micron
Micron announced this week that it has begun production of its 232-layer NAND drive. I had the opportunity to sit down with Jeremy Werner, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Storage Business Unit at Micron, to discuss the significance of this feat and how it addresses the growing demands for storage.
Micron is a leader in storage and memory, and I believe its 232-layer NAND expands this leadership to drive performance for storage solutions. It must address the storage challenges that arise from the large amounts of data the world is creating. Bill Ceretta, Vice President and General Manager of the Platform Business Unit at Pure Storage, also joined in, where he also shared how Pure Storage handles real-world requirements using Micron’s 232-Layer NAND. Let’s dive in. Here is the podcast episode where I sit with Jeremy and Bill and talk about Micron’s 232-Layer NAND and discuss
The world’s first 232 NAND layer
As Jeremy Werner pointed out, NAND is everywhere and everywhere around us, from the deepest space telescopes to video game consoles. It is present in everything and is the primary method of storing data in the modern world. Since zettabytes (about a million terabytes) of data is stored in computers, data centers, and the cloud around the world, it is stored in NAND storage. A great example of how NAND is shaped by the way we use computers is that smartphones wouldn’t be as small and compact as they should be without NAND.
As Werner pointed out, all new NANDs today are made as 3D NAND except for the NAND storage needed for legacy applications. The reason is that NAND is built on chips, which is an expensive commodity.
232 NAND Layer
The analogy that Werner gave was with real estate in the metropolitan area. Space is very valuable in the downtown area, and in order to increase the space in the city center, architects build large skyscrapers. Likewise, a 232-layer NAND architecture like a skyscraper allows for more bit density per chip. 3D NAND technology has enabled Micron to effectively scale and build taller skyscrapers and be more efficient than anyone else in the industry.
Keep in mind that classes aren’t everything. Although a fab may build twice as many layers, if those layers aren’t as compact as the competitors, they aren’t as dense. This is where the question of layers versus space density comes in. The space density measures how many bits can fit into a square millimeter of silicon. While area density is a better measure of chip density, this density is achieved in current NAND innovations through the increase in layers. Under 232 Layer NAND, Werner said, Micron gets 14.6 gigabytes per square millimeter or about 1,000 hours of 4K video the size of a postage stamp.
A real-world use case with Pure Storage
Pure Storage is one of the few companies that takes raw storage and creates something unique instead of using off-the-shelf storage. Bill Ceretta, Vice President and General Manager of the Platform Business Unit at Pure Storage, spoke with Jeremy Werner and I about how Pure Storage changed its SSD system design strategy about five years ago. Cerreta said he was leaving a lot of ability and performance on the table. By simplifying the firmware and moving many functions from the SSD to the Pure Storage operating system, I was able to expose more capacity in the SSD and reduce latency for clients.
Raw NAND compared to ready-made NAND.
While this unique approach by Pure Storage looks as if it will require a hit when it comes to when it comes to market, it does give Pure Storage a competitive advantage. Pure Storage can take software and OS level designs and plan for future generations of NAND storage. Cerreta says this unique approach to NAND software allows Pure Storage to migrate to 232-layer NAND and reveal its benefits to its customers much more quickly than its competitors.
NAND in the future
The challenge for today’s data centers is computing trying to keep up with the explosion of data and storage innovations trying to keep up with computing. As more data is generated, more high capacity storage with energy efficiency is needed to keep on budget.
I believe Micron’s 232-layer NAND helps solve many of these challenges businesses face within the data center. It is able to pack more data into a smaller space while improving its energy efficiency over previous generations. As Cerreta points out, when NAND consumes less power in a system, these systems are able to balance power toward components that would yield better results.
Micron ships 232-layer NAND to consumer SSDs under the Crucial brand. In the next year and a half, it will migrate all of its production lines from 176 NAND layers to the next generation of 232 NAND layers.
wrapping
Memory and storage have become essential components within the data center and computing as a whole. Micron is the first company in the world to begin mass production of its 232 NAND layer, and I think this is exciting news for data and storage. As more data is generated every day, innovations like Micron’s 232 Layer NAND meet demand in the data center.
Incredibly, Micron has created a storage solution that can fit 1,000 hours of raw 4K footage the size of a postage stamp. Since we’re seeing Micron’s 232-layer NAND storage in solutions like the Pure Storage OS, I think it can positively impact the data center.
While I would like to find fault with Micron’s product roadmap, production capacity, or technologies, it is difficult. The company has been quiet for five years working away as other companies have been talking a lot. I love where the company is now.
Note: This article was contributed by Jacob Freeman, the Moor Insights & Strategy collaborative.
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