Blog Archives

MLC vs. SLC – Podcast

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Charlie Hodges

Does the difference between MLC vs SLC matter anymore? Storage Switzerland Senior Analyst Eric Slack and I about his latest article on MLC and SLC and how manufacturers are working to make MLC more acceptable in the Enterprise. To read…

Tagged with: All-Flash, All-Flash Array, Flash, Flash memory, Flash memory controller, flash storage, Hard disk drive, MLC, Server Side Flash, SLC, SSD
Posted in Podcast

Innovation plus Longevity Wins in the Web-scale Market

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Eric Slack

At LSI’s Accelerating Innovation Summit (AIS) this year, someone brought up a blog I’d written after a previous AIS event where an LSI executive said they had a RAID stack that was 25 years old. What popped into my mind…

Tagged with: Flash memory controller, LSI, PCI Express, RAID, SandForce, Serial ATA, Solid-state drive
Posted in Blog

Power Failure and Flash Storage

Posted on April 10, 2013 by George Crump

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the issue of power failures in flash based solid state storage systems. In various tests run by industry associations flash based solid state disk (SSD) devices, when subjected to a sudden power-loss,…

Are All PCIe SSDs Created Equal?

Posted on January 16, 2013 by George Crump

One of the more popular approaches to implementing solid state disks (SSDs) is to implement the flash memory on a PCIe card, which is installed directly into a server. This places the high performance storage directly at the point of…

Tagged with: Controller, Flash memory controller, OCZ Technology, PCI Express, performance, Serial ATA, Solid-state drive, SSD, SSDs
Posted in Article

Cutting The Price On 1 Million IOPS

Posted on November 1, 2012 by George Crump

Marvell is a leader in the development of storage, communications and consumer silicon solutions, basically they provide vendors with key components so they can deliver complete solutions to end users. Recently Marvell announced the 88N9145 native PCIe SSD controller which…

Advancing the State of the Art in PCIe SSD

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Eric Slack

Solid State Drives (SSDs) that leverage the PCIe bus provide the ultimate storage I/O performance boost by providing the CPU with direct access to zero-latency storage. But all PCIe SSDs are not created equal. There is room for advancing the…

Tagged with: Flash memory, Flash memory controller, MLC, Multi-level cell, OCZ Technology, PCI Express, Solid-state drive, SSD
Posted in Product Analysis

Why Flash Wears Out and How to Make it Last Longer

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Eric Slack

The life expectancy and durability of flash-based storage is a common topic in many presentations involving solid-state drive (SSD) products. While flash endurance is a prime factor in the economics of this technology, seldom is the audience given an explanation…

Tagged with: Bit Error Rate, ECC, Flash memory, Flash memory controller, HGST, MLC, Multi-level cell, Solid-state drive, SSD, sTec
Posted in Article

As an SSD Supplier, LSI isn’t just a Flash in the Pan

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Eric Slack

Flash technologies are certainly a hot topic in storage and IT these days. A lot of new companies are coming onto the market with exciting new products. There’s one company that’s somewhat of a fixture in the storage industry but…

Tagged with: Flash memory, Flash memory controller, LSI, LSI Corporation, NetApp, Solid-state drive
Posted in Briefing Note