the SSD Buyers Guide - click to see article
SSD buyers guide
IC's
storage chips
click for RAM SSDs page ..
RAM SSDs

storagesearch.com

storage search
11 years - "leading the way to the new storage frontier"

RAM

RAM based SSDs
RAM Cache Ratios in flash SSDs
Flash vs DRAM Price Projections
A brief history of database RAM storage
2009 - Year of SSD Market Confusion?
RAM SSDs versus Flash SSDs - which is Best?
The World's First Commercial DRAM - Intel 1103
Z's Laws - Predicting Future Flash SSD Performance
3rd Party RAM - Your Legal Rights to Server Warranties
Everything You Wanted to Know about SOC Memory (pdf)
network storage ad click for more info
Samsung Agrees $900 million Settlement with Rambus

Editor:- January 19, 2010 - Rambus and Samsung today announced that they have reached agreement settling all claims between them and licensing Rambus' patent portfolio covering all Samsung semiconductor products including a perpetual fully paid-up license to certain current DRAM products.

As part of the overall agreement, Samsung will invest $200 million in Rambus stock. Other consideration to Rambus includes an initial payment of $200 million and a quarterly payment of about $25 million for the next 5 years. In addition the companies have signed a memorandum of understanding relating to a new generation of memory technologies and interfaces.


DDR PHY Cartoon from Denali

Editor:- November 17, 2009 - Denali Software today published a simple cartoon style guide which introduces the complexities involved in designing DDR PHY.

What's a DDR PHY? - To quote one of the captions - "I sit between the memory controller and I/O pads and make your SoC shine!"

Even if you're not a chip level storage designer - appreciation of these design issues are helpful to an understanding of product architectures, strengths, weaknesses and adaptibility.


3D Memory Market Reality Check

Editor:- September 13, 2009 - How is the 3D memory chip market stacking up? - An article in Semiconductor International reviews the market's progress.

Author Philip Garrou says - "3D memory surely will happen, just not that quickly" - and reminds readers that a few years ago analysts were predicting it would be an established market by 2010. ...read the article


Innovative Silicon to Discuss Future of DRAM

Editor:- September 3, 2009 - Innovative Silicon today announced its co-founder and chief scientist, Dr. Serguei Okhonin, is participating in a tutorial at next week's 2009 ESSDERC conference (in Athens, Greece) titled "Disruptive Technologies for More Moore."

Dr. Okhonin has long recognized that DRAM, which was first released by Intel in 1970, is running out of steam. The basic DRAM memory cell, consisting of a transistor and complex capacitor element, is becoming increasingly difficult to scale to smaller process geometries. While the DRAM industry has achieved miraculous results over the years by packing more and more memory bits onto ever smaller silicon die and selling it for cents, this is no longer feasible. Dr. Okhonin will cover the next frontier of memory technologies: floating body memories.

Dr. Okhonin will talk about the memory advancements that must be adopted to enable semiconductor technologies to effectively scale to sub-45nm process geometries.


Silicon Power Launches Cool DDR3 DRAM

Editor:- August 3, 2009 - Silicon Power launched new server class DDR3 DRAM modules.

They have built-in thermal sensors and are made specifically for servers and workstations.

Available in 1333/1066 speeds, they are compatible with Intel Nehalem-based Xeon 5500 platform in tri-channel operation.

Unbufferred ECC DIMM are available in 6GB(2GB*3) / 3GB(1GB*3) / 4GB(2GB*2) / 2GB(1GB*2) / 2GB / 1GB capacities.


AGIGA Tech Samples High Density Non Volatile RAM Chips

Editor:- May 26, 2009 - AGIGA Tech started sampling its new AGIGARAM non-volatile system ( technology which delivers densities between 4 megabytes (32 megabits) and 2 gigabytes (16 gigabits) and peak transfer rates equivalent to DRAMs.

"Today's memory technologies all have a problem. DRAM is volatile, flash is slow, SRAM with batteries is unreliable, and alternative technologies are too costly to use in large densities," said Jim Handy, Director of Objective Analysis. "Products like AgigA Tech's that combine the best attributes of DRAM and NAND are likely to meet with broad acceptance."


Rambus Unveils Technologies for Next Generation Fast RAMs

Editor:- May 26, 2009 - Rambus today unveiled a set of innovations that can advance computing main memory beyond current DDR3 data rate limits to 3,200Mbps.

Through this collection of licensable innovations, designers can achieve higher memory data rates, higher effective throughput, better power efficiency and the increased capacity necessary for future computing applications. storage chips


Sonics Solves Complex On-chip Memory Connectivity Problems

MILPITAS, Calif., - May 5, 2009 - Sonics, Inc. has announced the Sonics Network for AMBA Protocol or SNAP.

