SMART Modular Announces its Gen-Z NVRAM Media Controller Demonstration Card

NEWARK, Calif., Aug. 08, 2017 -- SMART Modular Technologies, a subsidiary of SMART Global Holdings, Inc., (NASDAQ:SGH), and a leader in specialty memory, storage and hybrid solutions including memory modules, Flash memory cards and other solid state storage products, today announced its Gen-Z NVRAM media controller demonstration card.  In a PCIe HHHL (half-height half-length) form factor, SMART’s demonstration card supports the Gen-Z interconnect standard which was developed to enable new solution architectures for delivering high levels of performance (high-bandwidth, low-latency), software efficiency, power optimizations, and industry agility. 

SMART's new Gen-Z NVRAM Media Controller Card supports OEMs adopting the new Gen-Z high bandwidth, low latency interconnect protocol standard for handling big data.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b1c5fe7e-5999-4a42-b62b-59030ed63003

SMART’s Gen-Z evaluation board uses a new scalable computing interconnect protocol with high bandwidth and low latency that provides a simplified interface based on memory semantics. It operates at data rates up to 64GB/s and with less than 100ns load-to-use memory latency and incorporates 768GB of Flash and 16GB of DRAM. The card is also scalable from ten to several hundred GB/s of bandwidth. The Gen-Z protocol is designed to handle advance workloads, enabling data centric computing with scalable memory pools and resources for real-time analytics and in-memory applications.

SMART is partnering with IntelliProp, a leader in innovative semiconductors for data storage applications, to develop and bring to market Gen-Z protocol storage solutions. IntelliProp’s application-specific standard product (ASSP) is a persistent memory (PM) controller named Cobra that supports the Gen-Z interconnect protocol and provides connectivity to DRAM and NAND Flash devices. The Cobra PM controller further supports byte addressability to DRAM cache and block addressability to the NAND Flash. Since Cobra is attached to the Gen-Z fabric vs. the DDR4 memory bus, 2.5-inch, U.2 and AIC form factors are available to achieve much higher capacity for persistent memory devices. The Cobra controller supports up to 32GB of DRAM and 6TB of NAND.

With total worldwide data expected to reach 163ZB by 2025, ten times greater than the amount of data generated today, “real-time” data analysis will become even more critical for OEMs.  The Gen-Z interconnect standard solves the bandwidth and latency bottlenecks associated with existing computer architectures allowing for more advanced topologies including multi-CPU shared composable memory architectures. SMART’s Gen-Z NVRAM media controller demonstration card showcases how the Gen-Z standard is designed to handle advance workloads, enabling data centric computing with scalable memory pools and resources for real-time analytics and in-memory applications. OEMs with plans to launch Gen-Z-enabled high-performance computing systems can use SMART’s media storage controller card as a storage device in Gen-Z fabrics.

SMART’s Gen-Z NVRAM media controller demonstration card will be showcased at the Flash Memory Summit from August 8-10 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. It can be seen in a live demonstration in the IntelliProp booth #821. You can also stop by the SMART Modular Technologies booth #627 to view the Gen-Z media controller demonstration card and to learn more about SMART’s support of this new protocol.

For more information about SMART’s Gen-Z NVRAM media controller demonstration card, please visit www.smartm.com/gen-z.

Connect with SMART on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/smart-modular-technologies

About SMART Modular Technologies
SMART Modular Technologies is a global leader in specialty memory, storage and hybrid solutions serving the electronics industry for over 25 years. SMART Modular delivers solutions to a broad customer base, including OEMs in computing, networking, communications, storage, mobile and industrial markets. Focused on providing extensive customer-specific design capabilities, technical support and value-added testing services, SMART collaborates closely with their global OEM customers throughout their design process and across multiple projects to create memory, storage and hybrid solutions for demanding applications with differentiated requirements. Taking innovations from the design stage through manufacturing and supply, SMART Modular has developed a comprehensive product line comprised of DRAM, Flash and hybrid memory technologies across various form factors. SMART Modular is a subsidiary of SMART Global Holdings, Inc. See www.smartm.com for more information.

About IntelliProp, Inc. 
IntelliProp, Inc. develops ASSP Products, IP cores and highly integrated licensable IP Products for the Data Storage industry. Areas of significant expertise exist in SATA, SAS, NVMe/PCIe, Gen-Z and RAID technologies. Its headquarters, sales office and design center are located in Longmont, CO.

Contact:
Arthur Sainio
SMART Modular Technologies
(510) 624-8126
[email protected]