Microchip: Flashtec NVMe 3108 PCIe Gen 4 Enterprise NVMe SSD 8-Channel Controller

As data centers support more AI and ML workloads, there is a need for cloud scale infrastructure that provides more bandwidth to storage and more storage density per rack.

The trend is therefore to adopt PCIe Gen 4-capable NVMe SSDs in smaller form factors such as M.2 and the newer SNIA Enterprise and Data Center SSD Form Factor (EDSFF) E1.S form factors. These SSDs require controllers with optimized footprints and power while driving the NAND flash to its maximum potential and maintaining a rich feature set and the reliability demanded by this enterprise of NVMe SSD.

Microchip Technology Inc. announced a member of the Flashtec family, the Flashtec NVMe 3108 PCIe Gen 4 enterprise NVMe SSD controller. This 8-channel controller complements the 16-channel Flashtec NVMe 3016 and provides a suite of PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD solutions to support a set of data center storage requirements.

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The Flashtec NVMe 3108 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD controller enables a variety of compact SSD form factors with power and compelling performance and reliability metrics while delivering industry security features. It boasts greater than 1 million IO/s for random workloads and greater than 6GB/s of sequential bandwidth. The solution provides end-to-end enterprise data integrity with reliability and critical security features including secure boot with ‘Hardware Root of Trust’ to ensure that data center operators can provide a high level of available data security. The 8 programmable flash channel controllers are coupled with strong error correction engines that provide future-proof support for next gen high layer count TLC and QLC NAND technologies.

“The PCIe Gen 4 storage ecosystem is poised for rapid adoption by data center operators worldwide and we’re very excited to announce the availability of our new flashtec NVMe 3108 to enable new products in this space,” said Andrew Dieckmann, associate VP, data center solutions business unit. “The Flashtec NVMe 3108 delivers enterprise performance and enterprise reliability in a compact package with low power, enabling flashtec based SSD solutions to be optimized for lower capacity points and smaller form-factors with compelling power and performance attributes.“

The Flashtec NVMe 3108’s flexibility is its programmable multi-core ARM subsystem. Combined with a number of hardware acceleration engines this enables users to optimize their own SSD solutions for a variety of applications including single root IO virtualization (SR-IOV)-capable SSDs, Zoned Namespace SSDs, Key Value SSDs and Open Channel SSDs while maintaining targeted performance. Furthermore, this controller supports dual port modes of operation providing HA solutions for external storage system applications.

“As Memblaze looks forward to PCIe Gen 4 infrastructure we continue our focus on performance, energy efficiency and reliability as we evolve the PBlaze family to new higher layer count NAND across our product portfolio,” said Taile Zhang, SVP, product and R&D, Beijing Memblaze Technology Co., Ltd.. “Microchip’s innovative Flashtec NVMe 3108 NVMe SSD controller enables a performant, reliable, secure and flexible solution for cost and power sensitive mainstream applications with rapid time-to-market due to firmware portability with the high performance NVMe 3016 NVMe SSD controller.“

The Flashtec NVMe 3108 is part of the company’s end-to-end suite of storage infrastructure and endpoint solutions for PCIe Gen 4, which includes the Flashtec NVMe 3016 16-channel NVMe SSD controller, the Switchtec family of PCIe Gen 4 switches and fabric solutions and the SmartRAID and SmartHBA PCIe Gen 4 tri-mode storage solutions.

Beyond storage, the firm provides data center infrastructure builders with system solutions including memory, timing and synchronization systems, stand-alone secure boot, secure firmware and authentication, wireless products, touch-enabled displays to configure and monitor data center equipment, and predictive fan controls.

Development tools
The Flashtec NVMe 3108 offers several options for software and hardware support. A software development kit includes the firm’s reference firmware with optional hardened firmware modules, simulation tools, debug tools including the company’s Chiplink diagnostic tools, evaluation boards and reference designs, global support and a suite of collateral.

The Flashtec NVMe 3108 is available for sampling to qualified customers.

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June 26, 2020 | Press Release