The product is a cost-effective, turn-key solution designed to simplify the on-chip bus design for complex embedded SoCs by turning multilayer bus designs into an IP block. SNAP's easy-to-use development environment allows developers to quickly and intuitively capture their design with little or no training.

As the number of IP cores in embedded SoC designs continues to grow, current bus structures are becoming complex and time consuming to design. In addition, memory access problems can arise because there are now multiple processors competing for memory resources. SNAP addresses both of these problems by first turning the complex interconnection of multiple cores into a customized IP block, thus reducing the chip design effort. And 2nd, SNAP improves the overall data flow in the systems, thereby improving bus performance and eliminating memory bottlenecks. ...Sonics profile

Editor's comments:- this is the kind of technology needed inside very high speed next generation SFF SSDs.


Dataram Acquires Micro Memory Bank

Editor:- April 22, 2009 - Dataram announced it has acquired Micro Memory Bank.

MMB maintains a particular niche in legacy memory products by being one of the few companies in the industry that carries and stocks virtually every memory upgrade ever made.

Dataram's President and CEO John Freeman said "David Sheerr (who founded MMB in 1994) is the 3rd executive to join Dataram in the past 12 months who has had previous experience as the president of a company. David's entrepreneurial skills and business success in our industry are valuable additions to our executive team."


Samsung Ships Highest Density DDR3

Seoul, Korea - March 19, 2009 - Samsung Electronics announced today that it has just made the initial shipment of the world's 1st and smallest high-density memory modules based on 2Gb, 50nm-class DDR3.

Samsung is shipping 18 configurations of its new DDR3-based modules, which are designed for servers. They include a 16GB RIMM and an 8GB RDIMM.

Editor's comments:- although Samsung's press release talks about how much RAM you can get in a server (192GB for a 2-socket CPU server system) the new products will also advance the density and lower the cost of high end multi-terabyte RAM SSDs.


Court Rules Against Rambus - Re Ban on Hynix DRAM Sales in USA

SEOUL, Korea - February 24, 2009 - yesterday the US District Court for the Northern District of California denied Rambus's request for an injunction barring Hynix from selling its DRAM products in the United States.

The order also finalizes a prior ruling awarding damages to Rambus and imposes royalties of 1% on SDR SDRAM and 4.25% on DDR SDRAM and later generations of DRAMs sold in the US before the final judgment. Hynix and Rambus were ordered to negotiate over royalty rates for sales after the date of final judgment. Hynix expects that a final judgment reflecting this order will be entered soon.

Hynix is gratified that the court rejected Rambus's request for an injunction, but is disappointed by the district court's damages ruling and will file an appeal when the final judgment is entered. Hynix believes that Rambus's patents, as has been recently confirmed by certain rulings of the US Patent & Trademark Office, are invalid. In addition, Hynix maintains that Rambus's conduct in destroying evidence relevant to the litigation between Hynix and Rambus, and Rambus and the rest of the DRAM industry, bars Rambus from enforcing its patents.

The United States District Courts for Delaware and Virginia have already ruled that Rambus is guilty of destroying evidence; the decision of the California court conflicts with these other court decisions. While Hynix's appeal is pending Hynix is not required to pay the judgment; if, as it expects, Hynix prevails on the appeal, the judgment will be reversed. The appeal will take 1 to 2 years under the normal U.S legal procedure. Hynix's US sales of DRAMs will continue uninterrupted. While the appeal is pending Hynix anticipates that the direct damage under the district court's ruling will not be substantial and will be greatly dependent on the results of the appeal. ...Hynix profile, ...Rambus profile


New Article Looks at Recession in the Memory Market

Editor:- February 9, 2009 - Lane Mason, Memory Market Analyst at Denali - has published a new article - "Memory Market's Recession - Actions and Realities."

This give a good explanation of why the woes in the memory market are so bad. ...read the article, storage analysts


Cypress Announces Change in Memory Division

SAN JOSE, Calif. - February 5, 2008 - Cypress Semiconductor Corp. today announced that Ahmad Chatilla, EVP of the Memory and Imaging Division will be leaving the company this month to pursue an opportunity as the CEO of a semiconductor wafer supplier.

He will be replaced by 21-year Cypress veteran, Dana Nazarian, who is currently the VP of the synchronous SRAM business unit of MID.

"Ahmad has been a valuable member of the Cypress executive team. Working with Dana and the rest of the management team in MID, he has created an extremely profitable and cash-flow-generating enterprise-even in the current economic environment," commented T.J. Rodgers, CEO of Cypress. "We are sorry to see Ahmad leave after 15 years with Cypress, but we take pride in what he has been able to accomplish and we wish him the best in his new career as CEO of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc."

