Micron Blogs - All Products

Tame the Boot Storm

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:18:00 -0700

If you manage a network of virtual machines, you’ve probably experienced the negative effects of a boot storm too many times. These virtual storms can occur when a large number of users log in to a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) system simultaneously. If the VDI system employs traditional storage, like hard disk drives (HDDs), bandwidth gets overwhelmed quickly. Slow boot times and reduced productivity ensue, often resulting in frustrated and less-efficient users.

Our ultra-high bandwidth PCIe solid state drives (SSDs), including the new P420m SSDs, can help tame these storms. Configure the SSDs to appear as virtual storage devices within the virtual machine’s framework, and the negative effects of boot storms are virtually eliminated. Our internal tests show remarkable improvements when replacing HDDs with Micron’s PCIe SSDs in this manner, including performance on par with a much more expensive network-attached storage (NAS) configuration.

We’ll share more details on our PCIe SSD tests in the coming weeks. In the meantime, learn more from this video about the advantages PCIe SSDs offer for VDI systems.

Why Latency Matters

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:51:00 -0700

When you think about system performance, you have to think latency. In an IT environment, latency affects everything—from efficiency and throughput, to customer satisfaction and operating costs. We are confident that our SSDs can help solve IT latency issues. This video emphasizes the importance of latency using more general, everyday situations.

It’s not often we get to laugh at latency problems. For countless businesses—especially cloud and data center environments—latency is a serious challenge.

Enter our new P420m PCIe SSD. Its ultra-low latency enables fast, predictable system and application response times. But that’s not all. Thanks to Micron's XPERT feature set, the P420m improves reliability and performance—providing the same level of great performance as our other PCIe SSDs, but at a more accessible price point for the enterprise. And it’s built from start to finish with our closely integrated custom-designed controller, 25nm multilevel cell (MLC) NAND technology, DRAM, firmware, and drivers, which makes it an even more reliable, vertically integrated storage solution.

Find out more about the P420m PCIe SSD

Contemplating the Future of Computing

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:07:00 -0700

I spoke Friday at the IEEE Workshop on Microelectronics and Electron Devices (WMED) in Boise about a memory-centric vision for the future of computing. This was my first time at this workshop, and I was very impressed by two things: the high caliber of the talks and the fact that the workshop had strong representation from students at all levels. Coming from the high-performance computing community—which tends to be a somewhat more distinguished, somewhat greyer crowd—seeing a strong student presence was refreshing!

John Knickerbocker from IBM gave a particularly thought-provoking talk on the future of 2D, 2.5D, and 3D integration as ways of combining heterogeneously fabricated elements (logic, memory, MEMS, and other sensors, potentially silicon photonics). The kind of close proximity enabled by these methods is fundamentally critical to the future of computing. Proximity is one of the few ways to significantly decrease the energy required for communication between modules in a computer—which is the key factor in power consumption, regardless of a computer’s scale (mobile phone to supercomputer). With servers consuming up to 1.5% of the world’s power (see Growth in Data Center Electricity Use 2005 to 2010 [updated 2011]), this is a big deal.

Work in advanced technologies like processing-in-memory (PIM) is about performing computation in less energy than it takes to drag the data between a standard memory module and a processor module.

Another dominant and interrelated theme is the change in Moore’s Law that has occurred since 2003. Performance doesn’t simply come “for free” by waiting anymore, so we’re looking to new architectures for an overall improvement in end-user application performance. There was a lot of talk about potential new memory devices, but more than that, there was an air of opportunity about the creation of new architectures capable of addressing problems not well solved by today’s computers.

One repeated theme was human-cortex-inspired computers, which despite being slow, show tremendous 3D structure and interconnectedness. To paraphrase one speaker, they may not be able to diagonalize a matrix better than a von Neumann computer, but they have tremendous capabilities in pattern recognition and other extremely important large-scale data analytics.

The potential for enabling computing in the post Moore’s Law era is in solving the heterogeneous integration problem, which, in turn, enables us to less expensively explore the kinds of architectures capable of addressing workloads that have become more about exploring connections and patterns than traditional science calculations.

The human cerebral cortex is the ultimate example of this: Tens of billions of neurons, each of which has on the order of 50 degrees of freedom, which produce a whopping 6 bits of information. In terms of storage, this is less than a petabyte of information total, which is an achievable goal for silicon systems today using commodity NAND Flash storage. The complexity and power arises not in the raw storage of information, but in how that information is applied.

All in all—pretty heady stuff! Look for more highlights from future events…

It’s a Great Time to Work in Storage

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:40:00 -0700

Flash is revolutionizing how we store data. It is the solution of choice for truly reliable portability in today’s popular smartphones and tablets, and it is gaining momentum as the “performance operator” in the data center. And these two applications are undeniably linked—as we demand more mobility and instant access, we need bigger, faster, and more efficient data centers to serve up the content.

It’s an exciting time for us. As a start-to-finish developer of solid state storage, Micron is in a unique position to capitalize on these exploding trends. More importantly though, the expertise and tenacity of our team members is what sets us apart. They are what makes the difference here at Micron. It’s their passion, knowledge and excitement that will take Micron to the next level. And we’re growing our team!

Watch the video below to see what our team members had to say. Ready to join us? You can browse current openings at micron.com/ssdjobs.

The HMC Consortium Sets a New Milestone

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:29:00 -0700

With the HMC Consortium’s first specification final and publicly available, the organization is meeting today to determine next steps for the 2013 working year. Basically, the group will be working on extending the SR PHY spec to reach a signaling rate up to 28 Gb/s and the ultra-short reach PHY to 15 Gb/s. The goal is to have a second-generation spec published by early 2014.

Optimizing High-speed, Embedded Memory Interface Designs

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:26:00 -0800

On March 4, ECN published an article that I wrote where I address considerations in high-speed bus designs for a healthy “data eye.” Read the full article below:

Optimizing High-speed, Embedded Memory Interface Designs

Designers of energy-efficient, high-speed memory subsystems for small form factor or power-sensitive embedded and wireless products are often making the shift from traditional DDR2/DDR3 to low power (LP) DDR2/DDR3 memory solutions. This is largely in response to the ever-challenging power reduction requirements, which reflect user system standby and wake-up time expectations.

The interface buses for these low-power memory devices need to operate reliably at data transfer rates approaching 2Gb/s in virtually any environment—regardless of temperature variations and EMI noise interactions. Consequently, the signal integrity of the so-called signal data eye must be as robust as possible. To ensure this, careful attention must be paid to PCB trace layout topology and stacking, as well as decoupling and impedance matching for LPDDR2/LPDDR3 interfaces with system-on-chip (SoC) processors.

Difficulties with interface designs are often magnified due to board size and shape constraints, along with time to market pressures, which can create significant topology validation challenges when implementing LPDDR2/LPDDR3. Extensive validation through simulation using DRAM and SoC supplier IBIS or HSpice models, along with detailed PCB signal trace parasitic model files, is no longer optional. Design simulation using these models must be completed and critically reviewed before PCB generation to avoid problems that could result in missing a product market window.

Designing a high-speed bus for LPDDR2/LPDDR3 encompasses all of the considerations listed below. Fortunately, some of these can be eliminated or simplified for typical embedded high-speed memory subsystems.

Critical design elements for improving signal integrity:

Basic signal trace properties

Total length
Effective length
Length to terminations
Min/max trace lengths for a group
Trace widths
Via counts, layer changes
Impedance matching
Single-ended impedances
Differential impedances
Neighbor spacing
Spacing to adjacent nets (broken down by region)
Serpentine spacing to self
Plane references
Signal reference plane
Plane split crossings
Distance to plane edge
Signal return paths
Decoupling capacitor values, type, and placement

Embedded and wireless DRAM designs are often simple point-to-point configurations with one SoC controller interfaced with one DRAM. This often results in worst-case bus signal trace lengths that are less than5cm. These relatively short bus trace lengths typically allow termination to be avoided altogether, at least for data transfer rates below~1Gb/s, depending on the actual signal trace topology. This is governed by the ratio of signal rise time to the transmission line propagation delay time. At higher data transfer rates, transmission line principles need to be applied when designing and performing the recommended signal integrity simulation and analysis on the interface buses.

