FMS: Fadu and SiFive Unveil Annapurna SSD Controller and Bravo Series Enterprise SSD

SiFive, Inc. provider of commercial RISC-V processor IP, and Fadu, fabless company developing solutions and systems for the memory and storage market, announced the availability of Fadu’s Annapurna SSD controller and Fadu Bravo series enterprise SSD, powered by SiFive’s i64-bit, E51 multicore RISC-V Core IP.

The Annapurna SSD controller is a RISC-V based SSD Controller and provides a high throughput (3.5GB/s) and IO/s (800,000), while consuming less than 1.8W active power.

Powered by Annapurna, the Bravo SSD is a 7mm low-power U.2 supporting dual port and offers 3-4X IO/s/watt greater efficiency, 30% lower power, and the most consistent latency QoS in its class. Despite consuming only 6-8W of active power, Bravo outperforms competing solutions at 25W, due to its innovative design, advanced flash memory controller, and use of SiFive’s 64-bit embedded RISC-V Core IP.

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“Fadu is focused on building the most advanced memory and storage devices for our customers and addressing their ongoing needs,” said Jihyo Lee, CEO, Fadu. “SiFive’s RISC-V CoreIP was 1/3 the power and 1/3 the area of competing solutions, and gave Fadu the flexibility we needed in optimizing our architecture to achieve these groundbreaking products.“

Fadu SSDs

Fadu expects to become a leader in the enterprise SSD market, particularly in the hyperscale datacenter. The company demonstrated its Annapurna controller and Bravo SSD at the Flash Memory Summit.

“The flexibility, 64-bit, embedded and multicore features of the E51 RISC-V Core IP is ideal for the storage market and we’re excited to be closely partnered with Fadu, who was able to quickly take advantage of RISC-V and deliver a true world-leading product,” said Jack Kang, VP, product, SiFive. “SiFive looks forward to working with Fadu as they continue to build next-generation products for the SSD industry.“

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About SiFive
SiFive is a provider of market-ready processor core IP based on the RISC-V instruction set architecture. Led by a team of industry veterans and founded by the inventors of RISC-V, the company helps SoC designers reduce time-to-market and realize cost savings with customized, open-architecture processor cores, and democratizes access to optimized silicon by enabling system designers to build customized RISC-V based semiconductors. The firm is located in Silicon Valley and has venture backing from Sutter Hill Ventures, Spark Capital, Osage University Partners and Chengwei Capital, along with strategic partners Huami, SK Telecom, Western Digital and Intel Capital.

About Fadu
Fadu is a fabless company focusing on memory and storage solutions and systems. Increasing data requires next generation storage and advanced solutions. The company believes that new and innovative ideas are required in this fast-changing environment. Built based on three groups of talented architects including Ph.Ds, high caliber ASIC experts, and seasoned SSD engineers from leading memory and storage companies, the firm’s team has capabilities to take innovation to the next level in this industry.

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