The storage experts from KIOXIA have presented new storage products to the public. The manufacturer wants to make Storage Class Memory (SCM) the new standard with the upcoming SSDs. KIOXIA will want to use its own technology for this. According to the manufacturer, the so-called XL-FLASH is supposed to perfectly fill the niche that exists between TLC-based drives and DRAM-based drives as a high-performance SCM. KIOXIA emphasizes that the PCIe Gen4- and dual-port-compatible SSDs are to be used especially in write logging, caching layer and tiering.
Low latency and plenty of storage
But what are the advantages of KIOXIA’s SCM? According to the manufacturer, the XL-FLASH should provide low latency and high storage capacity. The basis of the upcoming SSDs is a BiCS-FLASH-3D. There are also alternatives in this range that rely on DRAM and can thus achieve similarly high speeds. However, they are associated with much higher costs. According to KIOXIA, the high costs are to be eliminated by SCM.
The solution is a memory that is cost-effective and non-volatile. On top of that, it scores with high density. KIOXIA itself says that the FL6 series can score with impressive performance values. Especially in workloads, the upcoming SSDs are supposed to convince with a low queue depth. However, the FL6 series’ true hobbyhorse is supposed to be colorful workloads that are demanding. Thus, exciting flash storage devices should be in store for us. When and at what cost they will be launched is still uncertain.