With data rates increasing, signal trace length matching is a growing concern for DRAM designs. Closer matching of trace lengths will reduce signal edge skew or delay and help preserve margin within the overall bus timing budget. Trace length matching is most critical within signal groups such as data bus byte lanes (DQ0–7, DQ8–15, etc.). Since the bidirectional data strobe (DQSx) associated with each data byte lane of the data bus is also a critical element of the byte lane functionality, it should be included in a review for signal group trace length matching. Signal skew due to any trace length mismatch within a group will have a have a negative effect and reduce margin in the overall timing budget. Table 1 illustrates an example of signal skew time induced by trace length mismatches within byte lanes.

Table 1. Signal skew/delay within byte lanes

To some extent, serpentine signal trace patterns can be used to add a small amount of length to shorter traces and improve overall length matching within a signal group. However, as transfer rates approach 2Gb/s, the effects of self-coupling can come into play on the serpentine traces. Therefore, minimum spacing requirements between these features also may apply.

When routing many signals within a small space, some signal path layer changes are unavoidable. Each via used for this purpose adds a delay (as much as 20ps) to signal propagation. Therefore, this delay must be included when assessing the overall skew that the signals will experience relative to one another.

Many signal trace routing complications are reduced in cases where package-on-package (PoP) configurations can be used because DRAM bus trace routing through the PCB to the SoC is eliminated. This is typically a much cleaner environment from a signal integrity standpoint because the signal traces are much shorter and entirely contained within the package substrates of the SoC and DRAM PoP stack.

For higher-density memory solutions, point-to-multipoint bus configurations (one SoC memory controller interfaced to multiple DRAM components)are required. This generally results in longer signal trace lengths and transmission line stubs to the unselected products. For LPDDR3 devices, a new on-die termination (ODT)feature has been added to the DQ receiver design to permit better impedance matching during DRAM WRITE operations on the more complicated, multipoint topologies when operating at higher speeds. ODT can be dynamically engaged by the memory controller to better terminate the selected DRAM component data bus. Many SoC memory controllers also incorporate this in their DQ buffer designs for use during DRAM READ operations.

This option helps meet the ideal scenario of impedance matching:

R_ON= Z_O = Z_T *

Where,
R_ON is output impedance of the transmitter driver,
Z_O is the characteristic impedance of the trace transmission line as it travels through various layers of the system PCB,
Z_T is the termination impedance of the receiver (provided by ODT or termination resistors placed in the signal trace).
* In practice, R_ON is often set slightly lower than Z_O, and Z_T is often set lower than Z_O for power savings.

The LPDDR3 and SoC controller typically offer several values for R_ON and ODT for Z_T to accommodate this. Having the ODT feature available onboard the DRAM and SoC controller eliminates the space required and cost involved with placing discrete termination resistors on the PCB. Of course, any time termination is utilized for signal integrity optimization (provided by either ODT or discrete resistors), additional power consumption will be incurred.

The overall quality (or “health”) of the data eye diagram will depend on how much timing and voltage margin the bus interface signals have with respect to the DRAM and SoC product specifications. Some of these parameters are highlighted in the example signal eye diagram in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Anatomy of a terminated data eye

Signal integrity simulation and analysis tools are needed to verify that the data eyes for a proposed design are as robust as possible.

IBIS or HSpice models for the memory and SoC controller receiver/transmitters (available from the product suppliers)
BRD (or similar) model file exacted from the PCB layout
Simulation environment suitable for signal integrity analysis

Online bus simulators for first-order data eye evaluations(available from some suppliers)
Commercially available simulation tools for more detailed analysis

With earlier DDR SDRAM devices, the address and command buses were somewhat less critical than the data bus from a timing and signal integrity perspective. This is because on earlier DRAM products, these buses operated with a single data rate protocol, while the data bus operated at double data rate. To reduce signal count, LPDDR2/LPDDR3 products operate with a combined address and command bus running at double data rate. Therefore, these buses need to be designed more carefully from a signal integrity standpoint.

Taking these primary considerations into account when designing a high-speed memory interface will increase the probability of success with the first PCB revision. For more in-depth coverage of the considerations presented, refer to major memory and SoC supplier web sites for technical notes and data sheets, including http://www.micron.com/products/support/technical-notes.

A Fascinating Look at How Micron SSDs Are Made

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:43:00 -0800

Hard drives are giving way to SSDs, which are setting a new standard for storage in laptops, PCs, and other applications.

At Micron, we meticulously manufacture SSDs from the ground up. It all starts with our own Flash media. Every step of the process is handled in-house—from silicon wafers to Flash components, to building out PCBs, to assembling the finished product. We build our SSDs with high-tech precision in pristine cleanrooms, test them rigorously for quality and reliability, and then ship them to customers all over the world.

Get an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the intricate process involved in creating world-class SSDs.

e•MMC—An Ideal Solution for Memory-Hungry Automotive Applications

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 11:38:00 -0800

Many car buyers today care more about the infotainment technologies embedded in the dashboard than what’s under the hood. Users want to be connected and have convenient access to their personal content anywhere, anytime, on all of their devices. Their vehicles become just another node in the network, an extension of the user’s digital and social lifestyle. A “connected” car is safer, more comfortable, and more energy-efficient, equipped with early access to important information such as weather reports, traffic jams, or road accidents.

A recent Gartner Research study¹ confirmed that electronics are playing a major role in the advancement of automotive technology. Electronic content in cars has been steadily increasing since the first digital engine control modules were introduced in the 1980s. This trend will accelerate as advances in semiconductor technology continue to drive down the cost of various electronic modules and subsystems. With 60% of new cars expected to be connected by 2017, this megatrend is driving an explosive growth in both volatile and nonvolatile memory. New memory solutions, specifically tailored for automotive infotainment systems, are needed to provide additional storage space for rich multimedia data and advanced software and applications. In fact, the automotive segment is anticipated to be the fastest-growing market for memory solutions, growing at 9% year-over-year from 2011 to 2015.

As the innovation cycle becomes shorter and shorter, designers need “drop-in” memory solutions that are not only easy to implement, but also can meet the rigorous automotive-grade certifications for temperature and reliability. The embedded multimedia card (e•MMC) device is an interesting option—it has all the features needed to support navigation and infotainment applications such as detailed 3D maps, traffic monitoring, meteorological information, car radio and multimedia, e-call, and voice recognition. As a standardized version of the managed NAND memory architecture, it is essentially a module based on a bank of nonvolatile NAND Flash devices, internally managed by an ad-hoc microcontroller. The primary advantage to the user is that an e•MMC memory is fully managed and independent from the NAND technology inside. e•MMC memory is backward-compatible and has a standard interface so that developers don’t have to bother with dedicated software to manage the complexity of NAND Flash.

In terms of quality and reliability, the power-loss protection of NAND is just the beginning. Special features have been incorporated into e•MMC architecture to meet automotive requirements—an enhanced package with dedicated test-pads for failure analysis, non-controller-based access to the NAND for memory-bank testing, and an extended temperature range of –40°C to +85°C.

Micron offers e•MMC in a wide range of densities, 4GB–64GB (roadmapped to 256GB), with an integrated 16-bit NAND controller for more robust management and memory optimization compared to discrete NAND devices. All of Micron's e•MMC devices are available in JEDEC-standard 100-ball, 1mm pitch and 153-ball/169-ball, 0.5mm pitch BGA packages, easing the design and validation process that is critical to the fast pace of product development in the automotive segment.

Micron has been a leading supplier of memory to the automotive industry for more than 20 years and has developed an in-depth understanding of the needs of the segment. Our newly opened lab in Munich, Germany is purely dedicated to automotive applications—stay tuned to see what cost-efficient, leading-edge products they develop!

¹Hype Cycle for Automotive Electronics 2012, James F. Hines, Gartner, October 4, 2012.

Other market data and stats included in this blog are estimates and evaluation by Micron, based on publicly available sources and internal intelligence.

Looking to Save Space in Your Ultrathin Design?

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 09:08:00 -0800

Today’s ultrathins are all about being the sleekest, lightest, and highest-performance devices available—and we have the DRAM solutions to help you get there. Let’s look at how Micron’s new DRAM form factors reduce system height and saves valuable board space.

In an effort to further reduce z-height, a majority of ultrathin laptops have opted out of module form factors in favor of onboard DRAM. And while onboard DRAM is the best solution for z-height, modules bring an element of flexibility in terms of design, supply chain management, and upgradeability. To get the best of both of those worlds, Micron developed a new Single-Sided SODIMM. Single-Sided SODIMMs are a derivative of the widely used standard SODIMM, except the DRAM components, capacitors, and resisters are either on the front or back side of the module, not both. At 2.6mm, our Single-Sided SODIMM represents a 35% z-height savings compared to 4mm for a standard SODIMM.

