Netlist Assigned Patent

Netlist, Inc. announced that the United States
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has recently issued to Netlist – U.S.
Patent No. 8,301,833 (‘833) entitled "Non-Volatile Memory Module."

The ‘833
patent covers fundamentals of hybrid memory subsystems.

Netlist has been for many years in the field of hybrid memory, a
technology that combines flash and DRAMs to prevent loss of data by transferring
data from volatile to non-volatile memory. Netlist has shipped high volumes of memory subsystems (e.g. NVvault
and EXPRESSvault) using this technology to server and storage customers.

NVvault is a
plug-and-play DDR2/DDR3 DIMM solution which lowers data center TCO through
reduced system downtime and elimination of battery maintenance. EXPRESSvault
plugs into a PCIe slot with the same functionality and the same benefit of
expanded write life cycles. These improved data protection solutions provide
high throughput and fast access times with low latency read and write
transactions. Enterprise customers using NVvault and EXPRESSvault are able to
reliably recover data following a system power outage, while traditional
solutions can only preserve data for a limited period of time.

"We are pleased that the USPTO has granted
Netlist this patent which we believe to be seminal in the area of hybrid memory
data protection," said Netlist CEO, C.K. Hong. "This patent validates our historical market
leadership for solutions that protect critical data in enterprise systems.
Today, as many companies’ servers and storage systems are being brought back
on-line after power outages, our technology is helping to facilitate the
recovery of mission critical data in these enterprises."

Abstract of the patent: "Certain embodiments described herein include a memory system which can communicate with a host system such as a disk controller of a computer system. The memory system can include volatile and non-volatile memory and a controller which are configured such that the controller backs up the volatile memory using the non-volatile memory in the event of a trigger condition. In order to power the system in the event of a power failure or reduction, the memory system can include a secondary power source which is not a battery and may include, for example, a capacitor or capacitor array. The memory system can be configured such that the operation of the volatile memory is not adversely affected by the non-volatile memory or the controller when the volatile memory is interacting with the host system."