VIA Labs has just launched its second generation USB 3.0 to NAND single-chip controller for flash drives which is expected to double the performance of its predecessor while also allowing hardware makers to build cheaper USB 3.0 Flash storage devices.
This new controller is based on a quad-channel design with support for interleaved memory, that was augmented by the introduction of pre-read and pre-write buffers and thanks to a pipelined ECC engine.
Combined with the improved support for 20nm and 30nm NAND Flash memories,
VIA Labs states the VL751 is able to deliver nearly a 100% performance boost over the previous VL750 with no increase in power consumption.
Translated into actual performance numbers, this means that devices based on the VL751 will be able to reach transfer speeds of 120MB/s or potentially more, depending on the NAND Flash used.
In USB 2.0 mode, these will be reduced to about 35MB/s, which almost maxes out the theoretical bandwidth of the standard.
In addition to its high performance, VIA Labs latest USB 3.0 Flash
controller also beings support for the bulk-only transport (BOT) and UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) standards in order to deliver better compatibility across a wide range of operating systems without requiring any drivers.
"With USB 3.0 functionality being integrated into next-generation chipsets, virtually all new desktops and laptops will have USB 3.0 by early next year" said David Hsu, associate vice president, VIA Labs, Inc.
"The VIA Labs VL751 will be important in the general broadening of the
USB 3.0 ecosystem by allowing fast, large capacity flash drives of 32GB or more to be readily available and more affordable than ever," concluded the company's rep.
VIA Labs has already started sampling the USB-IF certified VL751 USB 3.0 to NAND Flash controller. The first flash drives built around this IC are expected to arrive latter this year.
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