14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like a new solid state drive controller has been completed, one that is described by its inventors as being a fair bit ahead of its time.
The ones that pooled their resources for the creation of a new SSD controller chip are Bitmicro Networks and Global Unichip Corporation (GUC).
Dubbed TALINO-DE, the controller is not actually a chip, but a whole bunch of them assembled inside a single package.
With “multiple embedded CPUs” and high-speed serial on-chip buses, plus proprietary integrated data moving technology, it can access hundreds of flash chips at once.
Additionally, the controller permits capacities to go as high as 5TB.
Of course, it will depend on the capacity of each flash chip if that upper limit is reached, but that does not take away from the allure of the TALINO-DE itself.
“BiTMICRO is clearly at the leading edge of SSD development and exemplifies what it takes to be an innovative force in today's semiconductor market,” explains Jim Lai, president of GUC.
“Their innovativeness stretches well-beyond their technology and includes the cost effective way they have managed the entire ASIC process.”
According to the press release, the TALINO-De should deliver over 400,000 random 4 KB block write transactions I/O per second (IOPS).
Also, it has native support for ONFi, Toggle Mode DDR SLC, MLC, eMLC and legacy SAND SLC memory devices.
Finally, the two partners threw in end-to-end data integrity, full data path protection, AES encryption, power management and even embedded XOR engines (faster performance in RAID configurations).
“The combination of GUC's PCIe, SATA, SAS PHY IP products and the broad scope of their flexible SOC design services, manufacturing capabilities and strong relationship with TSMC gave us no reason to hold back in our designs,” says Rey Bruce, CEO of BiTMICRO Networks.
“From the start, we are confident the TALINO-DE controller will create a huge impact in the storage industry. Backed by GUC's world-class testing facilities, we know they are the most viable option for us.”
Market testing of the TALINO-DE will begin in the second quarter, as part of Bitmicro E-Disk products.