Dana Nazarian joined Cypress in 1988 as a new college graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a BSEE and rose steadily throughout the company in a variety of technical and business roles. ...Cypress Semiconductor profile, storage people, storage chips


Qimonda Bust

Munich, Germany - January 23, 2009 - Qimonda AG has petitioned for the opening of insolvency proceedings due to illiquidity.

To comply with German law the company has announced the appointment of insolvency administrators. ...Qimonda profile

Editor's comments:-
Qimonda's revenue in 2008 was 1/2 the level it had been 2 years earlier, and the outcome (in today's press release) was predicted in an article I wrote in 2006 - the names change but the problems remain the same.

Objective Analysis has published an article about the lead up to Qimonda's insolvency and explores the possible fallout for Qimonda's stakeholders.
Robert Dennard - inventor of DRAM.
Find out more about people who have shaped storage history.
.............
3rd Party RAM,, article by Keystone Memory
3rd Party RAM, Your Rights on Server Warranties - article by Keystone Memory

Users know that memory and hard disk drives aren't made by most of the companies from whom they buy their servers, notebooks and desktops. But they are often intimidated from competitively buying 3rd party upgrades by sales tactics aimed at locking them in to a single source.

Such tactics often hint that maintenance contracts and warranties will be void or negatively impacted by the presence of 3rd party upgrade products. That kind of anti competitive pressure is illegal in many countries. This article provides an overview of the legal protection that users may have under a US law called Magnuson and Moss. ...read the article
.
RAM manufacturers
A-DATA

Adtec

AGIGA Tech

Alliance Semiconductor

ANACAPA

Apacer Memory America

Atmel

ATP Electronics

Austin Semiconductor

Avant North America

Cambex

Century Microelectronics

Corsair Memory

Crucial Technology

Cypress Semiconductor

Dane-Elec Memory

Dataram

EDGE Tech

Elpida Memory

Fairchild Semiconductor

Gigaram

Hynix Semiconductor

IBM Microelectronics

Inotera Memories

Kentron Technologies

Kingston Technology

MemoryTen

Micro Memory

Micro Memory Bank

Micron Technology

Mosel Vitelic

Mushkin

MoSys

Nanya Technology

NEC

Netlist

Patriot Memory

Piiceon

PNY Technologies

Qimonda

Ramaxel Technology

Ramtron

Renesas Technology

Rocky Mountain Ram

Samsung Electronics

Silicon Mountain Memory

Silicon Power

SimpleTech

SMART Modular Technologies

Southland Micro Systems

Spansion

STMicroelectronics

Swissbit

TopRam

Toshiba

Transcend Information

TwinMOS Technologies

Unigen

Viking Modular Solutions

VisionTek

White Electronic Designs

Winbond Electronics

Z Tech International
still can't find it? check the acquired, dead & renamed list
USB - drives
USB - drives

IC's
Interface IC's

Flash Memory
Flash Memory

solid state disks
Solid state disks

disk
hard disk drives
RAM
Megabyte found that RAM gave him the
fastest access to what he was seeking.
.
the Solid State Disks Buyers Guide
The SSD Buyers Guide lists all SSD products commercially available in the market by form factor, interface type and memory technology. It also includes a summary of key milestones in the SSD market in the past year.
.
the RamSan-440 is a 4U RAM SSD delivering 600,000 random IOPS - click for more info
RamSan-440 Enterprise Solid State Disk
512GB RAM SSD, 600,000 IOPS
from Texas Memory Systems
.
There are hundreds of articles about SSDs on StorageSearch.com
Here, below, are some examples.
  • RAM Cache Ratios in flash SSDs - it's important to know the underlying RAM cache architecture - even if you're happy with the R/W and IOPS performance.
  • 2010 - 1st Fizz in the SSD Bubble? - even the dogs in the street know this is going to be a multibillion dollar market. Greed will play as big a part as technology in shaping the SSD year ahead.
  • the pros and cons of using SSD ASAPs - auto tuning SSD appliances are a new category of SSD which entered the market in the 2nd half of 2009 to accelerate servers without needing human tune-ups. How can you tell if they are right for you? And how well do they work?
  • the Problem with Write IOPS - in flash SSDs - long established as a useful performance modeling metric - this article explains why some specs are exaggerated when applied to flash SSDs - or predict the wrong results for many common applications.
.

storage search banner

home storage manufacturers news storage news archive Backup software Flash Memory
STORAGEsearch is published by ACSL