Innodisk Developing iSLC NAND Memory

By Tarun Iyer
published

InnoDisk’s iSLC technology aims to create cost effective, long lasting NAND memory with performance on par with Single-Level Cell (SLC) designs.

InnoDisk has announced the development of its patent pending iSLC technology that aims to provide a low cost, high-performance and reliable flash storage solution for industrial applications. iSLC increases the sensitivity delta between the levels of a Multi-Level Cell (MLC) memory by reprogramming its two bits/cell into a single bit/cell.

InnoDisk states that this change results in a tenfold increase in lifespan and a 70 percent increase in write speeds (on SATA II), which should provide iSLC memory with comparable performance to SLC memory at a significantly lower cost. The company further noted that iSLC memory has 30,000 Program Erase Cycles which grants iSLC SSDs the theoretical ability to sustain 32 GB drive writes per day for at least seven years.

Innodisk’s iSLC technology has already been integrated into selected product lines for SATA II SSDs and is expected to be first introduced on SATA III SSDs in Q2 2013.

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Tarun Iyer
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • patrick47018
    Can't wait to hear more about this, its similar to what Samsung and Hynix were doing a while back.
    Reply
  • nforce4max
    Wow look how bad MLC is compared to anything else, I am glad that I found a cheap source of SLC based SSDs for my retro projects.
    Reply
  • Adam Lovelace
    How does this compare to MRAM?
    Reply
  • kenyee
    nforce4maxWow look how bad MLC is compared to anything else, I am glad that I found a cheap source of SLC based SSDs for my retro projects.
    Care to share? Would love a cheap SLC source for low power security monitoring... :_)
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    So it's going to cost significantly less than true SLC... but roughly twice as much as traditional MLC. On the other hand, the vastly increased endurance means it would make an awesome cache drive! It would also be great if they integrated it into hybrid drives, for laptops, etc. A large enough high-endurance cache would allow for very SSD-like performance out of a hybrid, with tons of storage capacity, at a reasonable price.
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    Adam LovelaceHow does this compare to MRAM?
    MRAM, IIRC, doesn't have write limitations like flash memory at all and is instead more like a hard drive as far as write limitation goes (IE nearly limitless). However, the technologies needed to make MRAM with decent density are owned by different companies, all of which seem to have no intention of working together, so it's a little difficult to put MRAM into any current storage technology comparison where at least decent capacity is required, such as desktop/laptop/smartphone/tablet storage.
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    The endurance graph is lacking without a bar for eMLC IMO.
    Reply