Learn more about Single-Sided SODIMMs

NVDIMMs—The Best of Both Worlds

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:01:00 -0800

The NVDIMM is a new “hybrid” memory module that combines the speed of DRAM with the nonvolatility of NAND Flash. NVDIMMs enable the content in DRAM to be saved into the NAND Flash based on a signal from the system. This signal could indicate power failure or any other event when you’d want DRAM content to move into the NAND, such as system checkpoints, data logging, saving metadata, etc.

NVDIMMs provide performance, cost, and data-security advantages for enterprise-class server and storage applications. They’re a spot-on solution for environments that need persistent DRAM capability for frequent access to big data.

AT SC12, Micron demonstrated the first version of our NVDIMM, a 4GB RDIMM with 8GB of Flash. We partnered with AgigA Techto supply the ultracap power source that backs up the DRAM in case of a power failure.

Check out our NVDIMM technology page to find out more about how NVDIMMs bridge the gap between DRAM and SSDs.

Using SSDs to Accelerate Virtual Environments – A Risk-Free Trial

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:04:00 -0800

What’s the most logical method to extend support of virtual server platforms and VMWare usage models with SSD storage? Software solutions that make the most of the existing infrastructure while adding the least number of complications.

Micron is always on the lookout for great ways to help customers enable NAND-based SSDs in existing platforms. While there are a lot of different Flash caching programs out there, Micron chose to partner with award-winning Proximal Data because their AutoCache™ solution and support seemed like the best choice for working with VMWare.

The creative management schemes embedded in the AutoCache product make the most of existing solutions. It’s also easy: Autocache is provided on a free trial basis, and Proximal Data has offered to directly loan customers a Micron SSD to test and implement this innovative solution in a very efficient and pain-free way. Customers have already begun taking advantage of this program with successful transition from existing HW solutions to a Micron-Proximal Data package.

Partnerships like the one we have with Proximal Data are going to continue to drive innovation and acceptance of SSDs and Flash-based storage solutions in the years to come—stay tuned as we work with our customers to develop a case study on our AutoCache alliance.

Learn more about Proximal Data's sample program.

Stay in the loop on our case studies and future SSD partner programs—register on micron.com for updates or contact us at ssd@micron.com.

Great Tasting and Less Filling?

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:00:00 -0800

Our new P400m Enterprise SSD delivers. Performance? Got it. Endurance? Yup, got it (up to 7PBs worth). Reliability? Sure.

But all at a great price point for the mainstream Enterprise space? Yeah…we’ve got that one too.

Thanks to a combined effort between our NAND and SSD teams, we built the P400m from the ground up—from silicon to fully tested and qualified product. And we designed it with features that set it apart. Features like RAIN, DataSAFE, and ReCAL are part of our new XPERT suite of enhancements—all designed in-house to boost the performance and reliability of enterprise SSDs.

Check out our XPERT Tech Brief to learn how our eXtended Performance and Enhanced Reliability Technology (XPERT) feature set extends performance, enhances drive (and data!) reliability, and gives us the design flexibility to make SSDs that meet exact application requirements.

Introducing the P400m SSD—Customized for the Enterprise

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 07:00:00 -0800

You may have heard that our new P400m enterprise SSD provides workhorse performance and endurance at a competitive price point for data center applications. And, you may be wondering how? The answer is in the custom, onboard MLC NAND Flash. While some enterprise drives offer just one to three drive fills per day, the P400m SSD offers 10 drive fills per day for an entire five-year lifetime. Not satisfied yet? The P400m has a five-year warranty and has already been validated by several OEMs. Watch a brief introduction to this product in the video below.

"Paying Our Dues" Paid off with PCM

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:00:00 -0800

“I commend Micron for being able to put silicon down and show volume production of PCM. This blows naysayers away—of which I was one—and shows that the technology can work. It also drives home the lesson that you must pay your dues in terms of development and production time—including the ability to work around a variety of issues like thermal disturb—to achieve a good, production-ready, innovative design.”

- Alan Niebel, CEO of Web-Feet Research

In December, we announced our second phase change memory (PCM) product, a 512Mb part made with our proprietary 45nm PCM technology, and confirmed we’re shipping high volumes of our first PCM product, the 1Gb part, to Nokia.

It doesn’t happen very often that a radically new technology starts to play a significant role in the highly competitive memory field. The last time that happened was the introduction of NAND Flash more than 10 years ago, and 10 years prior to that, the introduction of NOR Flash.

Web-Feet Research CEO Alan Nieble, who definitely has a long experience with and deep understanding of memory, especially nonvolatile memory, has recognized that we are at an inflection point in the history of long-awaited emerging technologies. He commended Micron for making it happen with PCM.

But Alan has captured an important point—it is always true that “you must pay your dues in terms of development and production time,” even when progressing from one node to the next node on a memory roadmap. But when it’s time to move from an evolutionary innovation to a revolutionary innovation, the dues are far higher.

It’s radical change of paradigm. As far as discontinuity, the distance of PCM from any conventional nonvolatile memory is orders of magnitude larger than, for instance, the gap between NOR Flash and NAND Flash, or between planar NAND and 3D NAND.

For more than 40 years, engineers and designers have been playing with electronic devices, charge storage, potential barriers, electric fields, and electrical capacitances. The 10 years Micron has spent on phase change memory was invested in learning how to work with thermal devices, phase transition, latent heat, heat diffusion, and thermal capacitances. We basically had to change our mindset—from electronic engineering to phonon engineering.

And…we made it!

That we can now produce PCM in high volumes, with industry-standard yield, high performance, and high reliability, is thanks to the huge effort and the long hours our engineers spent digging into material properties, physical mechanisms, and process details to build a solid understanding that could be translated into design and manufacturing skills.

You are perfectly right, Alan—we had to pay our own dues! But we’re proud that we reached the finish line first.

Dean’s List – Observations from CES 2013

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:02:00 -0800

3,100 exhibitors, 150,000 attendees and 100 breakfast-buffet options. What could it be but the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, an event that surely must be the bane of every stiletto-heeled exhibitor and the boon of podiatrists worldwide? Last week I attended two days of this annual electronics mega-festival and had some time between meetings to catch the spirit of the event and take a peek at some of the promised technology. My feet may never be the same.

First general impression: this show was massive. In two days I could not really do it justice, so I focused on the Las Vegas Convention Center and nearby exhibits. The show was packed. There were many times when I felt more like a part of a herd than a hunter (a technology hunter, that is!). There were a few duds. Among all the rows and crowded booths I occasionally ran across a nearly empty booth. The USB Techzone was an entire area dedicated to no-shows, I guess.

Some of the technologies that caught my eye were OLED displays, 4K and 8K displays, Nvidia and Qualcomm processors and action cameras. Let me explain.

OLED displays. Organic light-emitting-diodes have been the hot, upcoming, display technology for at least three years at CES. This year there were 55” production units on display, and they were pretty impressive. (And pretty!) The colors are really rich on these displays. The screens can also be very thin, in part because they don’t need a backlight. Also very interesting were curved displays from at least three vendors. This works for OLEDs because the manufacturing process doesn’t need to have a flat substrate like a normal LCD panel. I can’t say that the curved displays are really that practical for TV applications, but for mobile applications these could be interesting. Certainly one of the more promising features of a curved OLED is that it might also be flexible, thus ending the era of cracked displays on dropped cell phones.
4K and 8K displays. Yes, you just upgraded your home TV to a 1080p high-definition beauty. Yes, you’ve upgraded your DVD player to a Blu-Ray® player so you can watch your favorite movies in high-definition glory. Yes, you are now officially out-of-date. 4K and 8K are the new ultra-high-definition TV standards that are going to try and get you to open your pocketbook and upgrade your TV again. These screens are truly impressive, and the detail is amazing. A 4K display has twice the resolution in each direction as your 1080p HD display. Correspondingly, an 8K display doubles each of these again. However, when looking at the Sony implementation, I noticed something very distracting. The content they were displaying had a very narrow depth-of-focus, which made most of the image deliberately out-of-focus—which seemed a bit counterproductive!

