Embedded Technology
The future of embedded storage technology
With 3D NAND flash manufacturing ramping up a pace, what lies in store for embedded storage technology? Graham Hutchins, marketing manager, Simms, tell us more
T
he NAND flash shortages have been well documented over the last 18 months as flash manufacturers focus
on 3D NAND. Production has increased significantly with 3D NAND forecasted by industry experts to account for 74 per cent of all NAND shipped by the end of 2018. By 2025 that figure is expected to be 97 per cent.
Consumer grade 3D NAND has naturally taken priority as Fab manufacturers need to see quick returns, so what of industrial grade form factors? The pace of industrial embedded storage is certainly much slower than consumer storage, with a focus on quality and endurance rather than price and quantity. We are seeing more 3D industrial products slowly drip feed into the market as industrial vendors spend time and money exploring the possibilities and performance boundaries of 3D NAND for industrial
grade form factors. It is hardly surprising therefore that it has taken longer for the industrial manufacturers to release their 3D NAND products alongside the more established SLC and (2D) MLC flash lines. Having the latest NAND flash is all well and good but when pushing the boundaries of performance further, the interface plays an important role. The SATA III interface has long been considered the industry standard but there is now a shift towards a more dynamic interface, PCIe. Could this be set to become the industry standard for years to come? From a distributor’s perspective, we are seeing more PCIe enquires and end users wanting to understand performance characteristics in more detail. Taking a lead on industrial PCIe embedded storage is Taiwanese manufacturer ATP Electronics. ATP’s iTemp M.2 NVMe SSDs are designed for a PCIe Generation 3.0 x4 lane high-
speed interface, delivering a bandwidth of up to 32 Gb/s (8 Gb/s per lane), which is four to six times the data transfer speed of previous-generation SATA drives. With densities of up to 1TB, Global Wear Levelling and TRIM support on the latest Windows and Linux operating systems, these SSDs are ready for the data-intensive age of autonomous embedded systems. This storage is designed and built to last for years, even in demanding applications and environments. ATP are seeing a high level of interest for Industrial Temperature (iTemp) embedded solutions, especially around high capacity (1TB) M.2 storage with a PCIe interface, a trend which will doubtless continue in the future. NVMe was designed for enterprise and client applications that need acceleration in critical data. Data centres will benefit greatly, as NVMe eliminates bottlenecks and provides capabilities to meet the very demanding and time- sensitive requirements of cloud, internet portal data centres and other high- performance computing (HPC) environments. Aside from enterprises and data centres, NVMe offers vast potential and superior performance for gaming, entertainment and next- generation automotive applications.
The future looks bright, with higher capacities certainly in the pipeline as 3D NAND flash sets to cement itself into embedded storage. 3D NAND is fast becoming the NAND flash of choice in consumer and enterprise applications. The variance in 3D NAND quality and performance is also something to be wary of and performance can vary greatly. The best advice would be to thoroughly test potential 3D form factors and get a controlled BoM in place to ensure consistency of performance
For industrial sectors SLC, pSLC and MLC still remain the NAND of choice, as quality and performance rather than capacity and price are the driving factors in determining the right flash storage. Industrial NAND is highly customisable and offers better total cost of ownership, endurance, performance and through life cost. SLC and MLC supply is returning to the kind of lead times we saw back in 2016, typically 2-4 weeks, although allocation is a little tighter than we would like on capacities under 128GB. We still advise customers to forecast requirements as best they can to be in a better long-term position.
www.simms.co.uk
www.cieonline.co.uk
Components in Electronics
March 2018 17
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