Intel talks up, buys into, flash memory

Giant chipmaker Intel had made more moves which show their commitment to the idea and practice of flash memory devices, this time in the context of use of the technology by major corporate systems.

Intel made two announcements yesterday that firms up their already strong commitment to flash memory technology. The company has already moved strongly into the flash memory arena meant for the PC arena, and are now consolidating their efforts in the area of flash memory for the enterprise. Flash memory devices are used just like hard disk drives, but use solid state memory instead of spinning platter to store data, making them faster that traditional media and potentially more reliable.

Intel’s first announcement involved its leading role among 18 companies which have invested $32 million in Anobit, an Israeli company who has important patents which should lead to lower cost and higher reliability with a type of flash memory known as multilevel cell flash or MLC flash. According to Anobit, this new technology “combats the inherent physical limitations of NAND flash using advanced mathematical methods. In this way, Anobit eliminates the NAND [flash] endurance problem and the associated cost barriers.” The technology has already been licensed by both Samsung and Hynix, according to a CNET story.

Intel also jointly announced progress on another front, together with Hitachi. The latter company is rolling out its new Ultrastar SSD400S solid state drive family which is a technology based on Intel’s flash memory chips. The new Hitachi drives are available in 100GB, 200GB, and 400GB capacities, with both 2.5-inch 6 gigabit-per-second (Gb/s) Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and 3.5-inch 4Gb/s Fibre Channel (FC) interfaces.

The Hitachi flash drives are already shipping to selected OEM buyers, while the MLC flash technology will not be available for sale until further down the road. Both technologies advance the speed and reliability of computer storage over and above that currently enjoyed by users of conventions hard drives. With Intel strongly behind the technology, and with prices dropping while capacities grow, Flash has to be clearly seen of the path of the future.