One implication for us is that with increased resolution comes a need for increased memory. The 4K display itself will require 4X the internal memory of today’s 1080p HD display. The 8K display will require 16X the memory of today’s 1080p display. Of course, the rest of the system that delivers content to these ultra HD displays needs more memory, too. How much? Probably about 40% more for 4K, because compression standards have improved. Going from 4K to 8K should be a bigger jump. Speaking of Blu-Ray…
Blu-Ray MIA. OK, I’ll admit it: I’ve never been a huge fan of Blu-Ray. Discs get scratched, smudged and cracked. Give me solid-state storage or streaming delivery! For three years now, I have watched portable and automotive disc players for any sign of Blu-Ray. This year even Sony admitted that their future is in content delivery from cell phones or tablets. Score one for NAND!
Application processors. Big and busy. That would describe the booths of Qualcomm and Nvidia. Qualcomm had just released their Snapdragon™ 800 app processor for tablets and cell phones, and it was generating quite a buzz. I don’t recall ever seeing so many people lined up to see a CES silicon demo where there wasn’t some freebie being given away. Nvidia was also showing some of their applications in the automotive arena, where touchscreens are replacing mechanical knobs and dials for dashboard applications.

But back in the Qualcomm booth, tucked away to the side, was a small area dedicated to showing off some of the projects of Qualcomm Labs, an advanced development team bringing cutting-edge technology to market. In past years, this has always been a secret treasure trove, so I make it a point to see what they are cooking up. This year it was shades of George Orwell, with their creation of a software development tool for applications that gives the application all sorts of context information. This context information can be gleaned from the user’s email, text messages, location, numbers dialed, and the like. This is, of course, not unlike what Google does, and as you might predict, the 20-something-year-old whippersnapper describing this to me saw nothing wrong with it. I guess I am truly from another generation.
Action cameras. One of the busiest booths I saw at the show was the GoPro booth. GoPro makes wearable, waterproof, high-definition sports cameras and accessories. But it wasn’t just GoPro that was busy. Some of their competitors were doing quite well, too. And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, GoPro must indeed be feeling flattered.
USB Flipperizer™. In the category of “Duh—why didn’t I think of that?” was the USB Flipperizer. This little gadget is a connector that you can plug onto your favorite USB widget, which then allows you to plug into your computer or other USB port either way. That’s right. There is now no right-side-up or -down. As a stand-alone product, it really is about as cheesy as its name, but interesting, anyway…

There really is so much I could continue on with, but let me leave you with a few closing thoughts. First, consumer electronics are alive and well. There is no shortage of innovation in this space, and it is these innovative devices that are enticing people worldwide to open their wallets and part with their euros, drachmas and dollars. Based on this show, it sure seems that the global economy is going to do just fine. Second, our digitization is complete, and it is demanding. Film and analog TV have long since been dead, but what we are seeing now is the explosion of precision digital data. Higher-resolution TVs, knob-free dashboards on self-driving cars, higher-resolution and faster-frame-rate sports cameras, context-aware applications—all of these are just the tip of the iceberg on top of the hidden mountain of digital data that makes it all happen. In the memory world, we can all sleep easier knowing that the demand for memory to move, manipulate, manage, and store this mountain of data is continuing to grow faster than we can imagine.

Transforming the Ultrathin Experience, Part 1

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:26:00 -0800

How do SSDs help your ultrathin be even more ultra-mobile? Two ways: form factor and power savings.

In today’s era of portability, the days of lugging an 8 or 10lb laptop through the airport are over. SSDs come in slim, caseless, and lightweight form factors that take up less space, enabling even sleeker ultrathin designs. Our mSATA SSDs measure in at about one-third the size of a credit card, while our incredibly small M500 M.2 form factor is about the size of a stick of gum!

Speaking of batteries, SSDs also use significantly less power than hard drives, freeing you from being tethered to an outlet for frequent recharging.

Learn how Micron SSDs optimize ultrathins and watch our video, “Rock Solid—Solid State Drives for Ultrathins.”

M500 M.2 SSD – The Secret is Out

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 13:29:00 -0800

Until now, SSDs have been limited to the same form factors as HDDs—but not for long. This spring, our M500 SSD will be available in the ultra-compact M.2 form factor, which is the size of a stick of gum. Built using our 20nm MLC NAND Flash, the M500 M.2 is offered in high capacities from 120–480GB. It also delivers strong performance, like fast boot and application load times and almost instant wake from sleep.

We’re doing everything in our power to deliver an ideal solution for next-generation ultrathin computers and Ultrabook™ devices. See for yourself in this M500 M.2 preview.

DDR3L-RS: Reducing DRAM Power Consumption in Standby

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:55:00 -0800

Standby power savings are becoming increasingly important as computing devices continue to shrink leaving less room for large batteries, and come loaded with advanced features such as instant-on and Microsoft’s Connected Standby. DDR3L-RS (formerly referred to as DDR3Lm) is the first mainstream PC DRAM with a focus on reducing IDD6, doing so by cutting in half the self refresh rate at room temperature (standby conditions) and by selecting lower IDD6 devices. First, TCSR (Temperature Compensated Self Refresh) is enabled at 45C which reduces the self-refresh rate from 1x to 1/2x rate. Secondly, the devices are screened and sorted by the IDD6 value through a proprietary screening process and the lower IDD6 devices are classified as DDR3L-RS.

So—what does that mean? Well, for a 4GB system running the DDR3L-RS devices, the power is 37.6mW typical at 25C which means that the DDR3L-RS can provide up to 40% longer battery life in the standby condition depending on usage case as compared to standard commodity DRAM. That’s huge. These devices are fully backward compatible to DDR3, allowing system architects to design power-optimized computing devices cost effectively without compromising performance or reliability. And because of this backward compatibility, DDR3L-RS is supported by all of the major enablers that currently support DDR3L today. It’s quickly becoming the memory of choice for the ultrathin computing category, including Intel Ultrabooks and ultrathin laptops, convertibles and tablets—across most operating systems including Windows, Windows RT, Android and more.

Improving Ultrathin Boot Performance with Quad I/O

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:53:00 -0800

In today’s fast-paced world, consumers need faster system boot times in their ultrathin devices. But other advanced system features, like security, can interfere with boot-time performance targets, posing a challenge to ultrathin designers. The new quad I/O feature in Micron’s N25Q SPI NOR Flash memory can help. N25Q SPI NOR is the first in the market to support quad I/O mode at a 108 MHz clock rate, reaching read transfer rates up to 54 MB/s and improving read bandwidth up to 85% compared to single I/O reads at 50 MHz.

Implementing the N25Q quad I/O feature of x1 instruction/ x4 address/x4 data is easy—designers simply issue the quad I/O commands (such as EBh opcode)—you don’t even need to configure the device. Our advanced N25Q device also supports basic functionality such as single or dual I/O reads, allowing systems to do slower read operations according the needs of the ultrathin application.

Available in 32Mb, 64Mb, 128Mb, and up to 1Gb densities, quad I/O-equipped N25Q SPI NOR is quickly becoming the technology of choice for the ultrathin market, including Intel Ultrabooks™ and AMD ultrathin laptops.

Gaming Goes Mobile—with Micron Memory Onboard

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

With the proliferation of mobile devices, gaming has broken its tether to the living room and is now enjoyed everywhere. In fact, according to the latest study from the NPD market research group, 59% of total game play is done on a mobile device. Market research firm Mintel found that 38% of tablet gamers and 20% of mobile phone gamers are playing five or more hours per week. Gaming is clearly a trend that is here to stay.

Additionally, gaming graphics continue to become more detailed, life-like and real-time, requiring high-end graphics cards, lightning-fast CPUs, and large amounts of memory to access frequently used information or programs.

Made for One Another: SSDs and Ultrathins

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:48:00 -0800

As the landscape of personal and mobile computing continues to intersect, our storage devices are becoming smaller and lighter while boosting system performance and adding features.

Ultrathin notebooks are a new breed of mobile devices that boast the portability of a tablet and the power of a laptop. The broad range of the target market, from business people to college students and even children, means that ”the inside” needs to be tough, versatile, and can’t compromise on speed. SSDs have several of these traits and others that make them ideal for ultrathins:

Performance – Because SSDs don’t have any mechanical moving parts to slow things down, they respond at the push of a button, providing instant-on responsiveness and nearly instantaneous application load times.
Battery Life – SSDs require less power to operate, which helps extend battery life.
Rock Solid – Thanks to their simple design, SSDs are rugged, reliable, and resistant to the common drops, bumps, falls, shocks, temperature swings, and vibrations that are inevitable with daily use.
Portability – Smaller and lighter than HDDs, SSDs are designed with mobility in mind.
Peace and Quiet – With no noisy spinning parts, SSDs are silent.

