Single-controller, terabyte-class solid state drive
Staff
Electronics CELMOSAID Technologies Inc. introduced HLSSD (HyperLink Solid State Drive), a SSD that achieves Terabyte-class storage capacity using a single controller device. MOSAID engaged PaxDisk of Korea to develop the Terabyte-class HLSSD.
MOSAID’s Terabyte-class HLSSDs are optimized for data centers and the enterprise. Based on HLNAND (HyperLink NAND) technology, MOSAID’s HLSSDs deliver scalability, performance, reliability and cost advantages over SSDs that use conventionally designed NAND Flash devices.
MOSAID’s prototype HLSSD utilizes a single FPGA-based SATA3 controller to deliver 2TB capacity over four HLNAND channels. In comparison, a conventional 2TB SSD requires four SATA3 controllers, plus a SATA3 hub controller, operating over 32 channels.
Today’s data centers are designed with up to four tiers of storage devices: lower cost, lower performance tape drives and SATA HDDs (hard disk drives), and higher cost, higher performance SAS HDDs and SSDs. This architecture necessitates advanced intelligence in the storage arrays to determine which data to allocate to the faster SAS HDDs and SSDs.
With MOSAID’s breakthrough Terabyte-class HLSSDs, only two storage tiers are needed: SATA HDDs and HLSSDs. As a result, the requirement for advanced intelligence is reduced, as is the total costs of ownership, including power, footprint, cooling, maintenance and other elements.
In mid-2013, MOSAID plans to release a 2TB/4TB/8TB production HLSSD that will use a purpose-built HLNAND Flash controller in 40nm process technology.
2TB HLSSD Features
SATA3 (6Gbps) host interface in 3.5″ form factor
2TB capacity, scalable to 8TB
single FPGA-based SATA3 controller
revolutionary SSD architecture with 2nd generation of HLDIMM
single HyperLink interface per HLDIMM for superior signal integrity
four HyperLink channels
16 32GB HLNAND Flash MCPs (multi-chip packages) per channel
MOSAID and NOVACHIPS Inc. recently entered into a joint development agreement to design and build an HLNAND controller for SSDs optimized for data center and other memory-intensive applications. An HLSSD with one HLNAND controller will support 8TB capacity with a SATA3 host interface. Scheduled for mid-2013, the HLNAND controller will be the most scalable, flexible solution available to system designers.
