Netlist HybriDIMM Storage Class Memory

Netlist, Inc. announced the public demonstration of its HybriDIMM Storage Class Memory (SCM) product at the upcoming Flash Memory Summit.

Using an industry standard DDR4 LRDIMM interface, HybriDIMM is the first SCM product to operate in current Intel x86 servers without BIOS and hardware changes, and the first unified DRAM-NAND solution that scales memory to terabyte storage capacities and accelerates storage to nanosecond memory speeds.
 
HybriDIMM’s architecture combines an on-DIMM co-processor with Netlist’s PreSight technology’s predictive software-defined data management – to unify memory and storage at near-DRAM speeds. HybriDIMM improves application performance by reducing data access latency by up to 1,000 times versus the fastest existing storage solution and provides up to 80% cost reduction compared to the highest existing memory density for in-memory applications. HybriDIMM’s feature-set encompasses the NVDIMM functionalities adopted by the industry.
 
In 2015 Netlist partnered with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. under a joint development agreement for a standards-based SCM. Xilinx, Inc. and Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT) have also partnered with Netlist to create an ecosystem that drives broad adoption of HybriDIMM in the market place.
 
“Our technology addresses the explosive growth of unstructured data and the increasing need to process that data in memory. By delivering the industry’s first plug and play SCM solution, Netlist is helping to make big data analytics accessible for the broader market,” said C.K. Hong, chairman and CEO, Netlist. “We are excited to be working with global partners to the benefit of end customers.“
 
“The promise of SCM is to bridge the price-performance gap between DRAM and NAND. Others are attempting to cross this chasm with new memory materials. By combining the best attributes of proven technologies – DRAM’s speed and durability with NAND’s capacity, persistence and cost, Netlist is able to deliver a cost-effective SCM product today,” said Jim Handy, principal analyst, Objective Analysis. “SCM market could exceed $2 billion by 2020.“
 
At the Flash Memory Summit, Netlist will be demonstrating its HybriDIMM SCM solutions through a live demo showcasing:

• The first SCM product with plug and play DDR4 LRDIMM interface on an Intel x86 server without a BIOS change
• The  SCM product concurrently presenting both block storage and byte addressable persistent memory, while running at near memory speeds

Netlist plans to provide samples of HybriDIMM to select customers starting later this year with volume production expected in 2017.
 

Technical Summary of DDR4 HybriDIMM:

• Unifies memory and storage into one module (DIMM), breaking the decades-long limitations of the Von Neumann computing architecture
• Applies the predictive algorithms of the PreSight technology to pre-fetch and stage required data to scale memory to storage capacities
• Accelerates storage access time to near memory speeds using advanced buffering technolog
• Allows the use of multi-terabytes of persistent memory at speeds an order of magnitude faster than NAND, to run real-time in-memory applications on existing Intel-based servers
• Gen. 1 HybriDIMM: configurable 256-512GB NAND + 8-16GB DRAM per DIMM/1866 MTS 3DPC for Broadwell with Linux support; block storage mode, application direct mode
• Gen. 2 HybriDIMM: configurable 1TB NAND + 32GB DRAM per DIMM/2400 MTS 2DPC for Purley with Linux, Windows support; block storage mode, application direct mode

“IDT is excited to partner with Netlist as its preferred DDR4 LRDIMM chipset supplier for their trailblazing HYBRIDIMM for storage class memory (SCM). The convergence of memory and storage subsystems is enabling a whole new class of applications that will adopt IDT’s DDR4 LRDIMM chipset to maximize performance and bandwidth. HYBRIDIMM is an exciting and important example of such an application and expands IDT’s addressable market for memory interface beyond traditional DRAM based modules into high capacity storage solutions,” said Rami Sethi, VP and GM, memory interface products, IDT.

“Today’s data centers require flexibility to meet the ever-increasing demand for access to data. HybriDIMM is a great example of how Xilinx’s software-defined and hardware optimized approach brings value to key partners, such as Netlist, who are creating innovative high performance memory solutions to accelerate data in the data center,” said Manoj Roge, director, data center strategy and marketing, Xilinx.
 
“The Carnegie Mellon Database Group is committed to actively working with leading industry partners like Netlist to develop the next generation of in-memory database management systems. The Netlist Storage Class Memory solution is a promising medium that will enable ‘real-time’ analytical database applications that go beyond what existing hardware can support today. We are excited to collaborate with Netlist and the Storage Class Memory ecosystem partners in our database research projects,” said Andy Pavlo, assistant professor, computer science, Carnegie Mellon University.

Netlist is working with leading HybriDIMM ecosystem hardware and software providers and is a technology partner with Cloudera, Hortonworks, MapR, Red Hat, and SAP.