NAND Flash Platform for PCI Express by Denali

Denali Software, Inc.,
a provider of electronic design automation (EDA) software
and intellectual property (IP), announced the availability of its
system-on-chip (SoC) platform product FlashPoint.

The FlashPoint
platform is a complete system design that provides a PCI Express (PCIe)
interface to high-performance NAND Flash memory. The platform uses a
sophisticated design configuration engine that enables the system to be
tuned for optimal performance with differentiating features for a range
of products, including PC cache modules, solid state drives (SSD), and
ExpressCard devices. FlashPoint provides a complete hardware design,
software stack, and all necessary drivers to ensure fast time to market
for products requiring high-performance interface to NAND Flash memory.

"NAND Flash systems are becoming increasingly complex as the
diversity of applications drives the need for a specialized, flexible,
high-performance platform solution," remarks Nam Hyung Kim, director
and chief analyst at iSuppli. "Current commodity solutions will not
meet the future market needs."

Denali’s new FlashPoint platform includes support for the emerging
Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface (NVMHCI) standard, an
effort led by Dell, Intel, and Microsoft, which provides a standard
software programming interface for nonvolatile memory subsystems. The
NVMHCI interface is used by operating system drivers to access NAND
Flash memory storage in applications such as hard drive caching and
solid-state drives. One such example is the ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive
features of the Windows Vista operating system, which would use the
NVMHCI interface to speed PC system performance and reduce overall
power consumption.

"As one of the initial founders of the NVMHCI working group,
Microsoft always has its finger on the pulse on emerging technologies,"
states James Borden, Industry Strategist at Microsoft. "I am pleased to
see the first announced plan for implementation of the emerging
industry standard. Denali has been an active participant and
contributor of NVMHCI. Denali’s support for NVMHCI with this platform
should enable system performance and feature enhancements. It is our
belief that flash will have a significant impact to the PC and other
system architectures."

The FlashPoint platform also supports wide range of flash devices
from various memory vendors, including devices which conform to the
specifications developed by the Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFi)
Working Group, an industry organization dedicated to simplifying
integration of NAND Flash memory into consumer electronics (CE)
devices, computing platforms and industrial systems.

"Denali has been an active supporter of the ONFi initiative which
provides a standardized NAND component interface that not only
simplifies design support for a broader range of NAND components, but
also eases transitions to future NAND generations," said Knut Grimsrud,
ONFi chairman and Intel Fellow. "Product releases compliant with the
ONFi standard, such as Denali’s new flash platform, pave the way for
broad adoption of standards-based flash solutions."

The FlashPoint platform leverages Denali’s proven Databahn IP
technology for PCIe and NAND Flash in an advanced hardware
architecture, built from the ground up for high performance and
reliability. An advanced configuration infrastructure automates the
process for tuning and verifying the design for application specific
performance, and speeds overall deployment time.

"This high-performance PCIe-based NAND Flash platform is a natural
extension of our unique expertise in memory and interface technology,"
said David Lin, vice president of marketing for Denali Software. "We
believe our enthusiastic focus on driving the NAND Flash ecosystem
through participation in standards, like ONFi and NVMHCI, gives us a
distinct advantage when it comes to understanding the intricacies and
bandwidth variables which affect performance as well as the subtleties
of how PCIe and other technologies need to mesh in order to create a
truly revolutionary PCIe to NAND Flash cache solution."

The Denali FlashPoint platform is commercially available now.

Denali Software, Inc.