BiTMICRO's next-gen SSD controller to deliver blazing speed and big storage in 2012
SSD controllers aren't the most glamorous chunks of silicon to be hawking, but you can make quite a name for yourself with them (just ask SandForce). BiTMICRO is betting that its next-gen platform will be something manufacturers will want in on. Targeted primarily at enterprise class devices, the as yet unnamed chips will be capable of performing 400,000 random write IOPS per second and support drives up to 5TB in size. By comparison, SandForce's SF-2000 tops out at 60,000 IOPS. Others will have time to catch up, though, BiTMICRO says the platform will be ready for "market testing" during the first half of 2012. Check out the PR after the break.
Show full PR text
Full Speed Ahead With the Integration of BiTMICRO's Next Generation of Solid State Drive Controllers
SAS, SATA, FC and PCIe Enterprise-Class SSD to Deliver More Than 400,000 Random Write IOPS and Scale Up to More Than 5TB of Pure Solid State Storage
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BiTMICRO Networks, a pioneer in intelligent flash solid state drive (SSD) storage solutions has gone full cycle in the development of its two new generation application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designs, optimized to meet the growing market need for high-performance, secured and cost-effective SSD solutions.
BiTMICRO's new platform architecture, considered as the only solid state drive storage platform design featuring two customized ASIC controllers, serves as the foundation for its new breed of SSD storage solutions expected to be released soon. A combination of SSD controller and flash channel expander controller, these high-performing third-generation ASICs enable BiTMICRO to offer a variety of solid state storage product lines by utilizing one common platform architecture. This strategy demonstrates BiTMICRO's commitment to invent, design and deliver cutting-edge SSD storage solutions thereby resulting to faster time-to-market and reduced development cost.
The third-generation platform architecture consists of a multi-core SSD controller integrated with multiple high-speed serial on-chip buses and embedded processors, achieving high-speed data transfer between host and storage device. It supports Toggle and ONFI SLC and MLC flash memory devices. In addition, this controller is the only ASIC platform designed with built-in standard I/O cores such as SAS, SATA and PCIe, eliminating the need for a bridge or third party I/O controllers.
The intelligent flash channel expander controller, on the other hand, manages the flash devices and supports multi-block I/O operations over a large array of flash devices, improving parallelism of I/O transfers between the host and flash devices. The highly scalable architecture allows the number of flash channel expanders to be increased depending on the performance and capacity requirements of a particular application.
BiTMICRO maintains its strategy to design and develop controllers directly to ASIC skipping the FPGA model. ASICs provide designers the flexibility and efficiency in programmability. It also offers higher performance, lower power, mixed-signal integration, and lower unit cost in volume compared to FPGA. In order to fit all the necessary features to address customer requirements across industries in the enterprise and military/industrial segments, BiTMICRO believes that the direct-to-customized ASIC strategy offers the best solution for the solid state storage market today.
"The completion of the new platform design is considered a major achievement in our business strategy. Being a pioneer in this industry, we realize the need to adapt to the demands of new markets and explore new technologies using our Research and Development team. Proven by our growing patent portfolio, we are committed to continue our innovation efforts in addressing the need for storage with the right cost-performance mix. It is with high anticipation that we see these technologies come to fruition and work for our customers," says Rey Bruce, CEO of BiTMICRO Networks.
With BiTMICRO's new platform strategy, the next-generation SSD storage products have been designed to fully maximize the new ASIC features. Intended to support both the enterprise and rugged markets, these products are expected to deliver more than 400,000 random write transactions per second, scale up to more than 5TB of pure solid state storage capacity, ensure enterprise-class drive life endurance, and offered in SAS, SATA, Fibre Channel, and PCIe interfaces. Other features include full data path protection, embedded AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) engines for data security, and other resource optimization features.
The SSD storage device-level products utilizing said ASIC architecture are expected to be ready for market testing by the first half of 2012.
About BiTMICRO Networks
BiTMICRO® Networks, a privately held California corporation, is the leading provider of rugged and high performance non-volatile solid state drives and storage management solutions. E-Disk® Altima™ storage solutions are offered with SCSI, IDE/ATA, Fibre Channel and SATA interfaces in 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hard disk drive footprints, and scalable up to several terabytes of pure solid state storage.
E-Disk® Altima™ and BiTMICRO® are registered trademarks of BiTMICRO Networks, Inc. For more information, visit http://www.bitmicro.com.
