Datalight Rolls Out Reliance Nitro 3.2

Datalight, Inc. announced availability of a version of its Reliance Nitro flash-friendly file system that improves performance of Linux – and Android-based embedded devices, exceeding the write speeds of ext4 by over 50% while remaining immune against data corruption caused by unexpected system shutdowns.

The version 3.2 offers a customization options that surpasses what is available on other file system for Linux. Developers of embedded devices can control data-at-risk parameters even at runtime which lets them optimize performance in their systems without risking unexpected data loss or corruption. Delivered in source code with a set of test tools, the product has everything developers need to integrate the product and compare it to alternatives in different configurations.

“Our customers are those Linux developers who build embedded products that have to have rock-solid reliability and long-lived endurance,” said Ken Whitaker, Datalight VP of engineering. “Those customers now have uncompromised write performance available in an industrial-quality source code product.”

“Reliance Nitro has long surpassed ext4 in terms of read speeds and mount times,” said Thom Denholm, Datalight technical product manager. “With the write speed improvements in this release there really is no need to compromise.”

At is heart is an approach to allocation that aligns with the behavior of the underlying flash media. This approach helps extend the life of the flash memory, which is rapidly decreasing as storage density increases. Unlike basic file systems such as ext4 that updates files ‘in-place’, it uses copy-on-write behavior to eliminate the potential of partial page writes and corruption of live data in the event of unexpected shutdown.

As flash memory manufacturers create smaller dies with more bits per cell, bit errors and data corruption are becoming bigger problems for device developers and users with minimum data reliability requirements. Undiscovered problems with data can cause system failure hours or days later, often leaving no trace of what caused them. This not only writes data in a less disruptive manner, it monitors data reliability of the file system to ensure reliable operations of these devices.

Embedded applications can also benefit from faster boot times that remain consistent for the life of the product, regardless of disk size, usage or shutdown state. File system mount time testing under a variety of conditions from a freshly formatted file system to one that had seen extensive use and in both normal and unexpect shutdown scenarios showed a variance in mount times of 70% for ext4 and only 0.1% for Reliance Nitro. It mounted nearly 95% faster after unexpected shutdown compared with ext4.

Customers with technical support and maintenance contracts with the company are eligible to receive the upgrade to 3.2 at no charge. OEMs are encouraged to contact their representative. The release will also be available through Datalight resellers worldwide.

The system was designed for high-reliability, high performance applications. dynamic transaction point technology provides immunity from file corruption, even after unexpected system interruption. It goes through reliability testing, including more than 2 million random power cycle tests without a failure. In addition to Reliance Nitro for Linux and Android, the company also develops products for Wind River VxWorks, Windows Embedded Compact and Windows Embedded Handheld and Mentor Graphics Nucleus. Customers have migrated portable products to many other OSs.