The Ultrathin class of devices is still in its infancy, yet growing rapidly. As the market progresses to undoubtedly lighter and sleeker machines, Micron will continue to meet the demand with industry-leading SSD solutions.


Discover how an ultrathin notebook with a solid state drive can transform the way you work.	Lobbying for a new computer? Don't forget the solid state drive (SSD). SSDs replace hard drives (storing all your files) and make computers faster, lighter, and more power-efficient.

DDR4 Gathers Momentum

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:18:00 -0800

Back in May 2012, we announced our first fully functional DDR4 module. Since then a lot has happened.

For starters, our DDR4 modules were selected as one of the year’s most compelling products by EDN.

And there’s more. Since the JEDEC DDR4 standard was published on September 25, 2012, we’ve been actively engaged in supporting educational and outreach activities for the new standard, including presenting at ongoing workshops in Santa Clara and Taiwan where participants learn about DDR4’s device operation, migration issues, and numerous features that address reliability, speed, power, and stacking capabilities.

One slick new feature of the DDR4 standard is the inclusion of Connectivity Test (I.e. boundary scan) for memory down applications. Connectivity Test (a type of JTAG) enhances device and/or module manufacturing testing by enabling early fault detection, which reduces time spent on debugging, improving system reliability, and ultimately saving development and production costs.

For more information on this DDR4 capability, compare DDR3 to DDR4.

So what’s next? More DDR4 information—including Verilog models, IBIS models, data sheets, Power Calculators, etc.—coming to micron.com in January.

Look Out Laptops; Ultrathins are Moving In

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:43:00 -0800

The brutal fight to stay relevant in the rapidly changing client computing market spurred CPU vendors and computer OEMs to rethink their approach to personal computing. They went back to the drawing board and began defining new form factors, energy-efficient processors and systems, and touch displays.

The Intel-inspired Ultrabook™ devices are breaking new ground for powerful, sleek, power-efficient ultrathin laptops. ARM vendors, who traditionally played only in the mobile segment, have made tremendous leaps forward in enabling new ultrathin products with their ability to run Windows RT™. The result is a host of ultrathins, convertibles, and tablets (Ultrabook or non-Ultrabook) with detachable keyboards and docks that are transforming traditional laptop content extraction devices into ultrathin content creation devices.

With global tablet shipments expected to nearly double between now and 2015 and 25% of all laptop users projected to be using an ultrathin device within that same time frame, it’s clear that consumers are ready for something that maximizes mobility and portability without compromising performance. They’re ready for something ultrathin.

Find out how Micron is helping to deliver the ultimate ultrathin experience.

SC12: Dean's List

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 12:39:00 -0800

Just back from SC12, the huge show highlighting huge computers capable of tackling huge problems while ringing up huge power bills. There, you have the highlights in a nutshell! :) Compared to shows like the Consumer Electronics Show, SC12 isn’t really that big. But the event filled up most of Salt Lake City’s “Salt Palace” convention center which showed that “Big Iron” scientific computing is alive and well and definitely has a lot of interest. The show featured numerous speakers (including our own Todd Farrell), discussion forums and a huge exhibition floor. I spent some time on the exhibition floor and came away with these observations:

Memory is still a hot topic for HPC (High Performance Computing). There was, as always, a lot of hardware on display at the show. The importance of memory could easily be seen in the makeup of the hardware. On most systems the CPU was easily identified, and for each CPU chip on the board there was a corresponding set of DIMM modules loaded up with memory. In most cases there were 8 DIMM modules per CPU and in all cases the modules were buffered modules. In the presentations and in talking with engineers, the topics of memory density and energy are still most concerning. Below are a couple pictures of some of the systems.


Figure 1: AMD CPU with Micron memory	Figure 2: Fujitsu with Micron memory

GPU’s are hot. There was a new Top500 list released on Monday at SC12. The reigning Top500 machine, Lawrence Livermore’s IBM BlueGene-Q “Sequoia” was dethroned by the newly-upgraded Oak Ridge National Labs “Titan” Supercomputer. Titan is a Cray XK7 and features more than 260,000 Nvidia Kepler GPU accelerators for a total of over 560,000 processors. Thank goodness they can draw power from the Tennessee Valley Authority! Titan’s new speed record was 16.6 Petaflops, which means a little under 17 million billion floating point operations per second. A big number.
Intel is taking HPC seriously. Cray, a longtime AMD fan, was showing off a new machine based on Intel Xeon E5 processors. I queried them about deployment of the new hardware and they told me to wait and see. But besides having replaced AMD, there were other signs of Intel’s interest in this space. There are now two Intel Xeon E5-based systems on the Top500 list. The new number 7 is perhaps the most interesting as it is made up of Dell PowerEdge servers with the hot new Intel Xeon Phi accelerator boards installed. Xeon Phi isn’t really a typical CPU in the Intel family of CPU’s. This is the chip formerly known as MIC (Many Intel Core) or alternatively as Knight’s Corner. This chip is a peripheral to a server CPU and incorporates 60 X86 processor cores and support circuitry. Oh yes, these chips have a set of memory controllers, too. You might view the Xeon Phi as Intel’s answer to the GPU: A peripheral to the main CPU that is good for crunching numbers. But perhaps Phi is good for other things as well. For this we’ll have to wait and see. Below is a picture of Cray’s new board with Intel Xeon E5 processors.

Figure 3

AMD is suffering in HPC (see Figure #3). AMD has been a longtime favorite of the supercomputing community. AMD was first to address the “memory wall” when they introduced processors with memory controllers built in. With Hyperchannel, AMD had a solution to allow scaling to greater numbers of CPU chips in a system. For supercomputers that needed epic amounts of address space, AMD was first with a 64-bit instruction set. If “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” (credit: Charles Colton), AMD must be truly flattered. Well, now it appears they are about to be flattened. With the Intel juggernaut focused on this space AMD will find the going to get tougher. Hot off the press: AMD is apparently shopping around for a buyer. Not a good sign.
But, watch this space. ARM is coming! Here’s the wild card. Could it be that Intel’s reign in supercomputers will ultimately be threatened by the lowly CPU core that has made smartphone smart? It’s no secret that some of the biggest names in servers are fielding “micro-servers” based on ARM CPU technology. So far, these systems have used 32-bit ARM cores, which severely limits the upward mobility of these servers. ARM has now introduced their 64-bit IP cores and that means 64-bit server-capable chips won’t be far behind. One of the major (but little) players in ARM-base server chips is Calxeda, who is one of the companies working fast and furious to bring 64-bit ARM to the server masses. ARM is attractive in this space due to the same reason it was a winner in cell phones: Energy. Low energy is very important in the supercomputer and server space. Energy is a major component of the total cost of ownership for these machines. Consider that a large datacenter can consume upwards of 20MW per year, and each MW can cost over $1M and you can see why energy matters.

Some final thoughts:

I like GPU’s as much as anyone, but frankly, I’m concerned with the results I see. Sure, the GPU-equipped Titan offers impressive performance, but it does so with increased energy consumption. If we look at the performance gain over the previous #1 (Lawrence Livermore’s “Sequoia”), the gain is less than 8% in performance at a 4% increase in power consumption. Clearly this is not a trajectory that’s going to get us to a viable Exascale-class supercomputer with a viable energy bill. Exascale machines are supposed to be capable of a billion-billion floating point operations per second with a power consumption of under 20MW. We need bigger improvements in performance and power. One additional concern on GPUs: Not a single GPU-based system showed up on the Graph500 list. What does this mean? Many experts consider the Graph500 benchmark to be more representative of most real-life applications. The Top500 benchmark is Linpack, which is very floating-point intensive. What type of system do you want to run your datacenter? Unless you’re computing fluid dynamics, climate simulations or protecting a nuclear stockpile you might want to go for the Graph machine. Of course, this does make me wonder about the pursuit of Exascale floating-point performance…

If you looked carefully you would see that many of the Intel-based supercomputers use Intel’s Xeon E5 instead of the Xeon E7 processors. The E7 is the higher performance part, Intel’s flagship CPU, yet these machines are using E5 processors. I asked two different companies why their systems didn’t use the E7 and I received the same answer from both: price. So while performance is paramount in these systems, price is more important. How much of a price delta are we talking about here? Intel publishes the single-unit list price of their processors and if I compare a Xeon E7-8860 to a Xeon E5-4610 I see list prices of $4016 and $1219, respectively. (Other part numbers can have larger or smaller deltas.) Maybe there’s something more subtle here than what we see in just the price. The lower-rated E5 processor actually has higher CPU-CPU bandwidth than the E7. Both CPU’s can control over 1TB of memory, but the memory frequency (and thus bandwidth) is 25% faster for the E5. I’ll leave you with this closing thought: It’s about the memory. :)

Dean

Enabling Business Application Acceleration—Without Changing Existing Software of Data Storage

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 12:01:00 -0800

Recently Micron chose to work with a few select organizations to support SSD enablement in the market. While doing due diligence and research to ensure the best support possible for our customers and their needs, we were able to find a great partner in the SSD caching software market through Velobit. Velobit recently launched a campaign to support customers with a trial of their software and loaned them a Micron SSD to test, as well. When Micron and Velobit began discussions, it was very much a case where like-minded individuals just hit it off. The goal of both companies is supporting customers with the right products for the right solutions.

