Marvell Introducing First PCIe SSD Controller Supporting SATA Express

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. announced its 88SS1083 PCIe SSD controller, a two-lane PCIe Gen2 SSD controller.

With performance transfer rates up to 1GB/s, it allows SSD manufacturers to offer PCIe SSD at price parity to SATA SSD. It is compliant with the SATA Express standard, which leverages the most popular PCIe interface and brings in low latency, dual-lane support and 1GB/s data transfer rate.

The controller also supports Separate RefClock with Independent SSC (SRIS), a critical feature as it eliminates the need for an expensive shielded cable for minimizing noise and instead allows for a cost-effective SATA Express cable. SATA Express host can connect either high-performance SATA Express SSDs or traditional SATA devices at similar accessory costs.

“Improving performance while maintaining low power becomes more important than ever, especially for today’s ultrathin notebooks and tablets,” said Rajan Pai, VP, sales and field applications engineering, Marvell. “The new 88SS1083 allows SSD OEMs to offer higher performance, PCIe-based SSD solutions at similar prices to SATA and is quickly becoming the controller of choice for global OEMs. Marvell is proudly pioneering a new generation of high-performance and low-power silicon solutions that is driving our industry forward.”

“SATA Express is a breakthrough interface for internal storage and will ignite demand for fast SSDs. ASUS has worked closely with Marvell to unleash the full true performance of SATA Express and to ensure the best compatibility. SRIS-enabled SATA Express technology has been carefully engineered into selected ASUS 9 Series motherboards- and we expect this standard will breed many new and exciting devices,” said Joe Hsieh, corporate VP and GM of ASUSTeK Computer Inc.‘s motherboard and desktop business units.

In addition to SATA Express compliance, the 88SS1083 controller was designed with 28nm low-power process technology, minimizing its power consumption. As low power becomes a key factor when deploying SSD, the 88SS1083 controller’s support for DevSleep and L1.2 PCIe low power state provides another level of power management when the drive is almost completely shut down, allowing devices to be always on and always connected without reducing battery life. Additionally, the NAND flash controller design is based on the Marvell IP and can scale to support 15nm NAND flash.

Key features of 88SS1083 PCIe SSD controller include:

• New GB/s SATA Express that replaces 6Gb SATA storage
• SRIS for SATA Express connectivity and L1.2 support for low storage power management
• New IO design for cost-effective cabling and compliance with 2014 PC chipsets
• Gen 2×2, 28nm Advanced NAND flash controller for new 1znm NAND flash and Toggle 2/ONFI 3 at 400MT/s NAND IO support

The 88SS1083 is sampling to lead customers and is scheduled to be in mass production in Q4, 2014.

Marvell’s SSD controller technologies will be showcased at COMPUTEX, being held June 3-7, 2014, at the Grand Hyatt, Taipei, Taiwan, Residence One.