New STEC Technology: CellCare and Secure Array of Flash Element

STEC, Inc. announced its CellCare and Secure Array of Flash Element (S.A.F.E.) technologies that enable STEC’s MLC-based Solid State Drives to reach new levels of write endurance and data reliability.

The implementation of CellCare and S.A.F.E. technologies on MLC NAND Flash components, which are more widely available at competitive pricing than SLC NAND Flash components, has resulted in significant cost reductions for SSD solutions. Until now MLC-based SSDs have been perceived negatively relative to standard SSDs utilizing SLC NAND Flash components when comparing endurance, reliability and performance. But with the implementation of CellCare technology, these disadvantages can be negated and the critical 5-year enterprise endurance threshold can be met. In addition, S.A.F.E. technology virtually eliminates data integrity issues, including failures and data loss, on STEC’s MLC-based SSDs.

"Given the critical role of enterprise storage systems, customers cannot compromise on reliability and performance even though IT budgets are tight," said Mark Moshayedi, President and CTO of STEC. "STEC CellCare and S.A.F.E. technologies provide the needed peace of mind for implementing MLC-based SSD solutions, while reducing the total cost of ownership, making these drives an ideal solution for many of today’s enterprise market needs."

STEC’s CellCare technology substantially reduces the cost of SSD implementation in the enterprise by enabling SSDs to use lower cost MLC Flash components. STEC’s proprietary technology utilizes adaptive Flash access, signal processing, data management algorithms and ECC to improve the endurance of MLC Flash components. MLC-based drives with CellCare Technology are able to handle write intensive workloads for over 5 years without limiting performance, making them not only viable but well-suited for the rigorous enterprise server and storage environments.

STEC’s S.A.F.E. technology is a key enabler of enterprise-class MLC-based SSDs. As technology nodes gets smaller, the failure rates associated with MLC Flash components has increased, making the drives unreliable, specifically for use in critical applications where data integrity is paramount. STEC’s MLC-based SSDs utilizing S.A.F.E. technology are designed to virtually eliminate all failures associated with MLC Flash. S.A.F.E. technology drastically reduces component-level failures and delivers the data reliability required by enterprise storage and server applications. And the coupling of S.A.F.E. technology with STEC’s proprietary advanced Flash management algorithms enables STEC to deliver superior reliability to both MLC and SLC-based SSDs.