Together with Velobit, we decided that it doesn’t make good business sense to have customers go unguided into purchasing a product that may or may not fit their needs, and then forcing them through the hassle and expense of returning it. To encourage the development of more SSD-based storage systems, we thought it seemed logical to implement a “try before you buy” program. Not just a no-hassle return policy, but the complete customer support needed to choose the right solution in the first place—from the NAND media itself all the way to the software. So you can get the combination of the right software from Velobit and the right SSD from Micron on a risk-free trial basis.

At the end of the day, there is more need than ever to ensure proper support, whether through the right software in Velobit, or the correct SSD from Micron (P300 SLC mainstream SSD, P400e MLC enhanced entry-level SSD, or P320h PCIe extreme performance SSD). This new relationship provides customers everything they need to ensure their SSD needs are truly satisfied. To learn more about our SSD enablement activities, please contact us at SSD@micron.com.

PCIe high speed, low latency and easy service? Can you really have it all?

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:37:00 -0700

PCI Express performance in an Enterprise-class SSD and the serviceability of front of system hot swap as easy as SAS or SATA? Yup—with the Micron RealSSD P320h 2.5-inch SSD, you get both.

Supporting both 175GB and 350GB capacities, the P320h is design to comply with the standard 2.5-inch PCI Express form factor, connector, and behavior specifications developed by the SSD Form Factor Working Group. This game-changing design offers scalability, easy service, portability, and performance in a compact, standards-based design.

Offered in many Dell systems (like the R720 and R820), the P320h is easy to setup, easy to use, and easy to service.

Learn more about the P320h 2.5-inch PCIe SSD

Server Performance Transformed

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:03:00 -0700

The I/O bottleneck is one of the biggest limitations of network performance in the enterprise industry today. To alleviate this bottleneck for their servers, Dell looked to Micron’s SSDs as a way to take advantage of the faster PCIe interface. Our collaboration resulted in the Micron P320h 2.5-inch PCIe SSD (or as Dell calls it, the PowerEdge^TM PCIe Express Flash SSD).

This SSD is unique because it takes advantage of the fast PCIe interface while at the same time overcoming the fundamental limitations of serviceability. IT providers using typical PCIe SSDs have to power down their systems and physically take apart the server to upgrade the storage. With the Micron P320h 2.5-Inch PCIe SSD, the drive can be hot-plugged into the server, just like a SATA drive, without any server downtime.

This drive is an example of the groundbreaking results that are possible when two industry leaders on the front edge of innovation work together to develop solutions that meet real market needs.

Micron’s Ed Doller and Dell’s Brian Payne talk about this new enterprise technology and how the two companies’ collaboration is transforming server performance. View the video and visit our P320 2.5-Inch PCIe SSD page for more information.

44 Terabytes in a Pizza Box?

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:03:00 -0700

We recently announced the integration of our 20nm NAND Flash storage components into Skyera’s high-endurance, high-capacity Skyhawk enterprise solid state storage system. We talked to Skyera’s CEO, Radoslav Danilak, about the impact that high-performance, high-capacity NAND Flash can have on the mainstream enterprise market and the critical role that a collaborative effort with a storage developer like Micron can play in the successful launch of an enterprise storage system. Watch the video and visit our MLC NAND page to view our part catalog.

Our I/O Virtualization Technology Part 2: Taking Full Advantage of SSD Performance with Micron’s PCIe SSD Sharing Technology

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:48:00 -0700

In my previous post, I introduced our new I/O virtualization (IOV) technology, which can provide numerous benefits to data centers. Today, I’m talking about the benefits of PCIe sharing to SSDs.

Micron offers some of the highest-performing SSDs in the industry. Take our RealSSD™ P320h PCI Express (PCIe) drive, for example, with its sustained read speeds of over 3 GB/s and random read IOPS approaching 800,000. While these performance numbers are impressive, a fixed amount of SSD storage for each server is not always the best solution. Large datacenters with high-performance computing needs rarely have static environments. Applications, servers, users, and configurations are constantly changing. And the growing number of hypervisors utilizing virtual machines is adding complexity. Bottom line—predicting the amount of SSD storage required for caching, tiered storage, or even primary storage is nearly impossible. Enter our new PCIe sharing technology, which is the perfect fit for this situation.

PCIe SSDs have high performance and low latency, and any sharing technology must have the same performance attributes in order for servers to take full advantage of the SSD’s capabilities. Ethernet and fibre channel, while providing performance sufficient for SANs, do not have these performance attributes. Our PCIe sharing technology does. It also reduces costs and configuration efforts.

Using PCIe sharing technology to share PCIe-connected SSD resources provides the flexibility of sharing SSDs across multiple servers with the performance and latency of a dedicated PCIe SSD. Data centers get the best of both worlds.

Visit the I/O Virtualization Innovations page to learn more.

New Client SSD Firmware—Even Faster Starts and Lower Power Use

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:47:00 -0700

One of the advantages of owning a Micron (or Crucial) SSD is that you often benefit from the continuous improvements we roll in to win new business and meet future design requirements. That’s certainly true with our latest C400/m4 firmware release, which provides multiple speed and power upgrades. This is optional firmware, but users who choose to install this update will benefit from the following enhancements.

Faster Boot Up
Thought your SSD boot times were already great? To meet demanding “instant-on” specifications for Ultrabook™ devices, we improved the C400’s time to ready—the sliver of time between when the power button is pressed and when the drive is ready to accept commands. For our 512GB SSD, we shaved 60% off the maximum time to ready—nearly a second and a half. Total boot-up time is controlled by lots of other factors, but for machines that boot quickly, extra seconds make a significant difference. If your boot-up is already in the 8- to 10-second range, it's a noticeable improvement.
Faster TRIM
The average user can’t measure this, but we’ve improved the efficiency of how TRIM works on the drive. (TRIM is the Windows utility that cleans up after deleted files—an important function for SSDs).
Windows® 8 Certified
This latest firmware has been officially certified to work with the upcoming Windows 8 OS (older firmware revisions can work with Windows 8; they’re just not certified).
Better Power Management
We made some power consumption improvements as well. The first change corrects instances where some systems would bring the drive out of standby prematurely, drawing power unnecessarily. We also identified certain systems that were drawing power during standby. The second change (isolating a particular power pin during standby) stops that power draw. For affected systems, this can extend battery life significantly.

The new firmware update utilities are available on micron.com. Please post if you have any comments or questions. As always, if you’re a Crucial customer, you should download the update at crucial.com.

Ultrabook is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

PCM—Agent of Change for Future Architectures

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:24:00 -0700

It’s no secret in the memory industry that existing technologies are running into scaling issues. As we all know, the problem is in the physics. But so is the solution, and that’s why we’re excited that The Economist’s Technology Quarterly took notice of phase change memory (PCM)—the emerging technology that the publication posits as being poised to “lead to a radical shift in computer design.” PCM’s bit-alterability, fast random reads, low power consumption, lack of scaling difficulties, and extreme endurance (currently at 1 million write cycles, and counting) make it a leading candidate not only as the next generation of nonvolatile memory, but also for use in computing and storage systems. Read The Economist article. Learn more about our PCM products or read our white papers, The Evolution of Phase Change Memory and PCM: A New Memory Technology to Enable New Memory Usage Models.

The power of PCIe SSDs in a hot-swappable form factor

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 11:15:00 -0700

I met with TechFieldDay’s Stephen Foskett at VMWorld yesterday to discuss the benefits fitting the high throughput of PCIe SSDs into a standardized, hot-swappable form factor. This new drive interface is sure to be a popular solution for server-side cache solutions. Watch the video for more, or download our P320h 2.5” Product Brief for more details.

