Dell EMC World: Toshiba Demonstrated 64-Layer BiCS Flash on Client NVM Express SSD

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) demonstrated 64-layer BiCS Flash ⁽¹⁾ 3D technology on an XG Series client NVMe ⁽²⁾ PCIe ⁽³⁾ SSD at Dell EMC World 2017.

BiCS Flash delivers a mature combination of performance, cost and endurance fo all SSD types.

It is a 3D flash memory stacked cell structure ⁽⁴⁾ suitable for applications that require high capacity and performance, such as enterprise and consumer SSDs. The 512Gb ⁽⁵⁾) (64GB), 64-layer device with 3-bit-per-cell (TLC) technology was recently added to the company’s BiCS Flash memory product line. It is based on the third generation 64-layer stacking process featuring 65% greater bit density per mm² than the company’s 48-layer, 256Gb (32GB) device. The XG Series SSD is a platform to launch the 64-layer flash memory, due to the product’s broad adoption, maturity and robustness, honed over multiple generations of PCIe/NVMe client SSD product releases.

64-layer BICS Flash

“The future of SSDs is 3D,” said Greg Wong, founder and principal analyst, Forward Insights. “3D flash memory is enabling the production of higher capacity and more cost effective SSDs to better meet a variety of requirements across the consumer and enterprise spaces.“

The company is currently migrating all client, data center and enterprise SSDs to the BiCS Flash 64-layer 3D memory. This migration sets firm’s up for extending their recent recognition by IDC as the fastest growing storage device vendor in the $17 billion SSD segment for 2016 ⁽⁶⁾.

“Toshiba SSDs powered by the 64-layer 3D device and in-house controller increase value to our customers’ products by boosting the maximum offered drive capacities and presenting superior speed, performance and endurance,” said Shigenori Yanagi, technology executive, SSD, Toshiba Memory Corporation. “We are excited to first demonstrate our newest BiCS Flash technology at Dell EMC World and provide a glimpse of 3D flash memory-based SSDs to come.“

⁽¹⁾ BiCS Flash is a trademark of Toshiba Corporation
⁽²⁾ NVMe and NVM Express are trademarks of NVM Express, Inc.
⁽³⁾ PCIe and PCIe are registered trademarks of PCI-SIG
⁽⁴⁾ A structure stacking flash memory cells vertically on a silicon substrate to realize significant density improvements over planar NAND flash memory, where cells are formed on the silicon substrate.
⁽⁵⁾ Toshiba defines a megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes, a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte (TB) as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of two for the definition of 1TB = 2⁴⁰ = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, such as Microsoft Operating System and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary
⁽⁶⁾ Worldwide Solid State Storage Quarterly Update, CY 4Q16 (Feb 2017 – Doc # US41259317); in 2016 over 2015, as measured y revenue and units. 2015 revenue and unit baseline includes separate results from companies merged with non-affiliate third-party companies in 2016.