "Failure
to generate sufficient revenue, increase gross margins, control or reduce
operating costs and to raise sufficient funds may result in an inability of the
Company to continue as a going concern."
See also:-
90%
of the enterprise SSD companies which you know have no good reasons to survive
Netlist awarded new patent for hybrid memory architecture
Editor:-
September 12, 2016 - Netlist
today
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.
See also:-
hybrid DIMMs
Everspin files for IPO
Editor:- September 9, 2016 -
Everspin Technologies
has filed for an IPO. Among other things in the
form
S-1 the company says:-
- Everspin has shipped over 60 million MRAM units in 8 years
- revenue has been at a run rate of about $25 million / year for a 2 year
period
The company also said - "Our 5 largest end customers
together accounted for 34% of our total revenue for the six months ended June
30, 2016, but none of these customers individually accounted for more than 10%
of our total revenue during the period."
See also:-
flash and other SSD nvms
69,000 flash dies per U in Nimbus's ExaFlash
Editor:-
September 9, 2016 - Efficiency
of the internal design and architecture is one of the competitive marketing
differences between SSD boxes and drives. Because when customers see vastly
different size packages claiming to do the same thing. It's one of the
aspects which accounts for
cost
difference.
In simpler times it was easy to estimate how many memory
chips were being used inside any SSD. Now it's difficult due to many different
flash memory generations
co-existing in the market and delivering similar roles (from a
DWPD angle) while using
dissimilar controller IP
and software.
So
it was useful to see in a recent
press
release (from Nimbus)
that 276,480 NAND dies are used to implement 4.5 petabytes of raw storage in a
4U system which was launched recently.
Later:- on seeing this
post - Thomas
Isakovich, CEO of Nimbus said this.
"Note as well that
the D-series (all ExaFlash arrays actually) has dual active-active controllers
built-in, so it is not a JBOF/JBOD. Makes the density of flash achievement all
the more incredible."
Judge rolls back EMC dedupe verdict aimed at Pure
Editor:-
September 1, 2016 - Pure Storage
today
announced
that an earlier court decision in favor of EMC related to
dedupe
has been set aside because an earlier patent by
Sun may have been
prior art.
Pure says that - "Based on that view, the judge
granted Pure's request for a new jury trial that would specifically look at
whether the earlier Sun patent should make the EMC deduplication patent invalid.
Also, because the court's ruling eliminates any finding that Pure has infringed
a valid patent, it dismissed EMC's request for a permanent injunction. EMC needs
to prevail on validity before any damage award could be reinstated."
floppy drive dependent legacy assets get operational life
extension from a new flash drive
Editor:- September 1, 2016 -
SSDL today
announced
it has launched a floppy
drive emulator -
FLOPPYFlash
(pdf) - which provides electronic emulation at the host interface level
for a wide range of historic legacy floppy drives (3.5", 5.25" and 8").
The replaceable media "floppy" is implemented by a 3.5"
cassette which looks similar to a floppy but in which the storage media is
implemented by industrial CompactFlash card technology.
Editor's
comment:- Strange as it sounds there are still expensive legacy systems in
which the embedded computers and software rely on the integration of floppy
drives for their operation. This is something I've been told by James Hilken,
Sales Director of SSDL and others in the
EOL SSD support
market.
In such systems the availability of field replaceable
peripherals saves users a tremendous amount of cost and operational disruption
for their connected assets.
See also:-
a
not so simple list of military SSD companies | |
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| reducing logistics time and
the risks from changing costs in the consumer SSD market |
Editor:- September 6, 2016 - The
consumer SSD market
is sensitive to cost and customers will go elsewhere if you can't ship products
to international markets on time. Every day in production and shipping adds to
the risks
Some of the business risks for vendors of customized SSDs
aimed at the consumer market are diiscussed in a new blog by Longsys -
reforming the retail
channel market for SSDs with SDP . Factors analyzed include:-
- quality (using different build processes)
- price fluctuations in flash between the time that SSDs are ordered and when
they are ready
Among other things the blog shows how Longsys (which is
headquartered in China) has evolved business processes and technologies to speed
up and simplify the international supply chain of custom SSDs.
For its
SDP branded SSDs - the factory production process has been reduced from 15 days
(for a typical 2.5" SATA SSD) to a single day. ...read the article
Editor's
comments:- this is an interesting business case study which tells you a lot
about the internal logistics of the SSD market. | | |
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| 15 years ago in
SSD market
history |
| October 2001 - Adtron was named one
of America's entrepreneurial growth leaders by Inc magazine in its annual
ranking of the Inc 500, the nation's fastest-growing private companies. Adtron
achieved over 1,100% growth in the past 5 years, with sales growing from $2
million in 1996 to over $25 million in 2000. | | |
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do you
understand all the
words in SSD headlines? |
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| SSD jargon | | |
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| I think it's not too strong
to say that the enterprise PCIe SSD market (as we once knew it) has exploded and
fragmented into many different directions. |
| what's changed in enterprise
PCIe SSD? | | |
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