Micron’s I/O Virtualization Technology: Helping to Create a More Manageable and Reliable Datacenter

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:14:00 -0700

Back in January of this year, we acquired a company named Virtensys, along with a technology that enables I/O virtualization (IOV) through PCIe sharing. This has been an exciting acquisition for us because of the opportunities that the technology presents to take full advantage of SSD performance in a shared enterprise environment. So for the next couple of posts, I’m going to talk about why this technology is so beneficial to a data center, including an overview of just how PCIe sharing works with this technology.

In a typical datacenter, each server has dedicated I/O cards such as Ethernet cards and fibre channel HBAs that are connected to switches through physical cables. I/O bandwidth is sized according to the peak bandwidth required—even when that peak bandwidth is only required for a very short period of time in a day, or even in a week.

IOV moves the dedicated I/O cards from individual servers into an appliance that allows the cards to be shared by multiple servers. Servers are connected to the appliance through a single high-speed, low-latency PCIe link, reducing the amount of cabling by at least 50%.

In the end, IOV reduces power consumption and cooling costs, simplifies resource management, reduces cabling infrastructure, and improves utilization of resources in the data center. In many cases, IOV also eliminates the need to physically reconfigure I/O resources, which can now be managed using configuration software. The best part is that Micron’s implementation of IOV is fully transparent to the server, so it doesn’t require any changes to server drivers or management tools.

Check out our new I/O Virtualization Innovations page to learn more about the benefits of IOV.

Next up—I’ll talk more about how you can use PCIe sharing technology to take full advantage of SSD performance.

HMC Consortium – the Road to a Specification

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 10:23:00 -0700

This week the HMC consortium (HMCC) announced that the managing developers had released the first draft of an HMC interface specification—a sign the group is making significant progress toward making the technology widely available and adoptable. The draft itself consists of an interface protocol and short reach (SR) PHY definition and is currently only available to consortium members, or “adopters.” Having early access to the HMC spec is one of the major draws to joining the HMCC; membership has grown steadily over the past year and now consists of a wide range of organizations from OEMs to foundries to research institutions. Now the spec is in the hands of the adopters for review, discussion and refinement, with the intent of producing a final version that will meet the needs of a broad range of technologies.

Stay tuned to find out what’s next in the process, and when and how the specification will be made public….

PCM-based MCPs take cell phone performance to the next level

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:49:00 -0700

Phase change memory (PCM) in the mobile handset market is a game-changer because of its performance, software simplification, and reliability. Cell phones today have enabled NAND-based MCP solutions for read operations and random access capabilities; however, Micron’s PCM-based MCP solution will enable cell phone users to enjoy new experiences. “Instant-on” is becoming a reality thanks to the performance of Micron’s PCM and low-power double data rate mobile DRAM (LPDDR2) combined into a single package—now your phone will be able to read data (booting your phone up) up to 400 MB/s, much faster than most phones today.

Memory subsystems within a cell phone are getting more and more complicated with all of the different types of data that needs to be managed; however, PCM is a nonvolatile memory with a LPDDR2 interface, greatly simplifying software management. PCM also has endurance of >100,000 cycles and doesn’t face the reliability challenges that floating-gate technology does as it moves to smaller lithography nodes. Micron’s PCM-based MCP solution is going to improve the cell experience for both end users and manufacturers.

Learn more about our new PCM-based MCPs or about phase change memory in general.

ISC12: insideHPC at the Micron Booth

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 11:08:00 -0700

A week after ISC’12 and the buzz continues! Last Wednesday, after my session on Large Memory, Rick Brueckner from insideHPC caught up with me in the ISC Exhibition Hall at the Micron booth. Obviously, insideHPC tracks the top trends in the High Performance Computing space, so it was natural that they should come to a memory company to talk trends. When looking around the exhibition hall there were a lot of high performance systems on display and most of them had their lids off and were showing off the silicon inside.

One recurring theme in all the different systems was that these systems are chock full of memory modules. Rich asked me a few questions about these modules and what Micron does in this space. So it was a good time and place to talk about DDR3, the new load-reduced DIMMs, upcoming DDR4 and HMC. Then Rich asked me about storage. This turned out to be convenient, since we were standing right in front of our enterprise storage display. I pointed out the enterprise MLC SSDs, the high performance SLC SSDs and the PCIe SSDs (always a favorite!) We’re uniquely positioned providing the range of memory and storage solutions for this HPC market and I think Rich was pretty excited to learn a bit more about Micron. The next morning I was sad to leave Hamburg. Next year’s ISC’13 will be in Leipzig, and I may never return to the beautiful city at the mouth of the Elbe river. But I had four more cities to visit on my European trip, so auf Wiedersehen, Hamburg!

A Full House – 1 GHz Rounds Out DDR3 Portfolio

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:05:00 -0700

Our latest DRAM product rounds out our DDR3 offering in a big way for high-end networking and graphics customers. These new 1066MHz, 2133 MT/s data rate DDR3 devices can boost your bandwidth by as much as 33%, without significantly increasing power consumption. We’ve also collaborated with AMD Graphics and LSI to make sure that these parts are optimized for the latest SoCs and GPUs, making your design-in easier and extending the life of your existing DDR3 designs. Check out our 1 GHz DDR3 page to access more information about these new high-performance DDR3 parts.

Partnering for Enterprise Flash Innovation

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:46:00 -0700

We’re in Las Vegas this week, taking part in EMC World. Prior to the event, I had the chance to sit down with Ed Doller (our VP of Enterprise Storage Solutions) and Mark Sorenson (EMC’s senior VP of Flash products and technologies) for a two-part talk about the growing impact of Flash memory in the enterprise. Watch the second video in this series below to learn how ongoing collaboration between our two companies has resulted in some compelling enterprise storage solutions.

X Marks the Spot for Avnet’s Technical Training Road Show

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:11:00 -0700

We’re ready to hit the road for X-fest 2012, Avnet and Xilinx’s 22-city tour that takes free technical training to FPGA, DSP, and embedded system designers around the globe. Our experts will be on-hand to show you how easy it is to integrate our memory into your applications—in fact, you’ll see mix of our DDR3, RLDRAM, and NOR Flash on the KC705, Spartan-6, and K7-MMP FPGA boards that Xilinx will be using for their training demos.

We hope to see you at an X-fest event—we want to answer your memory questions, talk about your challenges, and help you find the solution you need.

And speaking of free, we’re also giving away one 2.5” 1.8GB RealSSD™ C400 drive at every event! Be sure to stop by our booth and drop your business card in the bowl for our random drawing.

In the meantime, get a head start on your learning with our video demonstration for high-end networking—a Xilinx FPGA interfacing to our RLDRAM 3 memory from a couple weeks ago.

Is Bandwidth per Watt Important to You?

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:09:00 -0700

Today’s networking OEMs face the challenging task of designing for seemingly opposite goals—high performance in an energy-conscious “green” environment.

The EPA estimates* that in 2006 the nation’s servers and data centers used about 1.5% of the total U.S. electricity consumption—a whopping 61 billion kilowatt hours (kWh)—at a cost of $4.5 billion. In 2011 these figures could nearly double, reaching more than 100 billion kWh, at a staggering annual cost of $7.4 billion.

As one of the fastest-growing energy-use sectors in the nation, servers and data storage centers need a memory solution that can satisfy their rigorous performance demands while delivering the potential for significant improvements in energy efficiency. We put together these comparison charts to show how today’s leading memory technologies stack up in terms of bandwidth per watt:

*Source: http://www.energystar.gov

750,000 IOPs from a Single SSD?

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:43:00 -0700

As promised, the video below is a live demo of the phenomenal performance you can get from our P320h PCIe SSD. It’s a simple and straightforward IOMeter measurement, but we wanted to show you how much of a leap our card makes over current solutions—the random reads output of the P320h is more than twice as fast as the nearest competitor. It all hinges on the tight integration we’ve been able to make between our custom controller and high-performance SLC NAND. I’m looking forward to keeping you posted on what our customers are be able to achieve with it. Enjoy the video.

Our PCIe SSD—Out of the Lab and Into Production

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:22:00 -0700

If you’re an SSD fan who’s been following our blog for a while, you know that we posted a from-the-lab teaser video of a prototype PCIe SSD some time ago. Our design team has been hard at work on an ideal solution, and I’m happy to tell you that today we have production product to show you. Of course PCIe drives aren’t anything new to the market, but I think you’ll agree that our solution offers some new breakthroughs in performance and efficiency. In the video below, I walk through some of the features of the P320h (you’ll quickly see why I’m so excited about this device). And stay tuned; we’ll have more performance numbers and a demo posted soon.

