Enterprise SSDs & NAND

Rahul Advani, PhD Director, Product Marketing PMC-Sierra

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 1 Agenda

In the beginning…

How is the landscape changing?

Challenges & Solutions

Summary

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 2 In the Beginning…

PCIe SATA SAS

Write Intensive (20+ RFPD) (Database, HPC, Analytics) SLC

Mixed Workload (5-10 RFPD) (Email, OLTP, Virtual Desktop) eMLC

Read Intensive (1-3 RFPD) cMLC (Web, Streaming, File Servers)

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 3 What Changed?

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 4 1. The Rise of the Cloud

VARIETY . Shorter life cycles . Hybrid Pools Hot, Warm, Cold . Scalability VELOCITY TB  PB  EB  ZB . Technical: Speed/Latency . Business: Qual & Deployment . Business Velocity

VOLUME . 37% of 2016 servers 12% in 2010 (IDC) . WW growth . Evolving business models

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 5 2. The Big Data Revolution “COMPUSTORE”

Application

Server 1 Server 2 Server 3 Server #

Metadata & K/V Pairs

Distributed Storage

“Server Virtualization & IAAS”

App 1 App 2-3 App 3-10 App #

VM 1 VM 2 VM 3 VM 4 “GOS” “MSFT” “LINUX” “GOS”

vNIC’s/vSwitch Hypervisor vHBA’s/vSAN

App 1 App # Flash Memory Summit 2014 Centralized Storage Santa Clara, CA 6 3. The Memory Industry Changed

Memory Industry (Revenue) SLC MLC eMLC Other Nanya Sandisk 3% 2% Samsung 9% 32% eMLC TLC 13% SLC MLC mid

MLC High 1X Perf 19% SK Hynix Low 22% 3D Micron Power 1Y Consolidation has changed 1Z Memory Industry dynamics

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 7 Source: PMC marketing, yahoo.com Challenges & Solutions

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 8 The Fundamental Challenge

Expensive Multiple Multiple controller customer relevant developments needs memories

How to satisfy customer needs cost effectively?

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 9 Challenge: NAND & enterprise cycles

Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1

Internal qual Customer qual Production 2-3 quarters ?

Node 1

MLC eMLC ES eMLC MP Sweet spot moves to node 2

Node 2

Long Fast Enterprise Memory Cycles Cycles

10 Challenge: TLC even more difficult…

Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1

Internal qual Customer qual Production 2-3 quarters ?

Node 1

MLC eMLC ES eMLC MP TLC MP Sweet spot (Enterprise) moves to node 2

Node 2

TLC used in enterprise as cost differential declines versus node 2 MLC

Performance Endurance Cost Schedule TLC ~ 50% or lower ~ 25% or lower 0.8 (N1) + 2-3 quarters (vs MLC) ~1 (N2) (BGA, ODP+)

11 Solution: Software Defined Flash

Platform “Knobs” Power DRAM Flash Flash Host Applications Used Density Density Type/Cost I/F BW

Cold Storage

2.5” SSD (SAS/PCIe)

Low/Mid PCIe SSD

Enterprise PCIe SSD

Caching Adapter

Low Medium High

Software Defined Flash Requires a Flexible Architecture

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 12 Solution: Standards-based, Interoperable, Flexible Controllers

Standards-based & Interoperable (RoCs, IoCs, Expanders; RAID, HBA)

Strong Efficient ECC (Supports TLC, MLC, eMLC; Planar, 3D)

Flexible Architecture (Firmware, Channels, Power, Capacity)

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 13 Solution: Memory Alignments & Alliances

• Compatibility modes: consistent interface for controllers • Skip nodes: early and elongated availability of specific NAND Vendors • Architectural: enterprise consistent interface (standards)

Controller • Develop with early NAND & SSD • Drive shorter internal/joint customer quals Vendors • Use of Characterization data

• Memory ‘mini-quals’ Enterprise End Users • Qualify technologies and not just products

Success between the three is intertwined and dependent on working together to define solutions Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 14 Solution: Business Velocity & TLC

Status: significant discussion in the industry around TLC in enterprise, but only a few point solutions

One View: • TLC use expected to rise in 3D generation • LDPC use to extend usage • Hyperscale markets will lead  timelines & process need to be aligned

Another View:

Controller NAND Business Customer ODM Vendor Vendor Velocity

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 15 Summary

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 16 Summary

. Flexible Si controller architectures Software . Software defined differentiation . Efficiency Defined Flash Standard, custom, semi-custom, enterprise, hyperscale

. NAND vendors  ‘compatibility’ modes; skip nodes Memory Alignments . SSD vendors  develop with early NAND, memory ‘mini-quals’, use of char data

Alignment & Alliances . End users  memory ‘mini-quals’, qualify technologies

. Is the goal low cost or TLC?

Business . Does the product timeline align to TLC? TLC Velocity & TLC . Does the business have the velocity (shorter lifecycles, application specific qual cycles)?

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 17 Thank You!

See us in booth # 416 www.pmcs.com blog.pmcs.com @pmcsierra

Flash Memory Summit 2014 Santa Clara, CA 18