Ceva SATA3.0 IP for 6Gb SSD Applications

CEVA, Inc., licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) platform solutions and DSP cores, announced the availability of the CEVA-SATA3.0 Device Controller IP. Building on extensive experience with SSD customers, CEVA has upgraded its SATA Device Controller IP to provide 6Gbps line rate for faster data transfers, doubling the throughput from the previous generation. The IP has already been licensed to a leading Flash memory semiconductor manufacturer for use in their future SSD designs.

The CEVA-SATA3.0 IP incorporates the latest Native Command Queuing (NCQ) specifications for Isochronous data transfers and queue management which in turn enables prioritized transfers of streaming audio and video data. In addition, CEVA has further developed the unique CPU off-loading features of the Controller IP, resulting in significantly improved overall system performance. With an option to embed an advanced encryption engine and retaining software compatibility against the previous SATA 2.6 Controller, the CEVA-SATA3.0 Device Controller IP offers a compelling SATA solution for both existing and new licensees.

"Solid State Drives, with their rapid evolution in terms of capacity, reliability and performance, are becoming the lead adopter for 6Gbps SATA,” said Aviv Malinovitch, vice president, Operations at CEVA. “Our CEVA-SATA3.0 unleashes the full performance potential of next-generation SSD products while also offering the added benefit of offloading the CPU by assisting in the processing of the 6Gbps transactions.”

CEVA-SATA3.0 Device Controller IP is a licensable RTP IP package, accompanied by a complete set of deliverables including a comprehensive simulation environment, example C source code and an FPGA-based demonstration platform. The latter runs at full 6Gbps line rate and employs the embedded SerDes functions of the latest generation FPGA products. In addition, example integration reference designs can be provided for leading 3rd party 6Gbps Phy technology providers. Suitable for ASIC, ASSP and FPGA deployment, the CEVA-SATA3.0 Controller IP is ideal for designers looking to implement 6Gbps SATA on next-generation SSD and other high performance storage products.