For Anyone Who’s Ever Tried to Compare SSDs…

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:00:00 -0700

Micron's Senior Applications Engineer, Doug Rollins, is participating in Storage Switzerland’s “How to Compare SSDs” webinar this Wednesday, March 30. Doug will talk about the importance of establishing "specsmanship"—or industry-standard terms and tests—for SSDs. Listen in as he debunks SSD myths, defines important SSD terms, and highlights standardized testing methodologies that work. Register today to attend the Webinar on Wednesday, March 30 at 11:00 a.m. EST.

C400 SSD Benchmark Results—Yeah, It’s Fast

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:31:00 -0700

Several of you have been asking to see additional benchmark results from the C400. Micron’s product engineering teams tailor their performance testing suites to OEM requirements, which focus on IOMeter and PCMark® Vantage data.

But we know most of you are interested in seeing a wide variety of tests. Our Crucial team runs many of the tests popular with reviewers, and I’ve included screen shots from AS SSD, ATTO, and CrystalDiskMark for the Crucial m4 SSD (the consumer version of the C400 OEM drive). Enjoy. You can see why we believe the C400 and m4 will be one of the most compelling client SSD designs of the year; great performance, leading 25nm NAND, and Micron’s thorough quality and reliability testing. More in-depth performance tests will be available from all your favorite reviewers in a couple weeks.

AS SSD

ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

How to Build a Solid 25nm SSD(and how not to)

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:30:00 -0800

Some of the early attempts at 25nm NAND SSDs have created some negative perceptions about the quality the NAND itself, which is really misplaced. It is possible to build great SSDs with 25nm NAND; but you do have to be deliberate about your process and objectives (it also helps to have inside knowledge about how that NAND works). I want to use today’s blog to lay out some of the key principles that guided the development of the RealSSD™ C400—our own 25nm SSD (the retail version will be branded as the Crucial M4 SSD):

Label Capacity Must Equal User Capacity
There’s nothing wrong with over-provisioning (reserving some of the NAND capacity for better performance and durability), but the drive label must state the capacity the user has access to. This is basic marketing honesty. The entire hard-drive industry got sued for this years ago and established standards for user capacity as a result. Micron follows these standards—we always market our drives at the true user capacity. In the case of the C300 and C400, the user capacities are identical—64, 128, and 256 GB (the C400 also offers a 512 GB).

Performance Must Not Degrade
We’ve taken a long-term view of the market; each new generation of drives must haveequal or better performance than the last. New NAND designs do present challenges, but because Micron leads NAND development, our SSD team has early insight into new products, and we start work early to make sure our SSDs make the best use of that NAND. The C400 is proof of that. As shown in the chart, it’s noticeably faster than the C300.

Keep Endurance High
SSD Enthusiasts are aware that new NAND designs start out at lower endurance cycle counts than the previous generation, and are sometimes wary of next-generation SSDs as a result. But cycle counts don’t necessarily translate 1:1 to drive endurance specs—good NAND management (via the firmware and controller) is the key. We specify SSD endurance in total bytes written (TBW). The 25nm C400 offers the same endurance as the C300 for the 128, 256 and 512 GB models—72 TB TBW. This is equivalent to 40GB per day every day for 5 years, and far exceeds the patterns of any PC user. The 64 GB drive endurance is rated at 36 TB TBW—that’s 20 GB per day over the same time period, which still exceeds typical consumer use patterns. We take the reliability of the C400 very seriously and have gone to great lengths to develop advanced firmware algorithms that manage the NAND. Again, being NAND developers gives us the unique ability to design end-to-end SSD quality as a complete system, alongside our NAND design team. I hope you don’t let these early attempts at 25nm SSDs dampen your enthusiasm about this new technology. The SSD market is going to change dramatically in the next few years, and leading-edge NAND (and SSDs from the companies that make that NAND) is what will make it possible. Crucial’s M4 SSD will hit the shelves in mid-March. There’s a lot to be excited about; you’ll see proof in the C400/M4 reviews in a just a few weeks.

C400 Delivers Remarkable Performance

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 09:30:00 -0800

It's true, the RealSSD™ C400 delivers some pretty impressive performance (415 MB/s reads and 260 MB/s writes). But all those IOPs and sequential performance specs are over the head of most consumers. To speak to them, we set up this simple demo of a C400 and stock hard drive running the same programs in identical laptops. Of course the demo itself isn't a novel concept by any means, but we think you'll agree that results are staggering.

Tech Talk: RealSSD™ C400 and the 2011 SSD Market

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:21:00 -0800

Dean Klein, Micron’s Vice President of Memory System Development, discusses the new RealSSD C400 drive and how SSDs will grow in 2011 with the influx of ultra-mobile notebooks. Dean also discusses how the leading-edge performance and capacities of the C400 are poised to serve this market.

RLDRAM® Memory Fuels Next-Gen Networking

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:29:00 -0800

Micron has a long history of providing networking customers with outstanding technical expertise, dedicated customer support, and some of the best low-latency memory solutions available. I’m proud that it has led to a technical collaboration with TPACK, now a subsidiary of AppliedMicro, that pairs our low-latency RLDRAM memory with their next-generation TPX5000 100G packet processor to create a highly customizable platform that maximizes networking system performance. TPACK A/S chose our RLDRAM 2 memory for their new Ardbeg reference design for high-speed 100 Gb/s optical transport systems.

It’s a high-performance design meant to help networking equipment meet the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth. TPACK has selected Micron’s RLDRAM 2 as it represents a cost-efficient, high-performing, and well supported memory solution for networking applications. To match the requirements of the networking segment, Micron is committed to providing customers with supply stability and continuity of support.

As a matter of fact, our popular RLDRAM 2 product line was recently migrated to a more advanced 50nm process technology and the Ardbeg platform makes good use of the new design. Moving to 50nm provides enhanced benefits, including improved system performance and lower power consumption. It also allowed us to move production of these parts to our most advanced fabs, which will help us maintain a much longer roadmap for RLDRAM 2 memory, enabling us to provide these parts for years to come. The TPX5000 processor (the newest in TPACK’s line of TPX packet-transport switches) delivers a full 100 Gb/s line rate and is targeted at transport network applications. It provides extensive support of Ethernet and MPLS-TP protocols with HW-based SONET-style OAM and 50ms protection for thousands of individual packet flows.

The addition of Micron’s RLDRAM 2 facilitates lookup in large Ethernet and MPLS-TP address tables at the 100 Gb/s line rate. While we expect RLDRAM 2 be used in applications like this for years to come, we recently also announced our third-generation RLDRAM 3 memory that pushes performance even further with higher densities and lower latency. To learn more about our newest RLDRAM products, visit our Web site.

ClearNAND™ Flash–Another Reason NAND is the Best Nonvolatile Memory Available

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:20:00 -0800

It’s a new NAND technology that’s going to enable new applications and continued NAND scaling. The difference is in the way it handles ECC. Get the details about what it is, how it works, and why it’s advantageous in this whiteboard overview.

The RealSSD™ C300 Ranked #16 on PCWorld’s 100 Best Tech Products of 2010

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:06:00 -0800

PCWorld recently published its list of top technology products of 2010, and coming in at No. 16 out of the 100 best in the world is the RealSSD C300 solid-state drive. In a year that has seen a fair share of breakthrough technologies – Apple’s iPad and iPhone 4, the latest version of the Amazon Kindle, and Google’s Android 2.2 smartphone operating system, just to name a few – earning a spot in the top 20 is a notable achievement. And in the Best of 2010 subcategory of “Storage and Useful Gadgets,” the C300 came in at the very top of the list. In its description of the product, PCWorld noted that the C300 “is the first SSD we've tested to support 6-gigabits-per-second SATA, which enables faster write speeds because it can push more data through the pipe” and that it “delivered top-flight overall performance and the best write performance.” PCWorld’s editorial staff evaluates hundreds of tech products throughout the year, spanning the full range of offerings from smartphones and PCs to software and storage and beyond. Only the best of the best make it onto the prestigious top 100 list each year, underscoring the truly standout capabilities of the RealSSD C300. Some of the other products joining the C300 in the top 20 include Samsung’s Galaxy Tab PC (#5) and Epic 4G smartphone (#8), Google’s Chrome Web browser (#14) and Microsoft Office 2010 (#19). Make sure to read the full article for a complete list of PCWorld’s 100 Best Tech Products of 2010.