IDT releases two NVMe PCI-Express SSD controllers

CHIP DESIGNER Integrated Device Technology (IDT) has released the first non-volatile memory express (NVMe) chipset for PCI-Express SSDs.

IDT has been pushing the NVMe specification for some time as a standard to replace SATA and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) buses in SSDs. Now the firm has released two controllers that work with PCI-Express based SSDs supporting 16 and 32 channels on the PCI-Express 3 bus.

The NVWe consortium, which includes firms such as Intel, has been pushing NVMe to become the standard for PCI-Express based SSDs, a market that is rapidly growing in servers. IDT's 89HF16P04AG3 and 89HF32P08AG3 controllers support the NVMe interface that has a command set and registers optimised for PCI-Express SSDs.

Amber Huffman, senior principal engineer at Intel's Storage Technologies Group and chairperson for the NVM Express Workgroup said, "NVMe delivers a critical building block for the broad adoption of PCI Express-based SSD solutions. IDT is an early adopter and contributor to the PCI Express and NVMe ecosystem. We're pleased to see NVMe SSD controller products shipping from companies like IDT as part of a growing NVMe ecosystem enabling next-generation PCI Express SSD designs."

IDT flogs its controllers to enterprise SSD makers such as Fusion IO, Intel and Toshiba. The firm said its controllers are fully programmable with custom firmware, even though IDT provides reference firmware for its controller that supports encryption and data integrity algorithms.

IDT said both of its NVMe controllers are available in FCBGA packaging, and are sampling to customers now. µ