Looking for some really fast nonvolatile
storage? DDRdrive delivers doubledata-
rate (DDR) performance with NAND
nonvolatility. Its DDRdrive X1 adds an
FPGA between a PCI Express Gen 1 interface,
4 Gbytes of DDR2 memory, and 4
Gbytes of NAND flash (see the figure).
The FPGA handles all transactions including
backup from RAM to flash.
The RAM provides the highthroughput
characteristics. It’s
essentially a full-size cache for
the NAND storage. A full backup
from RAM to flash takes 60 seconds.
Incremental backup is
much faster.
The full-height, half-length
board plugs into a standard PCI
Express x1 slot. A Windows device
driver provides a low-overhead
interface to storage. A Linux driver
is in the works. Operating-system
software-based spanning or redundant
array of disks (RAID) support can take
advantage of multiple X1s in the same
system.
Maximum power consumption is 9.91
W. Average power draw is under 5 W. Pricing
starts at $1495. An external power supply
can be connected to a UPS.
Reprints
